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Salesforce.com Deploys AppExchange
The AppExchange Developer Network provides services related to building, coding, integrating and sharing on-demand applications with the platform Salesforce announced in San Diego.
Yahoo Launches New APIs
Yahoo has not quite made available new APIs via the Yahoo! Developer Network.
Reuse or Write New?
Sometime last summer I was involved in a fairly complicated Perl project. It was one of those "Well, it's just like the thing you did for X, but now we need it for Y and Z".
Developers, Welcome To Fight Club
Programming for long hours under deadlines with an entire company's future sometimes hanging on every line of code leads to the kind of stress that can only be relieved by beating the stuffing out of someone else.
ESRI Developer Summit
A reminder from ESRI points out that the First annual
Dev Summit is only 17 days away...
Updated GRASS GIS 6.0.2 Released Today
The developers have announced yet another update to the popular GRASS The new features of GRASS 6 cover a new topological 2D/3D vector engine and support for vector network analysis.
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03.14.06
Simon's JavaScript Tutorial
 By Jeremy D. Zawodny
My only regret about missing the first half of ETech last week is that I didn't get to attend Simon's JavaScript Tutorial.
Luckily, he's posted the slides and notes on-line as a series of web pages and a Flickr photostream.
Reading over the slides, I'm reminded of how much JavaScript has evolved since I first attempted to use it ages ago. Back then it was hard because the language sucked, the browsers sucked (they still do), the documentation was poor, and IE didn't grok much of what Netscape Navigator did.
Things have improved since then. Sort of.
About the Author:
Jeremy Zawodny is the author of the popular Jeremy Zawodny's blog. Jeremy is part of the Yahoo search team and frequently posts in the Yahoo! Search blog as well.
Visit Jeremy's blog: Jeremy Zawodny's blog.
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Was Your Last Software Specification Really Appreciated?
 By Derrick Brown
If you are still trying to write system specifications in English then you are in trouble.
For the same reason that engineers and architects use graphical tools to specify their products so too must software specifiers (the term software engineer may be used, but it does imply that we're using a disciplined approach).
A system needs to be broken into small pieces in a structured way and we need to show various views of the system and how they fit together. Typically we may show a process view, a data view, perhaps a time-line view.
Each piece, or module, can then be specified, using the following rules:
1. Structure the specification - use a numbering system.
Number each separate business rule. User acceptance tests can
then be devised and cross-referenced accordingly.
2. Cross-reference - your specification must
cross-reference to the basic processes of your process model.
3. Your headings should include Overview, Input Files,
Output Files, Files Referenced, Processing Rules.
4. Write in the present tense, not the future. It's
easier to write, easier to read, and it makes more sense as
it will be read and used more when the product exists.
5. Write from the viewpoint of the processor, not the
user.
6. Be crystal clear and unambiguous. Use the active
voice (subject, verb, object, sequence), not passive voice (object,
verb or verb phrase, subject, sequence).
7. Test the specification - before it gets to the developer!
8. The rules of clear writing apply. In addition, do
not use words like should, could, may, can, might, as these
lead to ambiguity. Do not use automatically - a computer process
by definition is an automatic process - that is what you are
specifying.
For further information check the following training courses: 'Business Analysis' 'Requirements Gathering & Specification', 'Technical Writing Skills'. Full details at www.irm.com.au.
About the Author:
By Derrick Brown. Adapted for the web by Phil Dean. © 2002 IRM Training Pty Ltd ABN 56 007 219 589. www.irm.com.au.
Phil Dean is Operations Manager for IRM Training, Australia's premier training provider for Business Analysts.
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