Martin Fowler argues that even if we abandon Lines-Of-Code, still we CannotMeasureProductivity: "...Even if we did find an accurate way for function points to determine functionality...if I spend a year delivering a 100FP system and Joe spends the same year delivering a 50FP system can we assume that I'm …

There are lots of lectures going on at Microsoft...many recorded talks online publicly at the Multi-University/Research Lectures project.  via [Curiosity is bliss]

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On the one hand: "...what coder is slinging 100 lines of code a day? That's an exceptionally GREAT day of coding... " and on the other, "Strong typing is one reason that languages like C++ and Java require more finger typing..."

There's a lot of froth right now that claims that …

Ingo criticizes the use of airline reservation systems as an example in distributed concurrent systems: "The last time I checked, a ticket was no guarantee for a seat and the only real transactional guarantee for a seat is during check in. Reservation doesn't count too much here."

Since I've spent …

Will you vote for my proposed BOF gathering at PDC? It's on page 4.

"C#'s super and VB.NET's invaluable, but it's been argued that the greatest benefit of .NET is the level field it provides for programming languages both familiar and exotic. This session will bring together language …

A student who wrote a violent short story on a school computer may face 10 years in prison. Prosecutors say they are trying to prevent more school massacres; the student's defenders say they're fighting attempts to criminalize thought. By Kim Zetter. via [Wired News]

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Also in EWeek, Spencer the Kat reports that at at a recent conference, during his keynote Don Box spotted Miguel de Icaza and called "Miguel, I brought an employment application. Your ass is mine!" Do you think Jack Messman laughed or blanched when he heard?

EWeek reports that IT workloads are rising and the cause is an increase in new projects and not so much from layoffs. This from a survey of 1,400 CIOs by Robert Half Technology. But about 2 pages later, they have articles that convincingly forecast flat IT budgets for 2004 …

Somewhat disappointed by last night's Marin premiere of "Step Into Liquid," the surfing documentary whose original trailer was just about the best 5 minute film I've ever seen. The highlight of the trailer was a sequence in which the basso profoundo announcer says "And including..." (sea begins to rise) "...the …

The August CACM contains an article "Understanding email interaction increase organizational productivity" (not online) which finds that it takes about a minute to resume work after being interrupted by an email notification. Which is kind of problematic if you set your email to check for new mail every five minutes …