We've just shipped our first application whose core algorithm was written in Scala. Regrettably, the project didn't lend itself to "getting our feet wet," and it basically boiled down to the Scala modules being black boxes while the rest of us worked in more pedestrian technologies such as Java and …

I disagree with a lot in this post Process kills developer passion

...maybe junior (or specialized) developers should be writing the unit tests, leaving the more seasoned developers free to concentrate on the actual implementation of the application. Maybe you don't need to micro-manage them with daily updates to VersionOne …

Act 1

A charismatic con man declares that the world is going to end on a specific date. He calls for donations, ostensibly to alert nonbelievers of the joyful and ominous news.

Act 2

The meme goes viral and all of a sudden, his normal income from donations increase 1000x …

Although it's a little heavy on IBM-specific acronyms and trademarks ("Agility\@Scale"), this relatively brief (20-page) whitepaper from Scott Ambler does a good job showing how agile processes are not just laissez faire "let them hack" chaos. Although this diagram makes me cringe a little (what's with the I Ching …

One of the buzzwords that has become more popular in recent years is "continuous delivery." The idea is that you fully automate your deployment pipeline and put a new version of your software in front of your users at least every day. If features are partially implemented, you use the …

It turns out that your iPhone keeps an unencrypted datafile containing your approximate location. You can review this datafile by using this application.

So the first question is: "What? My iPhone is 'tracking' me?" And the answer to that is, "yes, generally, but not to 'Enemy of the State' levels …

Kokua For Japan - A Hawaii Benefit Concert For Japanese Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami Disaster Relief.

Up a tree no more: A 'real' artificial leaf debuts - Technology & science - Science - DiscoveryNews.com - msnbc.com.

Apparently, they have two low-cost catalysts that can help dissociate water into hydrogen and oxygen which apparently is an advantage because ""a lot of the cost of a solar panel is in the …

Coding Relic: Non-blocking Programmers.

In which D. Gentry makes the excellent point that high programming productivity is unlikely to result from a single cause, but from a multiplicity. He lauds typing speed and criticizes excessive swearing (dammit).

I am skeptical about "typing speed" but I've come to think that "navigation …

Yesterday, I heard a presentation on the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, a planned telescope that will take a wide-angle photo of the sky, read the data out, and then move on to the next patch of the sky. This is in marked contrast to the highly planned targeting and relatively …