Better Software Magazine

Better Software Magazine Articles

A Few Good Bugs

When a factory comes to a screeching halt and the collected team managers start pointing fingers at team members and ducking blame, one manager sets a valuable example by offering up a name--his own.

Patrick Bailey's picture Patrick Bailey
Principle-driven Development

Challenges are inevitable in software development, and formal methodologies may obscure the simpler, basic rules that govern quality. When faced with an overwhelmingly complex challenge, look to proven principles.

Chuck Allison's picture Chuck Allison
Record & Playback, You Have My Apologies

The relationship was wildly exciting and adventurous when it began, but soon Dion Johnson discovered the scandalous truth about his new friend, Record & Playback. Not wanting to endure or support such deceitful behavior, Dion embarked on a campaign against Record & Playback. With the intervening years acting as a buffer, he now wants to give Record & Playback a second chance. In this column, find out how Dion plans to save the relationship from totally dissolving.

Dion Johnson's picture Dion Johnson
The Power of Low-Tech Tools

The level of technology that goes into a tool is only as valuable as the service that you, as a user, get out of that tool. Some low-tech tools--such as the four that Esther Derby lists here--have a place in the technologist's toolbox, too.

Esther Derby's picture Esther Derby
From Primitive to Prominent: The Past, Present, and Future of Automated Code Analysis

Automated sourcecode analysis tools are becoming more powerful and more necessary than ever before. Alberto Savoia takes a look at the evolution of static and dynamic code analysis tools, from their humble beginnings to their present status as indispensable technology, and tells us what he predicts for the future.

Alberto Savoia
The Scoop on Employment Trends in 2006

Hundreds of Better Software magazine readers and StickyMinds.com users logged on and gave us the scoop on the industry's employment outlook. Find out how your software engineering peers responded to our annual salary survey.
 

Heather Shanholtzer's picture Heather Shanholtzer
Happy Are the Software Engineers

Miska Hiltunen takes a look at his own Tick-the-Code Inspection, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's study of happiness, and how you can cultivate quality through practical methods of empowering your software engineers to improve their own work.

Miska Hiltunen's picture Miska Hiltunen
The Ajax Balancing Act

The path to Ajax has its pitfalls, but using it carefully can put you ahead of the game. Tod Golding offers some tips to help you investigate the world of Ajax solutions, technologies, frameworks, and patterns and find a balance between an enhanced user experience and a robust application.

Tod Golding's picture Tod Golding
Believing Is Seeing

What you don't know can hurt you, and what you do know can too. Lee Copeland takes a look at how the results of a 1949 Harvard experiment with playing cards should influence the way you evaluate your previous experience when building software

Lee Copeland's picture Lee Copeland
Is There an Assessment in the House? Diagnosing Test Process Ailments in House

When you're not feeling well, you go to the doctor for a checkup. If your organization's test process isn't working as well as you'd like, you should give it the same treatment. Ruud Teunissen offers advice on performing an in-house test process assessment.

Ruud Teunissen's picture Ruud Teunissen

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