Bill Gates is credited with saying, “Measuring programming progress by lines of code is like measuring aircraft building progress by weight.”
So, if you shouldn’t evaluate the productivity of developers—as individuals or as teams—by counting lines of code, what should you measure? By progress on use cases? Through burn-down charts? By some convoluted calculation that involves defect tracking charts? You can find many opinions and, frankly, there’s no one-size-fits-all.
Or is there? In his regular Curly Braces column, Eric Bruno tackles the issue. Does his solution resonate?
Take care, Alan Zeichick Editor in Chief, Java Magazine @zeichick
P.S. You may have seen that Bob Lee, a tech entrepreneur and creator of Guice, was tragically killed in San Francisco on April 4. “Crazy Bob” was a Java Champion, and in his memory, here is a short interview from JavaOne 2011 about Java references. |
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The newest Java Magazine articles |
Curly Braces #10: The best way to measure Java developer productivity How do you measure programmer productivity? Forget about counting the number of software lines of code (usually abbreviated as either LoC or SLoC) written each day. Eric Bruno discusses the shortcomings of the LoC approach (it’s even debatable what LoC is) and suggests a few alternatives.
The hidden and not-so-hidden gems in Java 20 Mohamed Taman is back with his traditional look deep inside the newest Java release. There’s a lot more to Java 20 than the widely publicized JEPs. Study all these changes; even if you don’t use the preview and incubator features, there are sufficient bug fixes and other enhancements to make this release worth testing and using on production systems today.
Book review: DevOps Tools for Java Developers Andrew Binstock explains that despite the widening adoption of the DevOps approach to software construction, useful books on the topic have been few and far between. This situation makes a book, such as the present volume by Stephen Chin, Melissa McKay, Ixchel Ruiz, and Baruch Sadogursky, particularly welcome. |
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A hefty discount on the Java 17 certification guide |
Our colleagues at Oracle Press have put together a discount for Java Magazine subscribers on the new Oracle Certified Professional Java SE 17 Developer (Exam 1Z0-829) Programmer’s Guide by Khalid Mughal and Vasily Strelnikov.
Actually, the discount is available for several products. Here’s how to order: Save 40% off books and ebooks in the Oracle Press for Java series through May 7, 2023, using code JAVAMAG.
The fine print: Discount code JAVAMAG confers a 40% discount off list price of ISBNs 9780137673629, 9780137673766, 9780137870905, 9780137871070, 9780137993642, and 9780137993833 only when purchased on informIT.com. Discount not valid on Book + eBook bundles, Book/eBook + Video bundles, print books, individual video lessons, non-discountable products, or any title featured as eBook Deal of the Day or Video Deal of the Week. Discount code may not be combined with any other offer and is not redeemable for cash. Discount offer expires 11:59 p.m. EDT May 7, 2023. Offer subject to change. |
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