Kevin P. Taylor

Upcoming Eclipse RCP TDD Tutorial at EclipseCon 2009

I am somehow continuing to push test-driven development in the Eclipse RCP developer community. My Test-Driven Development (TDD) for Eclipse RCP presentation that I gave a few times in 2008 has been promoted to a 4 hour tutorial for the upcoming EclipseCon 2009 (March 23-26).

When I give this talk, I always hear Eclipse developers ask, "I am a big proponent of TDD and use it in my projects. But, why do you think the larger community hasn't widely adopted it." I think this is primarily because the core Eclipse code base largely pre-dates TDD's rise--it is legacy code. It is simply difficult to TDD many situations unless you understand the techniques that I illustrate in this tutorial.

I have high hopes that the growing awareness and (more importantly) adoption of TDD techniques among the inner circle of Eclipse developers will positively impact the architecture and code base of the upcoming Eclipse e4.

All There is in Life is How You Dance with It

The snow is falling again in the street outside my office window. The flurry of snowflakes framed by the window sill makes for satisfying artwork when glancing away from my computer screen.
 
We've had multiple clients working in the Obtiva offices this week, with plenty of iteration planning and client demos taking place. What a feeling to start off the new year with the buzz of activity and a bright outlook for the coming year.

What bright outlook could there be for 2009? The pain of recession is all around us and it is easy to get discouraged. But, a friend recently reminded me, "All there is in life is how you dance with it." Whatever life throws at you, you only have the power to decide how you react to it. None of us have control over the economy. We only have control over our actions in response to life's dance. How will we provide better service to our loyal clients? How will we create new and exciting revenue streams? Which clients do we focus on and which ones are a drain on our pursuit of excellence and craftsmanship?

I've decided my dance for 2009. Have you decided yours?