Section 27 sheets
“If you think cryptography will solve your problem, then you don’t understand cryptography and you don’t understand your problem.” — Roger Needham A few colleagues and I recently revisited a familiar debate. In most data …
“A system is not determined by the algorithms it uses, but by the assumptions it makes.” — Leslie Lamport Randomness appears deceptively uniform in most software systems. A call is made, bytes are returned, and execution …
“The purpose of abstraction is not to be vague, but to create a new semantic level in which one can be absolutely precise.” — Edsger W. Dijkstra Randomness occupies an unusual position in software systems. We rely on it …
“All problems in computer science can be solved by another level of indirection.” — David J. Wheeler Identifier generation is one of those concerns that quietly disappears into the background of a system. At small scale, …
I recently spoke with Richard Tackett, Editor in Chief of American trade publication BUSRide (opens in a new window) , to discuss fare collection best practices with a focus on revenue. Originally posted on BUSRide …
The importance of dummies, mocks, stubs, and fakes is fundamental to test-driven development.
Why is it important to write automated tests? I’m asked this question far too often by software engineering teams. The usual response I receive after asking someone why they don’t write tests usually is because “I don’t …
A year ago today, I posted an article describing my decision to raise the priority of a healthy lifestyle. Last year was very busy for me professionally. I decided very early that in order to become healthier, I needed …
There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The …
I recently moved to Chicago and, as part of that overall effort, decided to raise the priority of a healthy lifestyle. As with most people who have a pulse, I am not getting any younger and so am very keen to avoid …