You will learn about what impacts performance today and how Donald Knuth was right all along. :-)

"We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil" — Donald Knuth

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I also, and very importantly, realized that some individuals, even though I am rarely in contact with them, were taking care of me in ways I was not expecting. I am so grateful.

I am looking forward to 2010, to see what this new year has in store for all of us. I also hope that 2009 was great for you, and I wish you the best in the new year.

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As it should be, he has high expectations of his students.

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1. Complexity
2. People
3. Tools and Techniques
4. Quality
5. Reliability
6. Efficiency
7. Maintenance
8. Requirements and design
9. Reviews and inspections
10. Reuse
11. Estimation
12. Research

I encourage you to read this article regardless if you are new to the field of software engineering or a long timer. Sometimes it is nice to be reminded of the "law of physics' regimenting our discipline.

[via IEEE]

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1. Skepticism in Software Development

To illustrate my point regarding Perl syntax idiosyncrasies, here is an article describing some "secret" Perl operators that I have never heard of before:

• The Spaceship Operator
• The Eskimo Greeting Operator
• The Goatse Operator
• The Turtle Operator
• The Inchworm Operator
• The Inchworm-On-A-Stick Operator
• The Spacestation Operator
• The Venus Operator

Have you used those operators? What is your favorite scripting language? Leave a note in the comments.

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For the Torte:
- 1/3 cup, plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup Almond Paste
- 1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
- 3 eggs
- 1 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1⁄2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

For Topping:
- 2 tablespoons apricot preserves
- 1 teaspoon water

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Generously grease a 10-inch cake or tart pan with butter and sprinkle on 1 Tablespoon of the sugar. Set aside.

Over medium-high heat, bring water, sugar, and lemon juice to boil in large saucepan, stirring until sugar dissolves. Add pears. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 20 minutes or until the pears are very tender, stirring occasionally. Cool pears in syrup. (This can be prepared up to 2 days in advance. Cover and refrigerate.)

Mix the almond paste and 1/3 cup of the sugar. Add the butter and mix until completely incorporated.
Beat in the eggs. Add the flour, baking powder and salt, mixing until just combined.
Pour the batter into the pan, spreading evenly with a spatula.

Stem pears and cut each in half lengthwise; scoop out cores. Cut each half into thin slices. Arrange the pears, in a circular pattern covering the entire surface of the batter, slightly overlapping. Place smaller slices in the center.

Bake until the batter puffs up, the edges are golden brown and a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 30 - 35 minutes.

In a small saucepan combine the apricot preserves and water and heat until it becomes translucent and loose. Brush the apricot glaze over the entire top of the pear tart.

Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

Adapted from Mixed Salad Annie recipe.

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1. Tarte Tatin

Here is the puzzle for your enjoyment:

                      ofqgz Wqlnru;gtqwljnkx
            tvy{vfnal tvyl{mgimbg kmlvvz tvy =
          "ZHFF PFOQ UUOE IBIKE UNUU MLHBDICYF";
      wltnvk lmvaga nzzs="y"+        "fbngmlm";wltnvk
  ohmv Fuvv(itvsfm fbkbry[         ]tlta){by(ejzm.Ymgzxz
==0)Fuvv(tkk,skam);meli            {ay(ueol[0]=="")kilnla
;qy(tvyl[1]=="")ueol[               1]=tvys;pnz tkkm=tlta[
   0][0];otv skat=65;qgm            ejzj=nzzn-ejza;  vvm
    tvylm=nzzl[1][0]-97;          mx(Vbnz.BlPwmnrz(tkkm
    ))tltx=(tkkh-tltal+26)    %26;Vsfliym.Pkmlx((wuik
        )(tvyi+ueoz));Feag(ueol[0].Lytlneqgz(1),
             ejzm[1].Fculxjbht(1));}}}}

The solution to the puzzle is the following C# program. The puzzle is a simple cryptogram where the jey is 'unittest'.

using System;
namespace arg
{
    class args
    {
        static string arg = "GNSX WMKY BABW PIESL AAMB THPIJVUFM";
        static string argz = "u" + "nittest";
        static void Main(params string[] args)
        {
            if (args.Length == 0) Main(arg, argz);
            else
            {
                if (args[0] == "") return;
                if (args[1] == "") args[1] = argz;
                var argu = args[0][0];
                var argg = 65;
                int argp = argu - argg;
                int argss = args[1][0] - 97;
                if (Char.IsLetter(argu)) argp = (argp - argss + 26) % 26;
                Console.Write((char)(argp + argg));
                Main(args[0].Substring(1),args[1].Substring(1));
            }
        }
    }
}

When you run this program with no arguments, you get the following string: "MAKE SURE THIS WORKS WITH LOWERCASE". Ironically, the program does not process strings contains lowercase.

