Author Archives: wfwalker

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About wfwalker

examining the unexamined life of software

birdwalker.com and the difference between Apps and Websites

Posted on April 24, 2012 by wfwalker

For my first six months of working at Mozilla on our Apps ecosystem, I would tell everyone that HTML5 developers should have an easy time getting their stuff into our Marketplace, because “it’s just the web”. And there are lots … Continue reading →

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getting lost in Cambridge

Posted on January 4, 2012 by wfwalker

While on spring break years ago, in a time before GPS and smartphones, my friend and I were trying to get to a movie theater while visiting Cambridge, MA. We stopped a stranger on the street and asked for directions. … Continue reading →

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Martin Fowler on doing painful things more often

Posted on July 28, 2011 by wfwalker

In this post entitled “FrequencyReducesDifficulty”, Martin Fowler explains why doing painful things more often reduces the pain. Think pushups, cleaning the catbox, refactoring ugly code, and integrating multiple subsystems.

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Legacy code is like unwanted inventory?

Posted on May 19, 2011 by wfwalker

In this May 2011 post, Michael Feathers asks us to consider the cost of carrying around all that legacy code, making an analogy with how lean manufacturing folks become more efficient by reducing the amount of stuff they have lying … Continue reading →

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Michael Feather’s next book

Posted on April 26, 2011 by wfwalker

Ever since I first discovered Michael Feather’s “Working Effectively with Legacy Code” I’ve been a huge fan. I find it both inspiring and a great book to teach from. While catching up on his blog this morning, I read that … Continue reading →

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TDGotchi!

Posted on April 15, 2011 by wfwalker

I heard about this from @ralekseenkov. TDGotchi is an Eclipse plug-in that creates a virtual pet, like the old Tamagotchi, except that this one doesn’t thrive on simulated feedings. It thrives on watching you fix failing unit tests and do … Continue reading →

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RubyOnAles wrap-up

Posted on March 26, 2011 by wfwalker

RubyOnAles2011 was a blast! In addition to getting in some serious hacking with JQuery, Rails, and the eBird API, I got to meet some cool ruby people, hang out in the cozy environs of the Old St. Francis School, and … Continue reading →

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Mark Pilgrim on “Why Specs Matter”

Posted on March 24, 2011 by wfwalker

In this timeless essay about how developers typically approach implementing a standard or specification, Mark Pilgrim mercilessly divides us developers into Morons and Assholes. I imagine you don’t want to chose one or the other, but after reading what he … Continue reading →

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Michael Feathers on “Data-Rich Development”

Posted on March 23, 2011 by wfwalker

In his recent post “Data-Rich Development”, Michael Feathers talks about supplementing the recent emphasis on incremental design through TDD with a longer-term perspective gained through analyzing changes to the codebase over time. As a budding source code miner myself, I … Continue reading →

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RubyOnAles 2011, here I come!

Posted on March 23, 2011 by wfwalker

Next up for me is a quick jaunt up to Bend, Oregon for Ruby On Ales 2011. I’m a Rails enthusiast but haven’t really connected with the Rails community until now. Really looking forward to it!

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