• Coding time: Subversion visually explained in 30 sec – Nice little visual representation
• The Python Challenge –
• Microsoft Vista Code – Not very nice but funny.
• You Use It Every Day. But Can You Make It Cook? – New York Times –
• Dr. Dobb’s | Identifying Top Developers – Great notes on how to interview and hire developers.

1. Requirements Gathering
2. Design Phase
3. Implementation Phase
4. Verification Phase
5. Maintenance Phase

Presumably at each phase of the project, there are sign offs and reviews with the stakeholders, the end users of the software. Sometimes you’ll hear phase 3 referred to as the big bang phase. This is because after phase 1 & 2 are complete, the developer(s) goes off for a period of time, codes the application and bang, delivers it for phase 4. In fact, most the time, phase 3 is going to be the longest phase (not counting continued maintenance).

This is exactly why the waterfall method sucks. The developer – and other team members – better hope they ask a cubic ton of questions in phase 1 and can accurately convey the project in phase 2. They also better hope that the stakeholders know exactly what they want. Because if not, phase 4 is going to put developers in an agitated state. In my experience, most stakeholders only have a slight idea of what they want. They aren’t techies and can’t tell you with 100% confidence if they want their software to bake bread or make toast – subtle difference right?

So you’re team rolls into phase 4 and the stakeholders are like, “OMG! WTF?” And you’re like, “What?! It does what you wanted. Don’t you remember us going over it when we showed you those diagrams and schemas?” And they’re still like, “OMG! WTF?”

This is why the iterative approach – sometimes referred to as agile development – has become so popular. It allows developers to use rapid application development (RAD) to prototype software.  So there is never a “surprise, here it is” moment. Instead the stakeholder moves down the process with you taking ownership into the final product. It’s some what similar to the creative design process, but for geeks.

Word of warning though, don’t expect developers to jump on this model though. They tend to prefer having a set of specs, sitting down and coding to those, and then moving on. They may see iterations and undocumented changes as something bad.

Anyway, not writing a book here. Let me know your experiences with software development. Do you prefer agile interative development or waterfall development?

• FriendFeed Comments WordPress Plugin – Development on a Shoestring –
• Fold-Ins, Past and Present – The New York Times –
• Google Code for Educators –
• Ryan Jerz :: Reno Blogger, Reno Blog >> The Terri Patraw Experience: the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth (allegedly) – Good example of blogger integrity in the face of threatening lawsuits
• Little Einsteins: Race for Space DVD Giveaway – My first giveaway on disneyfrontier.com

I know that I said I was intent on never programming in PHP again, but that’s what our company uses and that’s what WordPress is written in. 

When I reviewed CakePHP, the Zend Framework was very young (I think it was like version 0.6). It’s now in version 1.5 and very capable. It has all the Model-View-Controller (MVC) components as well as a plethora of web services libraries that were very easy to implement. In just a few hours, I took the YouTube library and created a topic specific video browser on my other blog. The documentation was good and there is plenty of community support.

I like how it stores the core code of your application out of the path of what is publicly browsable. It gives it a more clean secure feel. I also like that installation basically consists of copy one directory to your web server – however, it only runs on PHP 5. Caching in the Zend Framework is just a few lines of code, making it a no brainer when it comes to web services.

It does have a few trade offs. It doesn’t have scaffolding or auto form creation like the other’s have. It’s newly implemented Forms library is a little cumbersome. It’s database support, while varied, feels less than integrated.

I think all in all, it’s a great framework. I haven’t touched Cake since 1.1, so I can’t compare it to their current version. I would recommend it to any PHP developer. If you are interested, check out Killer PHP’s tutorials.

Anyone compared it to the latest version of CakePHP? Any new PHP frameworks out there that rock and roll?

Copy Categories to Tags – The Plugin

Safari 3.1 on Windows: a true competitor arrives (seriously)

Wow, looks like an impressive start for Sites.Google.com. I would be worried if I was BaseCamp.

YouTube – Google Sites Tour

a Calorie Counter is a website that can help with just this need. Simply enter in the type of food, or a product name, and it will give you the nutrional breakdown including serving size and calories.

Families, experts urge panel of state senators to mandate health coverage for autism