November 2003 - Posts
I got a ATI All-In-Wonder 8500DV graphics card for my new DELL 400SC (”Friedman”). The 8500DV was a predecessor to the A-I-W 9x00 series and I got a good (clearance) price for it. I think GAD who has a similar DELL went for the Radeon 9600 Pro (http://weblogs.asp.net/gad/posts/37823.aspx#FeedBack). These cards make a huge difference - the original Dell 400SC card was too lame and didn't do much for a 'Longhorn' installation.
A few weeks ago Eli Robillard had an interesting posting:
The two most frequently asked questions in I.T.:
1) How long will it take?
2) How much will it cost?
Jim McCarthy has it right by saying in essence, "anyone who says they knows in advance how long a software project will take is lying."
Bingo! The truth is that most software estimates are not made by the developers (or their managers) - this would be 'rational estimation'. But estimates are usually put out by the sales & marketing folks and/or their accompanying management - aka 'political estimation'. Guess which is put on a project plan for deliverables?
I have a new blog category - 'Software Engineering', something I formally studied but the postings will usually be about tales from the trenches...
I had used XMLSpy for the longest time but its growth pricing (~$1K) has made it very prohibitive. What I am looking for is an XML tool that'll help in modelling and development of schemas (basically, help map XML schemas to database ERDs at the enterprise level). Know of any such tool that's easy on the pocket as well? TIA.
A few weeks ago I had posted about 'complexity' and the XML banyan tree. It was from an experience with a tech team lead, who demanded on using an XML tree as a database. Sure enough, that little project was an exercise in futility (read the footnote on the prior posting for a possible solution). I received 'Effective XML' a few days ago and here is an interesting excerpt (pg 230) -
“XML is not a database. It was never meant to be a database. It is never going to be a database. Relational databases are proven technology with more than 20 years of implementation experience. They are solid, stable, useful products. They are not going away. XML is a very useful technology for moving data between different databases or between databases and other programs. However, it is not itself a database. Don't use it like one.“
A great little book with some great insightful gems - I wish I had this book a few months ago.. :-)
I had attended a presentation by Borland on Software development and collaboration last month. Within the notes I took at that presentation, I saw a list - '10 Characteristics of Quality Requirements'. I believe it was devised by Karl Wiegers (author of Software Requirments). Here is the list -
- Complete - Nothing is missing: no “To Be Determined“
- Consistent - Does not conflict with other requirements
- Correct - Accurately states a customer or external need
- Feasible - Can be implemented within known constraints
- Modifiable - Can be easily changed, with history, when neccessary
- Neccessary - Documents something customers really need
- Prioritized - Ranked as to importance of inclusion in product
- Traceable - Linked to system requirements and to designs, code and tests
- Unambiguous - Has only one possible meaning
- Verifiable - Correct implementation can be determined by testing, inspection, analysis or demonstration
In a Software Engineering industry study (Standish Report?) - it was found that 2 out of 3 projects fail due to poor Sofware Requirements. Hopefully, a top 10 list will help alleviate that problem... :-)
eWeek [11.13.03] reports that SCO has issued subpoenas to Andrew Morton and Linus Torvalds.
I got this reference from Michael Herman's weblog posting - "Ontology 101: A Guide to Creating Your First Ontology". Michael is the President of ParallelSpace (a Groove Partner) and has also worked on the SharePoint Portal Server at Microsoft. This is a very interesting paper and can help in managing the new meta-data structure of WinFS.
Steve Gilmor interviews Ray Ozzie about Longhorn & Groove [eWeek 11.12.03]
Ozzie says - “Yes. We're a Longhorn design partner so we're very familiar with it, but what I was absorbing more than anything else was how Microsoft was positioning how it works to the developer community. That's very important.”
“Right. On XAML, I am totally with Microsoft on that one.“
“And now that Longhorn has sort of come out of the closet, we can bring Longhorn into the conversation and say "See, this what you're going to be dealing with in that environment, too." It's good for both parties.“
Also posted at my Radio Userland weblog.
My other weblog at Radio Userland somehow made it as a top site referral (on the InfoWorld website)...15 bytes of fame... :-)
Just got a good piece of email - User Interface Process Application Block version 2 is in the works!
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