Games from Within

Pair programming really needs to be experienced to be fully appreciated. Just a few years ago, I loved my single office and I was completely against the idea of spending all my time programming with somebody else sitting at the same computer. Today I advocated using pair programming at work and I gladly gave up my office to work in a pair-programming lab alongside the whole team. Funny how things change. [more]

Exactly a year ago today, I put up the first article on Games from Within. It was a review of Tom DeMarco's book Slack. I thought it would make for a nice, symmetrical bookend to wrap the year up with a review for another book by DeMarco: Waltzing with Bears. As the subtitle indicates, Waltzing with Bears deals with managing risk in software development projects. Managing risk, not reducing risk, or removing risk. Do you think that low risk or even no risk is a good thing? Think again. [more]

Did you watch Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace? It had cool computer graphics, the mystical force, and, above all, dark jedis! On the other hand, it was also the movie that brought us Jar-Jar Bink, and some very forgettable scenes. It was really hard to combine all those facts and come up with a summary or rating that would do the movie justice. You hated some parts, and loved some others. That's exactly how I feel about the book The Game Asset Pipeline. [more]

Effective STL is to STL what Effective C++ is to C++. It's equally great and it's written in the same light, conversational Scott Meyers style that makes reading it a pleasure. It assumes that you have basic knowledge of STL (and C++) and builds on that to show you how to use it effectively and avoid common pitfalls. [more]

Even though I read a lot of technical books, either I must have pretty good instincts or the publishing quality bar is quite high, because I never read one I thought was totally worthless. Until now that is. [more]

Here's a book I wish every manager would read, especially the managers in charge of my project (pure self-interest in my part, I admit it). It's short, focused, to the point, and it drives home a very powerful message: By being constantly busy working you're probably hurting your project and your company. [more]