Software application development
This blog is intended to provoke discussion and exchange between like minded software application developers, engineers, architects, project managers - and keen hobbyists too.
Monday 20 October 2008, 10:17 AM
Renaissance development for enlightened users: no thanks!
Last week’s presentation by Mike Gualtieri (no relation to General Leopoldo) of Forrester at Qt’s Developer Days event in Munich was, I would like to argue, rather better than the usual flavourless filler material.
Gualtieri referred to a book by James Martin (no relation to the TV cook) published back in 1981 called ‘Application development without programmers’, where an increasing use of automation for code creation is discussed.
The question in hand is basically: is this a good thing? The answer, by and large, is: hell no!
This dystopian nightmare world (if it ever becomes a reality) is populated by the ‘Renaissance Developer’ (Gualtieri’s term) who creates tools for (and I quote), “Enlightened technically-aware users.”
Oh dear, this sounds dangerous doesn’t it?
These so-called enlightened users will in all likelihood get in way over their heads and get stuck to start with. But what if they start actually developing applications and their well-intentioned little projects start to mutate and become semi-workable mutant monsters.
Haven’t we been here before? Business Intelligence software got dangerously close to this area and showed signs of Gualtieri’s most likely prediction where, “Extreme expectations lead to disillusionment.” …or worse, mutant monster applications.
How do we avoid this scenario then? Look to those developers with an innate appreciation for business. It is these guys (and girls) that will be most likely to bridge the gap between business and IT and create tools that are technically well-engineered but have also been architected to fulfil the business functions for which they are intended.
PreviousComments on this post
Is this dumbing down rearing its ugly head again Adrian? Or is it well intentioned?
Reminds me of those video game construction kits that never really took off! You just end up with a set of predefined limits that you can't break through and of course that means inovation is limited, which is never a good thing!
Hey Roger,
I don't know if it really is rearing it's head again - problem was, this guy gave a good presentation so I went with most of it.
I have heard Microsoft talk around this subject, so who knows - if I'd been at PDC next week I would have asked someone.
NB - liked your comments on working from home, it's the right way to go.
Cheers -- Adrian
Could such automation have a place in assessment? Maybe it would be a good way to find out if someone has an aptitude for deeper level application development. I do hope we don't end up with lots of crap freeware because of it!
Hey Roger,
I think there is a case for automation (to a degree) in many areas of programming... closely aligned to the notion of reusable components I suppose, like: not having to reinvent the wheel every time you want some relatively modular tool (say, a calculator or currency converter) to be produced.
But that's the kind of automation you're talking about is it? You are referring to personal assessment of programming skills yes?
You know, we don't seem to hear the terms 'crap freeware' or 'vapourware' quite as much these days... although I did interview Michael Dell for a "state of the PC nation" report quite recently and there was some quite amusing exchanges among the other press before we took our seats as everyone was trying to work out who had the guts to ask him about the 'crap freeware' that had been shipping on his units.
Nobody did though.
AdrianB
ps. know any GOOD freeware sites?
Adrian....Yes that kind of automation was in my mind, along with the kind of automation you would find in a game construction kit or music software such as ejay. And yes to personal assessment of programing skills. Although I can't claim any specialised knowledge in ths area.
GOOD freeware sites eh?
1.http://mac.majorgeeks.com/
I've put the address for the mac page above, also bits for windows. Majorgeeks is not all freeware, but there is an awful lot on there.
2.http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default.aspx
Mark Russinovich is the man who blew the whistle on the sony rootkit fiasco. His site Sysinternals has been bought out by microsoft, but thankfully they they have let Mark keep it as a freeware site, and employed him into the process. If you only have time to visit one of these sites I would urge you to visit this one. The tools on offer here offer a way to look "through" windows OS and have helped me to understsnd so much. I love the way process explorer will allow you to trick a windows machine into bypassing a process by holding it in suspension so you can fault find or just play around. The forums are a superb knowledge base in their own right.
Included is the WHOLE agonising process of fishing out the sony rootkit from his computer. The quick tutorial video is recomended...could go on all day!!
3.http://www.piriform.com/
Tools such as ccleaner, defragler, and recuva can all be run from a usb key. Dfragler has no file optimisation though, but it's very quick and good for emergencys.
4.http://www.glaryutilities.com/
All in one type utility.
5.http://www.free-codecs.com/download/K_lite_codec_pack.htm
This is the k-lite codec pack. I've used it to beef up a very solid XP version of windows media player 11. Anything video related will never bug you again, from DVDs to .mov files it will play them all. Many audio enhancers are also included plus a very robust video player of its own called media player classic.
