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Configuration management and brain surgery

over 6 years ago by Russ Olsen on Technology As If People Mattered.
Broadly speaking, software engineers fall into three categories. Type I engineers understand that, in software, a good configuration management system...

Who's afraid of dynamic typing?

over 6 years ago by Russ Olsen on Technology As If People Mattered.
With all the interest these days in scripting languages like Groovy and Python and especially Ruby, there is a lot of talk about perils of dynamic typing...

Is Java Dead?

over 6 years ago by Russ Olsen on Technology As If People Mattered.
The other day I was talking to a coworker about learning Ruby. He said that as a Java programmer the hardest part of learning Ruby was not the syntax nor...

Olsen's Law

over 6 years ago by Russ Olsen on Technology As If People Mattered.
Let's face it: Agile programming is full of some pretty far fetched ideas. Pair programming is the concept that two people devoted to a one man job can...

Never Hire a Build Guy

over 6 years ago by Russ Olsen on Technology As If People Mattered.
One of the first things I do when I become part of a new software project is check out the build process. I understand that not all developers do this,...

A Visit From Dave

over 6 years ago by Russ Olsen on Technology As If People Mattered.
I am lucky enough to work for a company which encourages all sorts of professional development projects for its employees. One of the most common is the...

What is the Measure of a Developer?

over 6 years ago by Russ Olsen on Technology As If People Mattered.
I've been in the software business since before it was called the software business and sometimes it can be a cold and hard place. We in technology frequently...