January 2005 Newsletter
The things we fear most in organizations—fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances—are the primary sources of creativity. –Margaret J. Wheatley
Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way. –Abraham Lincoln
Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow. –Eric S. Raymond
If you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else. –Laurence J. Peter
See first that the design is wise and just; that ascertained, pursue it resolutely. –William Shakespeare
One of the basic causes for all the trouble in the world today is that people talk too much and think too little. –Margaret Chase Smith
Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure...than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. –Theodore Roosevelt
The literature shows a dearth of examples of creativity in IT leadership. This article discusses why creativity is an
imperative for IT leaders of the future and reviews a new book called The Rise of the Creative Class.
http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/management/story/0,10801,97255,00.html
This article emphasizes having as much participation in the requirements
process and conducting a thorough requirements review with all stakeholders
before approving them. Requirements
should be reviewed for clarity, feasibility, testability, completeness, and
non-functional requirements.
http://www.qualityprogramming.org/Requirements/RequirementsReview/RequirementsReview.htm
Many people make "new year's resolutions". This succinct list for project managers is
good advice for any member of a project team.
http://techrepublic.com.com/5100-6315_11-5464197.html
Aspect-oriented programming (AOP) is a
supplementary technique to the (now) more traditional object-oriented
programming (OOP). This article
examines the differences between AOP and OOP and some of the advantages and
pitfalls of AOP with an emphasis on Java.
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=174533
A practical case is made for defining project completion as when all
stakeholders' concerns have been addressed and agree that the project is
done. Some tips on reaching this
consensus are provided.
http://www.computerworld.com/printthis/2004/0,4814,93614,00.html
This report
includes a number of articles about future trends in software development,
including outsourcing, new technologies, the Linux vs. Microsoft battle, and more.
http://www.informationweek.com/1017/
Quest for Test is an interactive fiction game (similar to the old Infocom games like Zork) which is designed to teach software testing concepts in a fun and effective manner.
http://www.globaltester.com/tquest/index.html
This white paper (presented by IBM's Rational division) discusses how quality should be defined and measured and the value that a software quality program can provide to the overall business.
Developing good test cases for an application under test is the most important aspect of a tester's job. This article discusses what constitutes a good test case and the skills/techniques necessary to prepare them.
http://www.testingeducation.org/articles/what_is_a_good_test_case_star_2003_paper.pdf
Linktionary is a supplement, including updates, to the Encyclopedia of
Networking and Telecommunications, which provides up-to-date definitions of
lots of networking and telecom terms, plus links to additional information and
related topics.
http://www.linktionary.com/linktionary.html
While this online book (print copy available too) contains some technical
information, it is mostly a treatise on the philosophical aspects of Unix
programming, primarily by using case studies of particular applications. It is somewhat of competitor to the
"extreme" and "agile" programming philosophies. Very insightful reading.
http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/html/
This presentation gives a good, high-level overview of RUP (Rational Unified
Process). In particular, it gives
good explanations of the RUP terminology, including the "phases" and
"disciplines".
http://www.perftestplus.com/presentations/rupfordummies.pdf
This comprehensive article gives an excellent introduction to both the
basic and more advanced features of the vi editor, which is ubiquitous in the
Linux/Unix world.
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=339928
Workers who are adept at helping to translate business needs and requirements into IT systems language and vice versa will be the most successful in the future.
http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/career/article.php/3443481
The Abilene Paradox, developed by management expert Jerry Harvey, deals with how in organizations people go along with the norms even though they are not in the best interest of themselves or the organization as a whole. This article provides an overview of the Abilene Paradox and how to overcome it.
http://www.arl.org/diversity/leading/issue8/abilene.html
Linux is quickly gaining ground as the system of choice for server OSes. This very brief article explains the background of Linux and how it came to be.
http://www.linuxgazette.com/node/9721
Just as traditional engineers need to understand the properties of the physical materials they work with, software developers must comprehend how the resources that make up systems and applications behave to create the most functional and reliable systems.
http://www.cas.mcmaster.ca/sqrl/papers/sqrl7.pdf
AT&T CIO, Hossein Eslambolchi, discusses how all network and telecommunications technologies are converging toward IP basis.
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=54200151
How much do you know about the technical history of the Internet and World Wide Web? (No, it was not invented by Al Gore.) Take these quizzes to find out how much you know and to learn more.
http://techrepublic.com.com/i/tr/downloads/support/fun_games/cyberquiz1.doc
http://techrepublic.com.com/i/tr/downloads/support/fun_games/CyberQuiz2.WWW.doc
XLiveCD is CD-ROM-based version of Cygwin, which is an emulation environment that allows many Unix/Linux applications to run under Windows, that includes the basic X Windows functionality necessary to connect to remote X Windows applications, including via ssh. XLiveCD includes ability to install the applications to the hard drive and basic command shell (bash and tcsh) functionality.
Image ShellExtension adds some handy features for image files (the 12 most popular formats, including GIF, JPEG, and BMP, are supported) such as conversion to other image formats, display of a thumbnail of the file in the context menu itself, and direct printing of the file.
http://www.firmtools.com/products/shellextension/
Glass2k is a handy window transparency utility. Just right-click anywhere on a window to send the transparency in increments of 10%. The utility can be configured to load on startup and remember the transparency settings for any application or window type.
http://www.chime.tv/products/glass2k.shtml
Haystack is an Eclipse-based Java utility that helps you organize various bits of information that are typical disparate and apparently unrelated.
SysExporter allows you to extract and export to text, HTML, or XML the contents of various Windows controls, such as list views, tree views, list boxes, and combo boxes. Examples of applications that it works with are the Windows Registry Editor, SysInternals utilities, Windows Explorer and more.
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/sysexp.html
By default, Windows shows the drive description (e.g., "Apps on 'Enttulf207') first and then the drive letter in parentheses. However, in narrow common dialogs (File Open or Save, for example) or Windows Explorer, this sometimes causes the drive letter to not be displayed. Use this simple registry update to show the drive letter before the description. Run the Registry Editor (Start | Run à regedit). Navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer key. Add (or modify if it already exists) a DWORD value named ShowDriveLettersFirst. Set ShowDriveLettersFirst value to 4. Close the Registry Editor. Restart Windows for the change to take effect. (If you want to return to the default before, simply change ShowDriveLettersFirst to 0.)
This Flash-based site allows you to create your own snowflakes just like you did when you were a kid, without all of the messy paper pieces.
http://www.dinosaurdesign.com/SnowflakeFactory.swf
This site celebrates the centennial year of Einstein's publication of papers about space and time attempting to explain the universe we live in. The site includes interactive "exhibits" to help understand Einstein's theories.
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/seuforum/einstein/
This site provides instructions on the "proper" techniques for taking out your frustrations and aggressions on your computer. Lessons are supplemented with "instructional" videos to make sure you do everything right. :)
http://lap.umd.edu/computer_rage/
This site displays pi to an arbitrary number of digits. The longer that you let it load, the more digits will be displayed. If you want all of the digits, you'll wait a good long time… Or until you run out of memory! <g>
http://3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592.jp/