This work was published in 2004 – a lifetime ago for the field of software design. It tackles issues relevant in 2004 but are standard practice today. Its basic message – learn not just the software but also the domain – is an important one, but most of the insights has been absorbed into computer-programming praxis over the last fifteen years. Its strength is in delineating how the programmer is to relate to the domain…
For those in the software industry, DevOps is a word we have encountered in the past few years without knowing precisely what it means. It’s generally a movement to break down silos in between Development teams and Operations teams within organizations – all with an eye to enhance the business. In this work, Viktor Farcic interviews a bunch of people with the primary question, “What is DevOps?” They all center around this same definition. To…
Techniques called “agile” comprise a more iterative approach to developing software. In many ways, it treats software as an open text instead of a fixed product. Agile development is used in most leading software shops around the world. This book treats a specific element of agile development – the retrospective. After each iteration or release, the team is gathered to discuss the last period of time and to seek improvement for the next time. This…
I’m reading this book to be prepared for a software launch that might happen in the next few months. I read a book like this to ensure that I am on top of my IT game when it comes to responding to life forces. Stories like this tell how powerful information technology can be at transforming organizations when coupled with a simple desire to learn from each other. Too often, those in IT keeps their…
DevOps is a movement about the management of computer programmers. It basically says that Development (coding) and Operations (deployment and maintenance) should communicate more and better. Such workability allows for better error detection, swifter deployment of code, etc. Interestingly, I’ve worked mainly in research environments where I’ve been in charge of both Development and Operations at the same time. I worked in a corporation with separate Dev and Ops for a few years – and…
First, this work is intended for a very niche audience. It is for computer programmers who are web designers and who want to learn not just basic CSS (how webpages are currently styled) but advanced CSS. As becomes the O’Reilly book series, Verou is fortunately a master of CSS and of technical communication. Her wit makes learning how to make the most out of CSS entertaining, intriguing, and extensible to new situations. Verou, a member…
Do you ever wonder whether our computer technology and the Internet are making us better as people? Or do they make us worse off? Are we becoming smarter or more dumb? What happens to our brains when we use the Internet? Carr explores these questions and more in this Pulitzer-Prize-finalist book. Carr borrows heavily from Marshall McLuhan, the scholar whose foresight in the 1960s defined the philosophy of electronic media. He also borrows from modern…
How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Healthcare HumanCopyright (c) 2019by Eric Topol The author, an innovative medical school president in California, is one of my favorites on the topic of computing in medicine. He sees the medical landscape wider than most scholars, and he is a true humanist at heart. He surveys the field of artificial intelligence and sees how it could apply to modern medicine. Most of the described projects are pipe dreams now, but…
Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War by Paul Scharre My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book, written by a non-technologist with extensive military experience, describes the intersection of artificial intelligence with United States military affairs. It uses terms like “autonomy” and “semi-autonomy” extensively. Autonomous weapons are weapons that can identify their own targets. Semi-autonomous weapons can track pre-identified targets (that is, targets previously identified by humans). Semi-autonomous weapons are currently…
I, Robot by Isaac Asimov My rating: 0 of 5 stars This book from the 1950s is one of the most respected works of science fiction in the English language. It tells the story of how “robots” (what we’d probably now call computers and artificial intelligence) end up taking over the world. Fortunately, Asimov’s dystopian tale has ended up not becoming true – in the timespans described by the book, at least. Computers are often…