Thoughts from a Thirsty Bear

In case you missed it, here is the Liskov Substitution Principle summarised in a handy motivational poster. (from a set of originals by Derick Bailey , released under Creative Commons)

It seems that some people have some quite strong views on the "right" way to track progress. Here's my view. In the red corner, we have the traditional burn- down graph. You start with a certain amount of estimated work, and as you finish it you cross it off the list. You finish when you hit zero. In the blue corner, we have the burn- up graph. Here you still have a certain amount of estimated work represented as a line across the graph. Work is added cumulatively and you finish when you reach the target amount of work. OK, so what's the difference? In my opinion, not much. Some suggest that a burn-up graph is psychologically more motivating because it is going up. Others I have spoken to prefer to see completion as zero, and like to see work left heading downwards. Personally I'm with the burn-downers. Another factor in choosing which way the burn goes might be ease of changing the goalposts - in other words, how easy is it to add or remove from the backlog est

Dear aspiring Software Craftsman, Here is my advice. Take whatever courses you think are interesting. Study closely the work of the Old Masters. Stop writing software that was only designed in your own mind. Stick with one technique until you perfect it. Buy a book on software structure. It's the only book you need. Until you can write a program without bugs you don't know how to program. Stay away from Javascript. You'll never master it. Very few ever have. Forget about commercial frameworks. Use Open Source. It's where the action is. Visit an old age home. Talk to the people who remember 8 inch floppy disks and punch cards. Learn to play chess. Take a business course. Do not use an MP3 player. Learn a foreign language. Scala should do it. Learn to cook. Please. Before you get scurvy or rickets. There are more food groups than pizza, coffee and chocolate bars. Learn to play a musical instrument. Learn to swim. Do not litter. Avoid politically correct people. Avoid anyo