Experiment Blog of Designs

Anti-Patterns in Software Projects … The Human Factor

I'll be giving the following presentation at VS Live! San Francisco on March 28, 2007.

Apple Logo Steve Jobs Demo (Updated link to post about the demo)
An animated version of the Apple logo featuring Steve Jobs created recently by Jonathan Mak.

Becoming an Architect on ARCast

I recently had the pleasure of meeting Ron Jacobs at the Microsoft U.S. National Architect Forum held in April 2006. Ron was extremely gracious with his time, and spent several hours sharing his thoughts with me on all things related to architecture and the emerging role of the Architect. As it so happened, he was also conducting interviews for his wonderful ARCast series. I was quite honored when Ron invited me to relate my perspective with his audience ...

Podcast Summary
What is an architect? What do they do? What kind of skills do I need to become an architect? These are the questions that are on the minds of so many developers today. Perhaps you have thought about becoming an architect and you want to know these answers. Well my friend, you are in luck because today we have Robert Daigneau Director of Platform Architecture for Monster.com here with us to find out if you have what it takes.

You can download this podcast in wma or mp3 formats.

The creation of software products is a highly complex endeavor. Technology and programming are the easy part. The hard part is the human factor, the ingredient which ultimately has the greatest influence upon the success of any software project. Join us in this session to see how we can be our own worst enemies, and even subvert the benefits that we should be realizing from methodologies like Agile.

The talk will be given at Code Camp 5: Code Frenzy!

PLoP 2008 Recap and SOA Design Patterns Book Update

Well, PLoP 2008 came and went all too quickly. This event was so much more fun and helpful than I could have imagined. Thanks go out to many people including …

The Many Species of Architects

One of the reasons why there is so much disagreement over the definition of the word Architect is that those engaged in the debate seem to be reaching for one comprehensive definition for this professional label. The reality is that there are many species or types of architects, each with different concerns and responsibilities.

The Hardest Project I've Ever Taken On

2012-01-30T01:00:00.001-05:00

The Hardest Project I've Ever Taken On

Well, I've been largely absent from the blogging world for many moons now. As I mentioned in The Near Term Future for this Site, I am spending what little free time I have writing a Service Design Patterns book for Addison Wesley. Now, that's a big size project in and of itself, but around the same time that the contract came through another big thing happened. My wife and I had a daughter. Life as I knew it has ceased to be in so many ways.

Grid Login Demo
My latest demo. View the post to see what it's about.

Anti-Patterns in Software Projects ... The Human Factor

I'll be giving the following presentation at DevTeach 2007 in Montreal, Canada.

Must All Technology Recommendations Provide Tangible and Quantifiable Business Value?

2012-01-29T03:00:00.001-05:00

Must All Technology Recommendations Provide Tangible and Quantifiable Business Value?

This is not a trick question; rather, it is a question that all architects will continuously be challenged by. Business leaders and developers constantly ask us to prove the value for our recommendations. On the other hand, architects might wonder why their constituents can't simply accept their advice because, to them, the reasons to follow through on their suggestions seem so obvious. Unfortunately for the architect, there are many suggestions that are very difficult to tie to predictable outcomes. Usually the people who challenge us want to know how some technology or technique will increase productivity and revenue, or perhaps decrease costs. It's totally within their rights to ask, but can we always honestly defend our positions with solid data or a rationale that others can relate to? The truth is that there are many times when we can not, yet we know (or more accurately believe) that, should the skeptical accept our counsel, they will reap the benefits in the future. So how does one go about helping the naysayer understand the sometimes intangible, hard to quantify, or hard to express benefits of our technology and process recommendations?

Chasing the Silver Bullet - SOA Myths and Opportunities
The benefits attributed to SOA have been trumpeted by many a pundit and vendor. We’ve heard that this architectural style will yield greater business agility and adaptability, reuse, productivity, interoperability, ease of application integration, better versioning, and even higher availability and performance. Is it really possible that SOA will be able to deliver upon such lofty goals, and is there anything inherent in this approach that ensures these desired outcomes? Join us in this session to see how some of the goals of SOA might realistically be achieved, and where we might want to reset our expectations.

GO4 Patterns

Web sites that discuss the Gang of Four Design Patterns ...

About the Gang of Four

Data and Object Factory - Design Patterns

Discover the Design Patterns You're Already Using in the .NET Framework

Creational Patterns

These patterns provide solutions that encapsulate the logic to instantiate or create objects.

