Archive for the ‘Java’ Category
For many years now, it has been a goal of mine to get feedback as early as possible when developing software. Past blog entries here and here have discussed how we can approach increased feedback. A tweet from Jason Gorman mentioned his list of tools that provide continuous feedback on his code and design: “Emma, [...]
Tomorrow at 1:30pm I will be discussing my paper published by the Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference 2009 in Portland, OR on “Managing Software Debt: Continued Delivery of High Value as Systems Age”. I have uploaded the slides for this presentation and I hope that some of the new content will help those looking for [...]
Earlier this year I did a presentation on Executable Specficiations for AgilePalooza conference. There is information about working with legacy code, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) systems, and Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD) using automated acceptance testing tools. Also, the presentation lists types of automated acceptance testing tools out there along with actual names of tools and what [...]
To reduce duplication and rigidity of the programmer test relationship to implementation code, move away from class and methods as the definition of a “unit” in your unit tests. Instead, use the following question to drive your next constraint on the software:
What should the software do next for the user?
The following coding session will provide [...]
I have uploaded the talk I did at SD West 2009 on Yahoo! Video and here it is:
Managing Software Debt – Chris Sterling @ SD West 2009 @ Yahoo! Video
This is a bit off my usual topics on this blog but I am a heavy open source user and this article is something that I hope gets to more enterprise operations, managers and executives. I have been using and deploying production available applications using open source tools, libraries, and platforms for over 12 years [...]
For multiple years now I have thrown around the name “Executable Design” to describe Test-Driven Development (TDD) and how it is used for design rather than a test-centric tool. The name itself causes problems for those who are initially introduced to the technique. As a coach I was looking for a way to introduce it [...]
On November 6th I presented an updated version of the Managing Software Debt talk at Agile Vancouver “Much Ado About Agile” conference. This is a link to the presentation deck:
Managing Software Debt – Agile Vancouver (PDF)
I was honored to present at this local conference and had a great time meeting up with old friends and [...]
“Hey, Ben. We just figured out a great way to manage test-driven development and good database design.”, said an enthusiastic developer using Extreme Programming (XP) practices on their project. “Our application is highly data-centric. Therefore, in the first iteration we design the database schema modifications and create tests to validate all of it’s implementation characteristics. [...]
A few years ago I was privileged to be on a team with some excellent developers where I currently work, SolutionsIQ. One of whom saw the need to stabilize development on an incredibly unstable codebase with no tests. He came to the team with a proposed tool that he slapped together in his free time. [...]


