Tools-of-the-Trade Jennie Zhu http://www.computer.org/portal/web/computingnow/tools-of-the-trade/-/blogs/systems-software 2013-04-11T18:00:13Z 2013-04-11T17:10:04Z

Systems software is the low-level infrastructure that applications run on. As an applications programmer, first try to find existing systems software rather than writing it from scratch. Once you

Jennie Zhu 2013-04-11T17:10:04Z Jennie Zhu http://www.computer.org/portal/web/computingnow/tools-of-the-trade/-/blogs/software-tools-research:-splash-panel-discussion 2013-02-21T19:58:12Z 2013-02-21T19:58:11Z

On 25 October 2012, at ACM’s SPLASH conference, six practitioners and academics came together for a panel discussion about “Software Tools Research A Matter of Scale and Scope—or Commoditization?”

Jennie Zhu 2013-02-21T19:58:11Z Jennie Zhu http://www.computer.org/portal/web/computingnow/tools-of-the-trade/-/blogs/the-importance-of-being-declarative 2012-12-19T01:25:42Z 2012-12-19T01:00:26Z

A declarative programming style focuses on what you want your program to do rather than how to perform the task. By avoiding implementation details, well-written declarative code is easier to

Jennie Zhu 2012-12-19T01:00:26Z Jennie Zhu http://www.computer.org/portal/web/computingnow/tools-of-the-trade/-/blogs/apis-libraries-and-code 2012-10-19T20:45:49Z 2012-10-19T20:45:05Z

The choice between using an application platform's functionality (Java EE or .NET), calling an external library, or writing code on your own involves numerous factors. When you write your own code,

Jennie Zhu 2012-10-19T20:45:05Z Jennie Zhu http://www.computer.org/portal/web/computingnow/tools-of-the-trade/-/blogs/i-spy 2012-10-19T20:46:08Z 2012-10-19T20:44:04Z

The DTrace dynamic-tracing framework provides uniform mechanisms for spying comprehensively and unobtrusively on the operating system, application servers, runtime environments, libraries, and

Jennie Zhu 2012-10-19T20:44:04Z Jennie Zhu http://www.computer.org/portal/web/computingnow/tools-of-the-trade/-/blogs/cracking-software-reuse 2012-10-09T18:31:53Z 2012-10-09T18:29:32Z

The Unix system and its pipelines are a model of software reuse, while software repositories, package-management systems, shared-library technologies, and language platforms have also increased

Jennie Zhu 2012-10-09T18:29:32Z Jennie Zhu http://www.computer.org/portal/web/computingnow/tools-of-the-trade/-/blogs/open-source-and-professional-advancement 2012-09-11T16:35:09Z 2012-09-11T16:35:08Z

Open source software development efforts offer professionals a new and valuable way to obtain significant experience in a wide range of areas as an alternative to existing certification schemes.

Jennie Zhu 2012-09-11T16:35:08Z Jennie Zhu http://www.computer.org/portal/web/computingnow/tools-of-the-trade/-/blogs/choosing-a-programming-language 2012-09-11T16:34:17Z 2012-08-23T00:34:10Z

There's no language suitable for all tasks, and there probably won't ever be one. When choosing a programming language, you have to balance programmer productivity, maintainability, efficiency,

Jennie Zhu 2012-08-23T00:34:10Z Jennie Zhu http://www.computer.org/portal/web/computingnow/tools-of-the-trade/-/blogs/debuggers-and-logging-frameworks 2012-07-12T22:17:16Z 2012-07-12T22:17:03Z

Debuggers are cheap and effective tools. Typically we use them in a bottom-up fashion starting from the problem going to its source, but when this strategy fails, we might have to resort to a more

Jennie Zhu 2012-07-12T22:17:03Z Jennie Zhu http://www.computer.org/portal/web/computingnow/tools-of-the-trade/-/blogs/bug-busters 2012-05-16T00:44:28Z 2012-05-16T00:44:28Z

Stringent quality control helps eliminate bugs. Tools can help prevent them from ending up in production code. We can use type-safe languages, heed compiler warnings, adopt specialized bug-finding

Jennie Zhu 2012-05-16T00:44:28Z Jennie Zhu http://www.computer.org/portal/web/computingnow/tools-of-the-trade/-/blogs/project-asset-portability 2012-04-27T17:31:15Z 2012-04-27T17:07:07Z

Source code makes up only a small part of a system's assets; we also have specs, design diagrams, build rules, version history, documentation, regression tests, and more. Chances are you dread even

Jennie Zhu 2012-04-27T17:07:07Z Jennie Zhu http://www.computer.org/portal/web/computingnow/tools-of-the-trade/-/blogs/working-with-unix-tools 2012-03-14T17:34:21Z 2012-03-14T17:34:21Z

With modern shell command-line editing facilities, we can build commands bit by bit until they are exactly what we need. Nowadays, many systems offer the original Unix tools, so there's no reason not

Jennie Zhu 2012-03-14T17:34:21Z Jennie Zhu http://www.computer.org/portal/web/computingnow/tools-of-the-trade/-/blogs/version-control-systems 2012-02-16T22:19:52Z 2012-02-16T22:19:52Z

Many software projects limp along without using a version control system. If you or your project isn't using a VCS, adopting one might well be the single most important tooling improvement you can

Jennie Zhu 2012-02-16T22:19:52Z Jennie Zhu http://www.computer.org/portal/web/computingnow/tools-of-the-trade/-/blogs/tool-writing:-a-forgotten-art- 2012-01-12T19:09:45Z 2012-01-12T19:09:45Z

Finding the right solution to a problem is more effective than simply adding features. When trying to create a tool for collecting metrics, the author discovered something important: writing

Jennie Zhu 2012-01-12T19:09:45Z Jennie Zhu http://www.computer.org/portal/web/computingnow/tools-of-the-trade/-/blogs/java-makes-scripting-languages-irrelevant- 2011-12-09T01:26:21Z 2011-12-09T01:25:16Z

With the evolution from general-purpose scripting languages to Java and .NET, the niche occupied by scripting languages is rapidly shrinking. Software developers, as avid tool users, can enjoy viewing

Jennie Zhu 2011-12-09T01:25:16Z Jennie Zhu http://www.computer.org/portal/web/computingnow/tools-of-the-trade/-/blogs/dear-editor 2011-12-09T01:26:05Z 2011-11-08T23:16:22Z

Using an editor to help with programming can save time and effort. This episode discusses some of the ways editors can help as well as pitfalls programmers should avoid. Listen:

Jennie Zhu 2011-11-08T23:16:22Z Jennie Zhu http://www.computer.org/portal/web/computingnow/tools-of-the-trade/-/blogs/the-tools-at-hand 2011-10-11T18:46:11Z 2011-10-11T18:39:39Z

This podcast explores the interplay between you, the software practitioner, and the tools you apply to your development problems. Each episode will discuss software construction activities and the

Jennie Zhu 2011-10-11T18:39:39Z