The Whiteboard

Jimmy Hoffa

1:39 AM

@MichaelT geography quiz game or crime mystery puzzle? "Colonol McAfee in Honduras with the rusty sickle"

Yannis Rizos

9:40 AM

4

Q: What is the convention for the star location in reference variables?

Have been learning Objective-C and different books and examples use differing conventions for the location of the star (*) when naming reference variables. MyType* x; MyType *y; MyType*z; // this also works Personally I prefer the first option as it illustrates that x is a "pointer type of MyT...

It is definitely NC, as discussed in Meta, but I think we can work with it and re-open it... Thoughts? /cc: @chrisF @maple_Shaft @ThomasOwens and everyone else

I can see how eager answerers could start posting their personal preferences instead of helpful answers, but on the other hand the one answer that made it through highlights technical reasons for the answerer's preference.

David Wallace

9:54 AM

Is there any real point in re-opening it? There is only one correct answer, and it has already been posted.

(In my ever so humble opinion, of course)

I wish the OP hadn't called them "reference variables" though. In C++ (and possibly C#, I'm not sure), reference variables are something different.

Yannis Rizos

@DavidWallace Generally I'd say that if a question is sufficiently answered there isn't really any point in it generating more answers. On the other hand though, if it has a correct answer, it's not really NC.

David Wallace

I used to teach C++. I WISH, WISH, WISH, that Stroustrup hadn't chosen & as the symbol to denote reference variables. Students get it confused with the & for taking the address of (ie pointer to) a variable. And who can blame them?

@YannisRizos So it should be closed for some other reason?

Yannis Rizos

No other close reason applies, it's either NC or we re-open it.

David Wallace

Then I guess re-opening it makes sense. There must be loads of other questions in existence, for which there is only one correct answer, but where we entertain the notion of someone posting another answer.

Often on SO, lots of people post the same correct answer. Sometimes even several months apart.

Yannis Rizos

Lots and lots of weird stuff happen on SO, and the crowd there has its own culture (and the major tags have their own distinct mini cultures), we try to be a bit more cohesive... I'm leaning towards re-opening it, but I haven't yet been properly caffeinated for the day...

pourjour

12:38 PM

hi people

user55340

2:37 PM

@JimmyHoffa Are you not familiar with Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?

user55340

Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?

Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? is the title of several edutainment computer games in the Carmen Sandiego series that teach geography. The World games, often marketed as the flagship products of the Carmen series, were created by Brøderbund Software from 1985 to 1996 with another version released by The Learning Company in 2001. A remake of the first game was released on Facebook in 2011. * Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? (1985), a game released in 1985. ** Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? Deluxe a 1990 expanded edition of Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? (1985) ...

user55340

2:56 PM

@YannisRizos I suspect that the activity on a major tag (perl for example) is larger than that on all of P.SE and more than enough to support a distinct community. Any sort of 'tag culture' on P.SE would exist of only one or two people who answer.

user55340

This also goes into the size of the feed. Once upon a time, one could read a good chunk of every post on usenet. As that got bigger, it divided. If it wasn't already covered by SO, I suspect there would be enough activity to justify a Perl.SE or AndroidProgramming.SE.

user55340

For the casual (not mod) SO users, trying to read all of SO is a losing battle. One must read select areas. As the communities become isolated (hmm... I wonder what happens when you get culture tag overlap) different cultures will emerge.

Rachel

3:55 PM

@MichaelT I loved Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego as a kid... :)

user55340

4:37 PM

@JimmyHoffa That reminded me of an ancient Dr. Fun cartoon...

user55340

David Wallace

@Rachel I've never played it. Now I feel deprived.

Stack Exchange

5:03 PM

Blog - Stack Exchange: Stack Overflow localizes Careers 2.0 in German

Bethany Marzewski on December 12, 2012

After months of work from our dev team, last week marked the official launch of our first localized site with Careers 2.0 in German. We celebrated the occasion in style on December 5 with a blow-out party at Betahaus in Berlin complete with product demos, free food, free t-shirts, oh, and German beer of course.

But why Germany? Well, aside from the fact that it gave us a great excuse to make these really cool t-shirts, we have a few other pretty good reasons for this expansion:

Germans are the largest non-English-speaking group of Stack Overflow users in Europe To date, visitors from Germa …

joker13

5:37 PM

hi everyone
I'm asking this question to make sure software process has the same meaning as software development methodology. am I right?

user55340

@joker13 without any further background information... yes.

joker13

thanks, I'm reading pressman's book Software engineering....

Thomas Owens

Eh. Pressman's book.

joker13

and one more question
is XP a software process or it's just a set of rules?!

Thomas Owens

They switched to that at my university in my...4th year, I think. I was less than impresse.

