Loosely Coupled

I was inspired by this talk from RailsConf given by Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin. It's a really entertaining talk and you should check it out if you haven't already. During the talk, the topic of professionalism came up and what it means to be a "professional software developer" (maybe 2/3 of the way through). Professionalism in software development is a topic that's not well defined and certainly has different meanings to different people. Can you be considered a pro, for instance, if you don't provide a set of automated tests for your code? What if you don't use source control? Do you feel the need to always create a custom build file (make, ant, or maven script) so you can build independent of an IDE? Do your "professional" standards change depending on if you're creating "prototypes" rather than designing code for production? I know which things I strive to do on every project I work on. But the standards for the t...

Chrome OS I'm excited about Google's announcement to release what sounds like an ultra lightweight OS to basically surf the Internet. I'm hoping this device will allow me (and others) to breathe new life into old, underpowered laptops, allowing them to essentially work as netbooks. This could also open up new and inexpensive opportunities for schools to recycle or prolong the life of expensive computing equipment and expand horizons of their students. I've been watching the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) movement for some time and I see this as another avenue toward their goal. I don't share the optimism that this OS will somehow replace Windows. Sometimes you need extra horsepower and functionality. I edit a lot of photos and create some simple video, but the web tools I've tried to do either task can't hold a candle to the four-year-old version of Photoshop Elements I own. I'm not sure CPU intensive apps like this will port very well to the web....