Month: March 2009

Given economics, time constraints, resource limitations, etc.; you can’t write all the functionality for a given solution for a single release.  Even if you weren’t limited by these constraints, you’re likely to get changing requirements as development progresses and everyone learns more about the software under development. It’s fairly easy to prioritize what is developed and what isn’t.  You simply develop only what you need (see YAGNI).  But, how do you manage adding new functionality without causing undue grief?  One way is to only make additive changes to the code.  For example, let’s say we have the method create CreateRequestPacket … Continue reading Evolving code over time

The schedule for DevTeach 2009 Vancouver has been announced (http://www.devteach.com/).  There’s lots of great software development sessions from some of the leaders in our industry. If you’re planning on improving yourself, this is the conference to go to.  Not only can you attend excellent sessions; but you can hob-knob with the presenters and pick their brains. If you have a friend or co-worker who’s interested, there’s a limited-time two-for-one offer for an even better price: http://www.devteach.com/Register.aspx

http://www.appscout.com/2009/02/google_microsoft_yahoo_create.php describes that Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google have agreed on a “canonical tag”.  This tag basically allows a web site owner to tell search sites where the main page of a site is, regardless of the URL. This is fine, but it only reduces duplicate results.  It does nothing for incorrect results. Google’s algorithm bases its results on content and voting (either explicit or implict), among other things.  The longer content is around the more accurate Google is with results.  New links suffer from not having any of this meta data to help Google rank the content in the results. Many … Continue reading Never Mind Canonical Tags, Let’s Get Content/Navigation Tags.

[Edited 14-Mar-09: clarified generated code SCC practice] This edition provides SCC vocabulary and some more practices that make development life easier. VocabularyTrunkThe root of the project or database.  Sometimes called mainline or baseline; depending on the SCC structure, this is where most of the development occurs.MainlineThe root of the project or database.  Sometimes called trunk or baseline; depending on the SCC structure, this is where most of the development occurs.BaselineThe root of the project or database.  Sometimes called mainline or trunk; depending on the SCC structure, this is where most of the development occurs.TagA snapshot in time of the system … Continue reading Developing with Source Code Control – Best Practices Part 2