No matter how you arrive at a design, be it UML modeling, TDD micro-steps, or applying patterns, you should take a step back and look at the public API as a whole from a usability perspective. How easy is the API as a whole to learn, understand and use?

How do you design a website home page to give the best impression of both the quality of the site's content and the update frequency? Take a walk down memory lane, and see how Artima's home page has morphed as the site evolved.

Artima has launched "Developer Spotlight," a new feed that scrolls down the center of the home page. Each day this feed will shine the spotlight on interesting content flowing through the various parts of the website--articles, chapters, news, buzz, weblogs--plus point to interesting content beyond Artima's borders.

Is the story of a bug in MS Word a sign of deeper dysfunction?

What do examples of post-fiat economics have to do with open source?

The Rails framework is aiming for a brighter public profile by getting a professional designer to do a visual identity for the project. I asked the community for $1,000 for the project. The Pragmatic Programmers filled half of that request on behalf of the Pragmatic Bookshelf.

There is a "Java IDE shootout" from JavaOne comparing IntelliJ, Eclipse, NetBeans, Emacs and JDeveloper

eXtreme Feedback Devices (XFDs) are a fun and effective way to help your entire development team to know about and pay attention to the project status and metrics you care about.

Have you heard about FIT yet? Even if you have, do you know what makes it signficantly different from other testing frameworks? Here is a re-introduction to FIT that highlights one of its most important features.

No one likes to change. But if we continue to solve the same problems (in slightly different contexts) we will be replaces by others who view the problem differently. Or at least that will happen in the area of ubiquitous computing.

There is a subtle but useful distinction between code and software. Programmers write code: a formal plan of the software, expressing its intent in maximal detail. Software is the end product: in execution it is what the user perceives, interacts with and experiences. Sometimes this difference can be significant.

Web-enabling an old terminal-oriented application turns into more fun than expected. A blow-by-blow account of writing a screen scraper with Python and pexpect.

How do you get rid of a mainframe? Don't let it become a monster that feeds off your fears.

If one considers hacking as solely an individual activity, then the limits of expression does have a non-negligible impact on productivity. However, when we involve groups of people, then a language that "supports communities" bests out a "Hacker" language.

Simple configuration settings for putting your aspects into a different project than your primary project(s).