Methods & Tools - News, Facts & Comments Edition - April 2008

*** News ***************************************************************

* M&T Industry Press Releases Channel

You can view and follow recent press releases from software development tools vendors on http://www.softdevtools.com/modules/news/

*** Numbers ************************************************************

* Quality of Open Source Tools

The current M&T poll is asking you to rate the quality of open source software development tools (Eclipse, MySQL, PHP or Junit) versus the commercial tools. Currently it seems that most of the participants find that open source tools quality is better or equal to commercial tools.

*** Quotes *************************************************************

The Three Rules of Test Driven Development

Over the years I have come to describe Test Driven Development in terms of three simple rules. They are:

1. You are not allowed to write any production code unless it is to make a failing unit test pass.
2. You are not allowed to write any more of a unit test than is sufficient to fail; and compilation failures are failures.
3. You are not allowed to write any more production code than is sufficient to pass the one failing unit test.

You must begin by writing a unit test for the functionality that you intend to write. But by rule 2, you can't write very much of that unit test. As soon as the unit test code fails to compile, or fails an assertion, you must stop and write production code. But by rule 3 you can only write the production code that makes the test compile or pass, and no more.

If you think about this you will realize that you simply cannot write very much code at all without compiling and executing something. Indeed, this is really the point. In everything we do, whether writing tests, writing production code, or refactoring, we keep the system executing at all times. The time between running tests is on the order of seconds, or minutes. Even 10 minutes is too long.

Robert Martin

http://butunclebob.com/ArticleS.UncleBob.TheThreeRulesOfTdd

Besides these rules and independently of an agile approach, I always like as a developer being able to verify quickly my code, because it makes much easier to find all the errors I do ;o)

*** Jobs Opening on SoftDevJobs.com ************************************

23 jobs are currently waiting for you on http://www.softdevjobs.com/

Posting of jobs is now free. If your company is recruiting in the software development field, do not hesitate to use our board.

*** Conferences ********************************************************

* International Test Certification Weeks (ITCW)

* Anaheim, CA, June 2-6, 2008
* Boston, MA - June 23-27, 2008
* Seattle, WA - July 28 - August 1, 2008
* St. Louis, MO - August 25- 29, 2008
* Atlanta, GA - October 6-10, 2008

20 Full day in-depth Software Testing and QA courses taught by Leading Industry Experts in Software Testing & Quality

http://www.iist.org/stpw/

------------------------------------------------------------------------

* STAREAST 2008 May 5-9 2008, Orlando, USA

Providing the largest and most advanced testing forum, STAREAST delivers the latest trends, technologies, and strategies in the industry today. Learn about new products, timely issues, and cutting-edge solutions from the best experts in the business. Find answers to your questions about test management, automation, SOA testing, model-based testing, and many of the other hot-topics.

http://www.sqe.com/go?SE08MTtextad

------------------------------------------------------------------------

* 24th International Practical Software Quality and Testing (PSQT) Conference. May 5-9, 2008 - Las Vegas, NV

PSQT focuses on PRACTICAL software testing techniques.
* 1 Day conference with 28 Track and Feature Presentations
* 2 Keynote presentations by leading industry experts
* 4 Days with 7 Tutorials each day that will apply towards CSTP or CTM certification

http://www.psqtconference.com/2008west/index.php

------------------------------------------------------------------------

* Developer Day Scotland May 10 2008 Glasgow Scotland, UK

Mark in Saturday, 10th May, 2008 in your diary as the date when developer events change forever in Scotland! Developer Day Scotland is a free community event, run by community for community, which is based upon the highly successful Developer! Developer! Developer! community conference events.

http://www.developerdayscotland.com

------------------------------------------------------------------------

* XP Day France 2008 12-13 mai 2008, Paris

Pour sa troisième édition, la conférence XP Day France est heureuse de vous accueillir de nouveau les 12 & 13 Mai 2008. Venez vous informer; rencontrer des praticiens des méthodes agiles: XP, Scrum, Crystal; et débattre de sujets concrets, organisationnels (équipes, conduite de projet) ou techniques (TDD, refactoring).

http://xpday.fr/inscription

------------------------------------------------------------------------

* Dynamic Languages World Europe 2008, May 26-28, 2008 Karlsruhe, Germany

Dynamic Languages World Europe is the first European conference dealing with the shared concepts and frameworks of all important dynamic languages. Internationally renowned speakers explain the benefit of those languages to the attendees of Dynamic Languages World and try to encourage the usage of dynamic languages.

http://www.dlw-europe.de

------------------------------------------------------------------------

* IBM Rational Software Development Conference June 1-5 2008, Orlando, USA

Join the League of Extraordinary Software Developers at the IBM Rational Software Development Conference. This year's event offers over 300 technical sessions, hands-on technical workshops, IBM certification classes, inspiring and informative keynote speakers, technology demonstrations plus a multitude of networking opportunities. Register today!

http://www.ibm.com/rational/rsdc

------------------------------------------------------------------------

* 2008 DC PHP Conference & Expo, June 2-4, 2008, Washington, DC USA

Come see how PHP is working within government, technical, and business applications. DC PHP will include tracks pertaining to business cases, best practices, the art of PHP, PHP applications, PHP in the enterprise, and Open Source.

http://www.dcphpconference.com

------------------------------------------------------------------------

* Better Software Conference & EXPO 2008 June 9-12, 2008, Las Vegas, USA

Join your peers and top experts in software engineering at the Better Software Conference & EXPO ― take you and your team to the next level. Learn the latest tools, trends and issues related to agile development approaches, project management, people & teams, testing & QA, and much more.

