CAT | Software
19
Walking Into The Wrong Bathroom: Lack of Affordances
2 Comments | Posted by Dave in Software
Jakob Nielsen recently published his report on iPad’s usability and application interface consistency. To no one’s surprise, he discovered a few issues.
What was the main problem Jakob uncovered? Many iPad applications aren’t obvious to use: non standard controls, confusing graphics, and counter-intuitive metaphors. In psychology parlance, it’s because these apps lack constraints and affordances.
Read more on Walking Into The Wrong Bathroom: Lack of Affordances…
I’ve mentioned a number of software laws in various posts, like Cargill’s Ninety Nine Rule, or Occam’s Razor. And there are tons of laws that you probably already know, like Metcalfe’s Law or Moore’s Law.
Read more on Stop Breaking These Laws (of Software)…
Proving once again that my sense of humor is only funny to me, I bring you 31 snowclones about Software, Computers and Technology.
No, I’m not talking about snocones although I’m sure there are more than 31 flavors, most of them horrible like Bertie’s Everflavor Beans (One vomit snocone please!).
Read more on 31 Snowclones About Software Development…
28
Android App Store: The Cure Is Worse Than The Disease
3 Comments | Posted by Dave in Companies, Software
iPhone app development is a pain–onerous approval process, random rejections, lousy development environment, a requirement where all developers need to get Apple tattoos, the list goes on. But is Android the platform that is poised to take the crown from the Cupertino Competition? Android has its share of problems too…
My posts on Google’s Go (Part 1 and Part 2) definitely touched a nerve with a few folks. And I appreciate good dialog on ideas like this…
One pervasive question that I keep hearing is “Who is Go good for?“ And I’m having a hard time finding a good answer. Even Go’s own FAQ page is uncharacteristically vague about it.
Read more on Google Go: Good For What?…
Apparently the US Military can’t write software worth a damn. Here’s a textbook-classic case of what happens when you decide to ignore a problem that is clearly evident at requirements time until well after post-deployment.
Read more on Military Software Sucks…
8
Google’s Go Isn’t Getting Us Anywhere, Part 2
18 Comments | Posted by Dave in Companies, Software
In Part One of this post, we discussed the Great Concurrency Problem and the promise of Go in taking the throne from Java. Today, I show why Go isn’t going to get us there.
Read more on Google’s Go Isn’t Getting Us Anywhere, Part 2…
7
Google’s Go Isn’t Getting Us Anywhere, Part 1
2 Comments | Posted by Dave in Companies, Software
There’s buzz in the air about Google’s new language Go. Naturally, I was excited hearing about it. After all, Google has produced so many interesting tools and frameworks to date there’s almost automatic interest in any new Google software release. But this wasn’t just a product, this was a Google language release. My programmer brain pricked up immediately.
Read more on Google’s Go Isn’t Getting Us Anywhere, Part 1…
My favorite enterprise language seems to be running out of good ideas to implement.
From this post detailing the upcoming language features of Java 7, here is the list of completed features to date:
- Language support for collections
- Automatic Resource Management
- Improved Type Inference for Generic Instance Creation (the “diamond” operator)
- Underscores in numeric literals
- Strings in switch
- Binary literals
- Simplified Varargs Method Invocation
Now, keep in mind, usually the most critical, important, or difficult features are implemented first. At least if you’re trying to get something out that is meaningful. But seriously, this is what Sun thought was the most important? Read more on It’s Official: Java Has Jumped The Shark…
23
Habit 7: Principles Are More Important Than Results
4 Comments | Posted by Dave in Developers, Software
Our last installment today is about the Great Ivory Tower of Standards and Architecture. In case you missed the previous bunch:
Seven Habits of Highly Dysfunctional Enterprise Developers:
Read more on Habit 7: Principles Are More Important Than Results…