6.http://files.aoaforums.com/I2965-ubcd411.zip.html
The ultimate boot disk site. Allows you to create a bootable disk for unbootable windows machines and run various diagnostics.
7.http://www.visolu.com/TwistedPixel/
Twisted pixel is an awsome audio visualiser, with plug ins for various media players. Included is a batch processor for milk drop files. Worth having and displaying on a big screen. Has to be seen to be believed!
8.http://rogerandre.weebly.com
Weebly is a great and way to knock up a few web pages or create somthing a little more complex, at no expense whatsoever. Check the music page Adrian for free downloads of my own work, although I don't know if you'd call it good! All the tracks were made using code masters music series software. All the analog (fat) sound synthesis was constructed from scratch by me as was any musicality you may come across! The orange online playlists link includes some genesis classics old and newish. Check out the land of confusion remix as done by them selves.
All the best Roger
I think the words “code creation” is the most prevalent issue in this topic. Over the past decade we have seen many RAD tools, almost all being flawed in some aspect, most a complete abomination as a result of producing unmanageable applications of poor quality. But there has been lessons learnt and new technologies developed that is not only keeping this ideal alive, but seems to have made RAD a reality.
The emphasis has shifted from the “enlightened user” creating fully fledged applications to doing what they can do to help themselves AND THE DEVLOPMENT TEAM. Early attempts at structuring a user requirement can also be used as inputs to the development lifecycle, bridging the gap between business and sociopathic techies :-)
XML, especially XSTL, and scripting languages has made the design and “code generation” so much more palatable for tool creators and we are now starting to see stuff that really works from Microsoft.
“The Power User” is how Microsoft refers to those uniquely brave business people who are not afraid to venture out of their comfort zone. This breed of people was discovered (and bread) by the ubiquitous Excel spreadsheet and now has a real place in the Microsoft tools and development lifecycle, most notably Sharepoint.
Power users can build input forms (InfoPath); create rudimentary workflows and views (Sharepoint designer) and create lists, sites, calendars and more in the Sharepoint GUI.
Hey Roger,
I did have a good reply to this - but Safari just crashed on me... so let me see if I can remember what I said...
Love the Macgadgets site - although I think some of the "news" ( I think they call it Way Off Base) is pretty weird.
The Mark Russinovich stuff is a real thought provoker - amazing that they allowed it to now be Microsoft branded. I'm working with MS rigt now on creating some tutorials for part of the 'internationalisation' offerings (I'm not allowed to say more than that) and it makes you realise just how much is out there.
On your site: I loved the space images and decided immediately to change my Twitter background to something celestial as a result... on the music, it sounds kind of Sigur Ros in some ways (you should do your own take on Hoppipolla) ... maybe you'll get some input from ZDNet.co.uk's own David (he's in a band you know) Meyer on that...
Lastly, brilliant reply - and on a Sunday too! Listen, this shouldn't have just been a reply to one of my mails - you should run something like this as a TOP 7 FREEWARE SITES posting at some point. People would love that I reckon.
Adrian
Hey there mmans,
Thanks for that comment, funny that you mention Excel being the route to the 'power user' breeding programme... it's exactly that application that Business Objects based it's BI theory on that said that users could simply change spreadsheet fields to feed info back to the development team and influence project direction.
RAD does indeed have an overhanging air of uncertainty, but that hasn't stopped IBM endlessly evangelising over it has it?
As you say, it's all about "bridging the gap"... how many times will we keep trying to overcome this?
Adrian
Adrian...funny that, I've just been trying out safari on my pc over the last three weeks, it didn't quite crash but it did have a funny turn (major memory leak) on me, and I found my CPU usage jump up to 100%. Still, I managed to get process explorer fired up and right clicked on safari then clicking properties I managed to zero in on the numerous strange processes that were causing the problem and brutaly ripped the guts out of them. Wished I'd made some notes as to what they were now..oh well. Thing is it sorted the problem out and left all my tabs intact. I think microsoft are chuffed to have sysinternals under their name, I imagine (yes just imagine) that Mark would have been fairly shrewd about keeping the sysinternals stuff free. I/ve heard rummors that he's on the team working on windows 7 and has also been put to work with regards to fixing vista.
Hey thanks for the feed back, I will get to work on that one.
I will also try to check out sigor ross and hoppipolla. Is this stuff easily found?/edit/Oh yes found it. Very rich nordic feel/liking this/hoppipolla have heard on radio/sweet.
realy wish I had more time for the music.....Oh yes way off base....I tend to keep out of its way!!