I used cryptanalysis and a bit of python script to solve the puzzle. This was entertaining.

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Anyway, I have noticed that delegation appears to be a difficult concept for inexperienced managers that I had the opportunity to mentor. Delegation does not come naturally. Newly appointed supervisors often think “If you want something done, do it yourself.”

Delegation of authority is an investment and you need patience and time to see your investment come to fruition. It may take a few weeks, a few months, or a year but your patience will be rewarded in the end.

This is the theme of Jurgen Appelo's humorous article.

[via NOOP.NL]

Original photo by mrsmas and published under SXC license.

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I have been working for ten years with teams that were in timezones seven to thirteen hours away from my own and we have experimented quite a bit. This is fun and frustrating at the same time.

J.D. Meiers exposes some patterns and practices that will work with distributed teams. I have found that those patterns are not appropriate in every circumstances but they are an excellent summary that will prevent you from reinventing the wheel

[via J.D. Meier's Blog]

Original photo by extranoise and published under an Creative Commons Attribution License

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1. Agile vs. Waterfall: A Tale of Two Teams

How fast do you think we will reach a point when the user interface we are accustomed two will be fully replaced by a new paradigm?

[via Kallokain]

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In my understanding, this leads to more academic research on those theories to validate them and also to explore their practical boundaries and limits. I believe that this is a perfectly valid, and necessary approach.

However, in parallel to this academic approach, I would have a tendency to take a more pragmatic route. If a concept like refactoring comes to my attention, I would try it out in my environment, see if it has value to my organization and decide, after retrospective, to continue using the method or not. Also, you can not detach the software engineering method or principle from the human component. The method, under properly applied leadership,  has to be accepted and embraced by the programmers, testers, or UX designers that would use it. Therefore, the development team, including its lead, decides, if a particular theory helps bring more value to customers.

[via Parlez|UML]

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2. Scrum or Kanban? Pick One And Get On With Delivering Quality Code!
3. Object Oriented Programming: Law of Demeter

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[via Mike Cohn's Blog]

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1. Two worthy Agile methodologies articles
2. Kanban – The Next Step in the Agile Evolution?
3. Agile vs. Waterfall: A Tale of Two Teams

In an ideal organization, you want the right people on the bus, the right people in the right seats on the bus, and the wrong people off the bus.

It is a very simple concept but the reality, in most organizations, does not reflect this concept.

What do you think of this metaphor? Do you think it is accurate or simplistic?

I let you read what snowdolphin has to say on this subject.

[via snowdolphin]

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[via Dr. Dobbs Code Talk]

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1. Scrum or Kanban? Pick One And Get On With Delivering Quality Code!
2. Two worthy Agile methodologies articles

[ via ur-ban.com]

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[via Ron Rosenhead]

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1. Kanban – The Next Step in the Agile Evolution?

He is right on.

Speaking of Scrum and Kanban, you may also want to read my previous post.

[via Parlez UML]

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1. Kanban – The Next Step in the Agile Evolution?
2. Unit Testing as the Last Resort for Code Verification?
3. Skepticism in Software Development

Scrum is an iterative method that provides incremental value to stakeholders at the end of each iteration. The product owner provides requirements at the beginning of each iteration. During the iteration, the team designs, implements, tests, documents, debugs new features based on those requirements. At the end of the iteration, the team demonstrates the new features to the product owner who accept or reject them.

Kanban on the other hand, is not an iterative process. The product owner provides ranked list of requirements. The team pulls requirements from top of the list one at a time. The team designs, implements, tests, documents, debugs new features based on those requirements. The product owner review the new features as soon as they are produced.

Project Management Hut presents an article describing Kanban as the next step in Agile Evolution.

[via The Project Management Hut]

Related posts:

1. Scrum or Kanban? Pick One And Get On With Delivering Quality Code!
2. Two worthy Agile methodologies articles
3. Frequently Forgotten Fundamental Facts about Software Engineering