• Managed Technical Debt (revisited) - Debt is good. Organizations use it all the time to invest. Technical debt can be good. Are you investing wisely? This talk is based on an older blog post of mine. Read More Managed Technical Debt The Repair/Replace Heuristic for Legacy Software [Mathias Verraes]
• Information Overload - Update2021-05-23 I wrote about the “It's Just Like. . . ” Heuristic which explains this all better. You are reading this on an Information Overload Device. Probably one that fits in your bag or even your pocket. [Mathias Verraes]

Permalink | From 23 June 2014 to 29 June 2014 | Last updated on: Mon, 7 Jun 2021 09:18:52 GMT

• The Cost of Estimation - On Estimation The Cost of Estimation Sterile Estimation Ballpark Figures When somebody asks you to estimate how long a feature or a project will take, you will estimate the shortest possible time in which you can complete it. Think about this. Observe your own thoughts while estimating, and you’ll know it’s true. Even if the request was done with the best of intentions, the implicit assumption is not “how long will it take to build it right” but “how fast can you build it”. If you have been burned by this, you move on to phase 2: padding your estimation. You do it secretly, and you feel like a cheat for doing it. [Mathias Verraes]

Permalink | From 16 June 2014 to 22 June 2014 | Last updated on: Mon, 7 Jun 2021 09:18:52 GMT

• When to Use Static Methods - Some of the reactions to my last blog post on Named Constructors in PHP, originate from the notion that static methods are inherently bad and should never be used. This is rather overgeneralized. Static methods are nothing more than namespaced global functions. Namespacing, I think we can all agree on, is great. As for global functions: We use those all the time. The native functions in PHP form our basic building blocks. [Mathias Verraes]
• Named Constructors in PHP - PHP allows only a single constructor per class. That’s rather annoying. We’ll probably never have proper constructor overloading in PHP, but we can at least enjoy some of the benefits. Let’s take a simple Time value object. Which is the best way of instantiating it? <?php$time=newTime("11:45");$time=newTime(11,45); The only correct answer is “it depends”. Both are correct from the point of view of the domain. [Mathias Verraes]

Permalink | From 09 June 2014 to 15 June 2014 | Last updated on: Mon, 7 Jun 2021 09:18:52 GMT