Marco Dorantes' WebLog

"Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes" -Edsger W. Dijkstra

LINQ Samples

Visual C# — 101 LINQ Samples Visual Basic.NET — 101 Visual Basic LINQ Samples

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 04/19/2009

Know your design tools — The Singleton case

A professional software designer —one whose next paycheck depends on the quality of her software—...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 03/29/2009

An artistic -as in skillful- programming excellent textbook

The mind of Bjarne Stroustrup through the thinking and design style of the C++ programming language...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 02/07/2009

The practical disproportion

Some individual or a small group of them have an idea or a system of ideas that look promising out...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 01/31/2009

Agile and lean fads are the new excuses for brittle software

Now that many are looking for ways to cut costs and maximize the benefits out of their shrunk...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 12/05/2008

A way to specify behavior

The modern name for an ancient programming technique —which roots can be traced back to Dr. E.W....

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 11/30/2008

Faculties offer courses and lectures freely

The University of Washington, the Computer Science & Engineering department —as other faculties...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 10/29/2008

Adaptive Methods for reality

The attitude of mind to approach reality that has helped humans to explain and to predict phenomena...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 09/30/2008

A lawful name for a profession

There is a discussion about the legitimacy of the word ‘architecture’ in software development...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 08/31/2008

Most of people around are not doing eXtreme Programming, should I try it?

If billions of people believe something, does that alone make it a justified true belief? Please,...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 07/17/2008

Paving the history of our trade

Which could possibly be the most common mistake on the history of the adoption of iterative and...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 07/11/2008

The new hells have been nurtured, by now they are alive and well

“Want me to adopt your solution? Let’s clarify first which are the new problems it brings on” -a...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 07/07/2008

The interplay of art and science in software

I have found an article with a sound explanation of the interplay of art and science with software...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 06/30/2008

Who is an architect?

While the question ‘Who or what is an architect?’ could be popular nowadays, the important for a...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 05/08/2008

What do we –really– mean by 'coding'?

Suppose a young member of the developer role in your next project team approaches to you (member of...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 05/07/2008

What the role of an architect really wants to be?

After re-reading sections about architecture in The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 05/02/2008

Should an architect code?

For those interested, the role of an architect is –also- being discussed in MSDN, here. My first...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 05/01/2008

Update on what is software development -art or science- debate

This is an update on my internal inquiry: What is software development, art or science? Not...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 04/21/2008

Belief and behavior

A belief is —for practical purposes— something that we thought is true. The incredulity or disbelief...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 04/21/2008

The "What's coming after X?" question

What could be say about the question: What's coming after X?Where X could be: Object-orientation...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 04/11/2008

Learning items in software development

A subjectively created list of books about software development grouped in the following categories:...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 04/07/2008

Message to the whole body of management teams in software industry

To all management teams in our industry: Please consider doing more of this: Increasing the minimum...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 03/12/2008

Software design skill and implementation details

Software design skill includes a tendency or habit to know the details about the raw materials our...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 02/29/2008

Stepping into base class libraries of .NET Framework while debugging

Here are some pieces of information about stepping into base class libraries of .NET Framework while...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 01/18/2008

Is there any argument against beautiful code?

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. That is right, that’s why is very important to note who is...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 01/06/2008

Time-bound and context-bound code

Where the name ‘code’ for a computer program’s source text comes from? What does it mean to say...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 12/26/2007

Team efficiency and division of labor

The concept of paradigm as described by Thomas S. Kuhn is quite profound, I have seen...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 12/09/2007

Trait of an agile environment: planning-oriented developers

When agile development still was not called agile development, there were planning-oriented...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 11/30/2007

Software architecture is much more than structure

In a recent presentation, I heard the presenter emphatically referring to someone else code as...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 11/30/2007

Trait of an agile environment: business people who care their project

In order to an airplane stays in the air is required an strict obedience to some physical laws and...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 10/22/2007

Executable design notations: Standard C++, Smalltalk and LISP

The most influential design and programming mindsets that have shaped my own frame of mind are:...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 09/01/2007

The Problem with Programming and the second part of The design and evolution of C++

The following paper by and interview with Bjarne Stroustrup have been a very good read: Evolving a...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 08/30/2007

Una introducción a la ciencia - Pensamiento científico y el método científico

Una introducción a la ciencia - Pensamiento científico y el método...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 08/20/2007

Critical thinking and software design

I have consistently seen best software designers apply critical thinking ideas to their daily work,...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 07/31/2007

‘The real world’ – an update

From time ago, I have wondered what does it really mean when people include the phrase “the real...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 07/07/2007

The way to go fast, is to go well, going well is to be knowledgeable

Sad, very sad is to hear some people saying that good software is equal to late software, even worst...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 06/30/2007

Empirical process control

While thinking about methods for delivering useful software on the hands of users comes to mind...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 06/29/2007

COM+ object per client model

Consider the following ECMAScript: var mather=new ActiveXObject("Arithmetic.Math")...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 06/24/2007

Peter Provost on TDD

Very important ideas expressed clearly, fluid and relaxed language, a sense of fun. This is an...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 05/31/2007

Traits of an agile environment

There are many peculiarities of an agile environment, here are some: Inspect frequently and adapt...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 05/02/2007

Trait of an agile environment: disciplined design work

An typical misconception about agile development is that equals to undisciplined work, my...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 05/02/2007

Trait of an agile environment: rock solid architecture

One of the most important aspects of practicing software architecture is the attention to the aspect...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 04/30/2007

Trait of an agile environment: inspect frequently and adapt

Among many properties of an agile environment, there is one worth having: the strategy for building...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 04/29/2007

Execution order between base and derived inline instance field initializers

Talking C#, what is an instance field initializer? Here are two: class T { private int afield =...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 03/11/2007

Design for Trustworthy Software: Tools, Techniques, and Methodology of Developing Robust Software

If you like studying about how to create better software from a variety of perspectives, then the...

Author: Marco Dorantes Date: 03/04/2007

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