http://www.sqe.com/go?BSCE08MTad

------------------------------------------------------------------------

* Yet Another Perl Conference 2008 June 16-18, Chicago, USA

This low-cost grassroots Perl conference is a gathering place for many of the leaders in the Open Source and Free Software communities. Join us for three days of in-depth technical talks surrounded by open hack-a-thons and professional training classes. Chat with Perl gurus like Larry Wall and Randal Schwartz, learn new Perl tricks, and even find a new career opportunity at our professional job fair.

http://yapc.org/America

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The International SPICE Days, June 23 – 25 2008, Prague, Czech Republic

Again this year iSQI succeeded in presenting a varied and interesting program with international contributions regarding the use of SPICE in Automotive, Finance & Banking, Aerospace and Medical. Register now and make sure to take advantage of our discounts. For registering before April 30 you will get 10% Early Bird discount.

http://www.spice-days.com

------------------------------------------------------------------------

* Code Generation 2008, June 25-27 2008. Cambridge, UK

40% of developers are using or planning to use Model-Driven Software Development. Don’t miss out! CG2008 brings together developers and leading experts in a unique, participative event. Whether you’re a beginner or an veteran with MDA, MDD, Domain-Specific Languages, Eclipse Modelling Framework etc. you will benefit by participating.

http://www.codegeneration.net/conference/

------------------------------------------------------------------------

* SEETEST 2008, July 2-3 2008, Sofia, Bulgaria

SEETEST 2008 – South East European Software Testing Conference will be the first conference ever in South East Europe in the area of Software Testing and Software Quality Management. The Keynote Speeches will be given by top executives of the international software testing scene: Bj Rollison, Test Architect, Microsoft, USA; Ina Schieferdecker, Fraunhofer FOKUS, Germany. The first conference day will be filled with tutorials, the second conference day with sessions and industrial presentations.

http://www.seetest.org

------------------------------------------------------------------------

* 25th International Practical Software Quality and Testing (PSQT) Conference. September 8-12, 2008, Minneapolis, MN

PSQT focuses on PRACTICAL software testing techniques.
* 1 Day conference with 28 Track and Feature Presentations
* 2 Keynote presentations by leading industry experts
* 4 Days with 7 Tutorials each day that will apply towards CSTP or CTM certification

http://www.psqtconference.com/2008north/index.php

------------------------------------------------------------------------

* Conquest 08 September 24-26, Potsdam, Germany

Since 1997, CONQUEST is the platform for software professionals bringing together the software engineering community to discuss software quality aspects, to see how quality engineering methods and techniques are used in both industrial and research environments, to see the latest tools, to share experiences on projects and representative case studies, and to hear about future directions.

http://www.conquest-conference.org

------------------------------------------------------------------------

* Agile Business Conference September 23-24 2008, London, UK

"Agile Works!" Agile Business Conference 2008 is a very rich and varied programme across a wide range of Agile contexts from organisations and individuals who are world class in their field. Whether a newcomer to Agile needing to know what the options are, or a battle hardened expert wishing to develop your techniques, this is for you!

http://www.agileconference.org

------------------------------------------------------------------------

* Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference (PNSQC) October 13-15, 2008, Portland, USA

The mission of The Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference (PNSQC) is to enable knowledge exchange to produce higher quality software. PNSQC 2008 will feature technical papers, keynote addresses and workshops around the theme of Collaborative Quality. Call for Papers deadline is May 1, 2008

http://www.pnsqc.org/

*** M&T News ***********************************************************

* LinkedIn Methods & Tools Group

The Methods & Tools group on the LinkedIn network site has more than 350 members. If you are member of LinkedIn and want to join, just click on the link http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/49777/20059D3C405C

Do not hesitate to contact me (Franco Martinig) on LinkedIn if you want to add me as a connection and extend your network.

You can also add me as a contact on Xing (http://www.xing.com/). We may have to belong to the same groups (Agile Methods, Requirements Engineering, Software Testing or Software Configuration Management for instance) to achieve this.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

* Software Development Articles

Some of the last interesting additions to http://www.softdevarticles.com:

* Must-have tools for HTML, JavaScript and AJAX development and debugging

Use the best open source tools to work with Web pages, scripts, and styles, and make development of new sites and pages easy.

http://www.softdevarticles.com/modules/weblinks/singlelink.php?lid=1012

* Schedule Adherence: A Useful Measure for Project Management

This article utilizes the new practice of Earned Schedule (ES) to discuss a proposed measure for further enhancing the practice of EVM. Schedule Adherence provides additional early warning information to project managers.

http://www.softdevarticles.com/modules/weblinks/singlelink.php?lid=1007

* Focus on Value: How to create value-driven user stories

Agile has a tool that can help organizations re-focus on return on investment: value-driven user stories. Value-driven user stories are created specifically to link features with their users and the value the features have for their users.

http://www.softdevarticles.com/modules/weblinks/singlelink.php?lid=989

------------------------------------------------------------------------

SoftDevTube - Software Development Videos

SoftDevTube is a repository of videos, interviews and tutorials focused on all software development activities. If you want to send some suggestion or you think you might contribute with your own content, use our contact page

http://www.softdevtube.com/

------------------------------------------------------------------------

* Future Issues of Methods & Tools

In future issues, you will find articles on:

* We Increment to Adapt, We Iterate to Improve
* Acceptance Test Driven Development
* UML versus DML
* Risk management, the Evo way
* Software Patterns
* Managing Scrum Meetings
* Getting and Keeping Control over your Project
* Outsourcing Software Testing
* Behavior Driven Database Design
* Optimizing the Contribution of Testing to Project Success
* Rich User Interfaces
* Metrics for Code Review
* Database modelling and XML

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The content of this publication cannot be reproduced
without prior written consent of the publisher
Copyright (C) 2008, Martinig & Associates