Joel on Software - Painless Functional Specifications - Part 1: Why Bother?

Today was a classic case of synchronicity. For the fast few days I was quite caught up in the comp.software.extreme-programming
Today I got Joel's mail regarding his latest post (people have started discussing it in the usenet group) which basically pointed out the following:
"I can’t tell you how strongly I believe in Big Design Up Front, which the proponents of Extreme Programming consider anathema. I have consistently saved time and made better products by using BDUF and I’m proud to use it, no matter what the XP fanatics claim. They’re just wrong on this point and I can’t be any clearer than that."

Interesting point - I had hardly mulled this over when a friend wanted to know more about Agile Programming:)

But none of this has anything to do with this post :D

All I started out to say was that after visiting Joel's latest post I visited the links he ad pointed out one of which happened to be the post which is linked in the title of this post. I was reading this post and I happened upon this line:

"The more you write, the more you'll be able to write. If you need to write specs and you can't, start a journal, create a weblog, take a creative writing class, or just write a nice letter to every relative and college roommate you've blown off for the last 4 years."

Whats great about this line??? Well, this was the line which inspired me to start weblogging:)

So at the end of it all this was just a trivial emotional post:)

The Meaning of R.S.V.P.

Quite useful since many of us have forgotten what this acronym stands for. I know I had!

The short of it : "Respondez S'il Vous Plait"
The complete description - hop over to the link above.

Jai Hind

Here is wishing all Indians a Happy Independence Day.



btw the google image for the day:

"feeping creaturism"

Do you know that creature which runs around going "feep, feep".
You don't!!! You should!
So all you managers and software engineers out there, remember these two
words "Feeping Creaturism"

OK,OK before you blow your top it is just a spoonerism for "Creeping
Featurism". A-ha! Now you get it!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feeping_creaturism

Seven habits of effective text editing

"If you spend a lot of time typing plain text, writing programs or HTML, you can save much of that time by using a good editor and using it effectively. This paper will present guidelines and hints for doing your work more quickly and with fewer mistakes." - Bram Moolenaar

Fogcreek Open House [Notes from a desi geek.]

For JoS fans. If you do not know what JoS means you are not a fan:)

Telegraph | Travel | Travel gadgets: it knows where you are...

The Hitchhikers Guide - the real deal -is here. So don't panic and don't forget your towel!!!