XP is a development methodology.

joker13

5:46 PM

But from what I have found yet, Scrum on the other hand is not a methodology

but a framework for management and adoption of Agile methodologies

Thomas Owens

Scrum is more of a framework.

joker13

so this listing must probably have some logical misguidance

List of software development philosophies

This is a list of approaches, styles, and philosophies in software development. It contains also software development processes, software development methodologies and single practices, principles and laws. * Abstraction principle (programming) * Agent-oriented programming * Agile software development * Agile Unified Process (AUP) * Aspect-oriented Programming (AOP) * Behavior-driven development (BDD) * Big Design Up Front (BDUF) * Brooks's law * Cathedral and the Bazaar (see also Release early, release often (RERO)) * Chief programmer team * CMMI * Code and fix * Code reuse * Cohesion (co...

Thomas Owens

Not really.

joker13

Both scrum and XP are there in the same list

Thomas Owens

Because it's a list of philosophies.

Not a list of processes or methodologies.

joker13

5:48 PM

to be more clear, I'm about to do my undergraduate final project

I've got 1 year to complete it

personally I prefer to work on mobile computing, cloud computing

here my professor thinks I should develop a software methodology at first place

Thomas Owens

It's generally a good idea to have some approach to address how you are going to conduct the project, yes.

joker13

can you pleaes explain more?

can you give me a roadmap?

Thomas Owens

All projects have requirements that need to be managed, work and deliverables to be planned with regards to a schedule, some kind of design, an implementation, testing to ensure that your implementation works and it meets the needs of the person receiving it.

That's what methodologies address, to varying degrees. Something like Scrum focuses more on what activities need to happen and when they happen, not specifically how you go about doing them. Some documented approaches focus more on "this is a good, tried and true way to do <some activity>" where an activity might be writing code and tests or managing requirements.

If I may ask, how many people are on your project? Most methodologies are meant for a team of ~5+ people and don't work well for 1-3 people.

joker13

this is a research project

and I'm doing all the job my self

this is what add drama to my project

Thomas Owens

I wouldn't look at things like Scrum, XP, and other methodologies then.

joker13

5:57 PM

then what should I look for?

Thomas Owens

My final project was a 20 week research project with a team of 4 people. We found that the standard methodologies are focused on delivering a product.

Unless you're required to use a development methodology, address some questions and document how you're going to handle the problem. Start with some kind of vision and scope for the project so that you're somewhat constrained.

Set up some kind of schedule for the year - you're time boxed as it is, so you know when you need to have your final deliverable. Figure out, from there, when you'll have minor increments and mark them on your schedule.

Document how you're going to manage requirements, source code, designs, documents - all of the artifacts you're going to produce.

joker13

and then I guess I'm near to done

right?

Thomas Owens

I don't know exactly what your requirements are, but our requirement was simply to have a plan for executing the project - managing requirements, managing risks, creating a design, moving to an implementation (or, in our case, a prototype), controlling artifacts, and ensuring quality.

That's really what any methodology addresses - how you go about moving from customer requirements through the termination of a project.

user55340

Are there any practical methodologies for a team of 1 (personal project) other than cowboy coder with various levels of self discipline for source control?

joker13

this is going to be a simulation
not an actual one

Thomas Owens

6:07 PM

It's probably way more heavy than what you are looking for, but the Personal Software Process was designed for a single engineer.

sei.cmu.edu/library/abstracts/reports/00tr022.cfm

@joker13 What do you mean by "a simulation"? You're going to be producing some kind of artifact - documentation and probably code, even if it's not meant for production?

joker13

I was thinking that I'm going to produce all the artifacts used by XP for instance. then I had to be in shoes of many different roles

Thomas Owens

One of the most important things to do is to tailor the process for the project. No one should be producing an artifact just "because the process says so". Make sure that what you produce actually adds value to someone - you down the road, another developer in the future, the customer, a manager.

Producing things for the sake of producing things is a waste of time. It's also a huge waste of money in the workplace. Sometimes, you might have to because "that's the way it is". But in those instances, it's a good opportunity to look at why it is the way it is and find a better way of addressing the needs.

joker13

I can't believe how chatting to you is making me more confident and determined

I really appreciate all the efforts you put on this chat room and on stackexchange
I have read many of your answers and learned a lot.

Thank You

Thomas Owens

Just a word of warning: if there's a grade on the line, talk to whoever is grading.

joker13

yes sure

Thomas Owens

6:17 PM

If they expect to see something, that's a good reason to take the time to produce it. It might be a duplicate of effort or not useful in the future, but sometimes it just has to be done.

Good luck!

joker13

:)

Jimmy Hoffa

6:34 PM

@MichaelT I know where in the world is Carmen sandiego, it's a geography quiz game, thus the joke seeing as John McAfee is living more of a crime mystery. Now the joke's all ruined thanks :p

user55340

7:08 PM

@JimmyHoffa Maybe we should just get him a red and white stocking cap?

Jimmy Hoffa

9:13 PM

@MichaelT hah, that's about right

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