"Code" entries
The many sides to shipping a great software project
An interview with Shipping Greatness author Chris Vander Mey.
Chris Vander Mey, CEO of Scaled Recognition, and author of a new O’Reilly book, Shipping Greatness, lays out in this video some of the deep lessons he learned during his years working on some very high-impact and high-priority projects at Google and Amazon.
Chris takes a very expansive view of project management, stressing the crucial decisions and attitudes that leaders need to take at every stage from the team’s initial mission statement through the design, coding, and testing to the ultimate launch. By merging technical, organizational, and cultural issues, he unravels some of the magic that makes projects successful.
PowerShell for developers
Doug Finke on why PowerShell isn't just for administrators.
Doug Finke (@dfinke) is an O’Reilly author and software developer. He moderates a PowerShell for Developers forum at powershell.org.
We sat down recently to talk about the PowerShell, which has a new version launching with Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, and how it has grown with this latest release.
Key points from the full video interview include:
- New to PowerShell v3: Workflows and many, many more cmdlets [Discussed at the 0:39 mark]
- Streamline larger programs by incorporating PowerShell [Discussed at the 2:15 mark]
- Automation equals repeatability [Discussed at the 3:40 mark]
- PowerShell has a passionate community [Discussed at the 5:41 mark]
- What does the future hold for PowerShell? [Discussed at the 7:16 mark]
You can view the entire interview in the following video.
ASP.NET web API rocks
Why the ASP.NET Web API Framework is an essential tool for RESTful applications.
Glenn Block (@gblock) is an O’Reilly author and senior program manager on the Windows Azure Team at Microsoft.
We sat down recently to talk about the newly released ASP.NET Web API Framework, which he helped develop, and why it will become essential to building RESTful applications.
Key points from the full video (below) interview include:
- ASP.NET Web API enables a rich set of clients to consume info [Discussed at the 1:47 mark]
- Find out if one comes out on top – MVC vs. Web API [Discussed at the 2:41 mark]
- Different clients negotiate content differently – Web API handles this with ease [Discussed at the 5:50 mark]
- Self hosting is a big deal but beyond that Web API introduces flexibility – you no longer need to use IIS [Discussed at the 9:04 mark]
- An HTTP Programming Model for Microsoft [Discussed at the 11:04 mark]
- The newest of the new – Hypermedia, OData, and Web API Contrib [Discussed at the 18:08 mark]
You can view the entire interview in the following video.
Mastering iOS development
Matt Neuburg has suffered through the difficult bits of iOS development so you don't have to.
Matt Neuburg is an O’Reilly author and long-time writer for tidBITS.
We sat down recently to talk about iOS development and how best to build solid apps … the secret is take the time to learn the basics.
Key points from the full video (below) interview include:
- All of the real power in iOS development is in C. [Discussed at the 1:26 mark]
- Don’t use the Cocoa Framework, let it use you. [Discussed at the 2:56 mark]
- Even though you don’t have time, understanding the underlying foundation of the OS makes you better a developer. [Discussed at the 8:07 mark]
- Take a deep breath … Apple is actually working on improving the dev experience. [Discussed at the 10:54 mark]
You can view the entire interview in the following video.
Using Python for Computer Vision
Jan Erik Solem describes elements and useful tools for computer vision
In this interview, Jan Erik Solem, author of the upcoming book "Programming Computer Vision with Python," describes the uses for some common operations, and choices programmers have.
Jon Loeliger offers some practices to use with Git
Advice from author of "Version Control with Git."
After finishing the second edition of "Version Control with Git," author Jon Loeliger talked to O'Reilly editor Andy Oram about how to use Git effectively as changes to code pile up.
A federal judge learned to code
Code isn't just for programmers. It's a part of the world we live in.
The judge presiding over the Oracle/Google case learned Java, and that skill came in handy when coding specifics arose during the trial. It's proof that coding is a part of cultural competence, even if you never do it professionally.
Top Stories: April 23-27, 2012
Gracefully failing websites, big data in Europe, and why simple code matters.
This week on O'Reilly: Etsy's Mike Brittain explained how to allow for graceful website failures, the organizers of Big Data Week examined Europe's data scene, and author Max Kanat-Alexander discussed the considerable benefits of simple code.
Scale your JavaScript, scale your team
The challenges of building big JavaScript apps with big teams.
"High Performance JavaScript" author Nicholas Zakas discusses the issues that pop up when you build big JavaScript apps with big teams.
Process kills developer passion
Best practices sound good in isolation, but they can suck the life out of developers.
The software industry is now full of "best practices," and many of them make sense when considered in isolation. But when you lump them all on the backs of developers, you end up with dispirited bureaucrats/bean counters.