Creational Patterns on C2 Wiki

Exploring the Singleton Design Pattern

Exploring the Factory Design Pattern

Structural Patterns

These patterns describe how you can build increasingly complex and powerful classes and objects by combining classes or objects (respectively) together into larger entities.

Structural Patterns on C2 Wiki

Behavioral Patterns

Behavioral patterns provide solutions that control how an object or object behave at run-time. These patterns focus on how objects communicate or interact, and how classes are assigned responsibilities.

Behavioral Patterns on C2 Wiki

Exploring the Observer Design Pattern

All Categories of GO4 Patterns

SOA Design Patterns Book Chapters Accepted into PLoP Conference

I am proud to announce that the book chapters which I submitted to PLoP have been accepted into the Writer’s Workshop for peer review. This is quite an honor, and I am humbled to be invited to converse with such software legends as Ralph Johnson (co-author of the landmark book Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software), Joseph Yoder (co-author of the infamous Big Ball of Mud), Bobby Woolf and Kyle Brown (co-authors of Enterprise Integration Patterns).

Asynchronous Messaging Patterns with WCF

I'll be giving this presentation at VS Live! Boston on October 26, 2006, and at VS Live! Dallas on November 16, 2006.

If you're a developer, you probably like to take things apart to see how they work. There's no better way to learn languages and concepts than to see these things in a real product, but how often does one get that opportunity? In this session you'll see how a real Web site was developed using .Net 2.0 and Visual Studio 2005. We'll cover a broad range of topics, from how various .Net components and classes are used, to the architecture and design patterns used.

Agile Methodologies

2012-01-28T07:30:00.001-05:00

Agile Methodologies

Agile is an umbrella for a number of concepts and approaches that may be used in software development. Here are few links you may find helpful ...

The Agile Alliance

Extreme Programming: A gentle introduction

The Rules and Practices of Extreme Programming

The New Methodology

Agile Modeling

Agile Software Development

Scrum

Feature Driven Develpment

Introduction to Test Driven Develpment

Test Driven Develpment

TestDriven.Net - A tool for running unit tests within Visual Studio

Lean Software Development

Visual Studio 2005:MSF for Agile Software Development

Hidden Colours Demo
My latest demo uses circles created in CSS along with CSS3 rotation and transitions, to animate letters that also change colour. Fun!

Asynchronous Messaging Patterns with WCF

2012-01-27T08:15:00.001-05:00

I'll be giving this presentation at VS Live! San Francisco on April 2, 2008.

Anti-Patterns in Software Projects … The Human Factor

Implementing SOA Design Patterns with .NET

I'll be giving this presentation at VS Live! Boston on October 25, 2006, and at VS Live! Dallas on November 15, 2006.

Service-Orientation offers the promise of greater interoperability and ease of integration, but in order to realize its benefits we must evolve the way we architect solutions. While many of the lessons learned from Distributed Object-Oriented Architectures can be leveraged, much of what we did “back in the day” will not help us to achieve the goals of SOA. In fact, many of the old ways have become Anti-Patterns. Join us in this session to learn how the .Net platform and Microsoft’s new “Web Service Software Factory” can be leveraged to rapidly deliver versioned, interoperable, extensible, and easy-to-maintain web services. All concepts will be presented with an eye towards the Windows Communication Foundation (a.k.a. Indigo).

Using Generics to Enable the Data Director Pattern

Context:

You decide to use the Data Mapper pattern because you’d like to decouple the data model from the domain model (i.e. business objects).
You decide not to use code generation for Object-Relational Mapping because you want more flexibility in the ways you work with domain objects. For example, you might want to flexibly build object hierarchies, or you might want to merge or split business object fields and and database columns. You might also use continuous integration techniques to build or check the validity of your calls to stored procedures.
You decide not to use the reflective approach for Object-Relational Mapping because you want a higher degree of run-time performance.
You decide you’d rather not use a vendor product so that you may avoid vendor lock-in.
You want to minimize the amount of code required to map data from business objects to stored procedures and vice versa.
You want to achieve a highly structured and consistent way to organize the mapping logic for all database CRUD operations for individual business objects or for lists of the same.

This article will discuss a simple pattern that leverages the power of Generics to achieve these ends.

Are Code Comments an AntiPattern ?

Professors, books, managers, vendors, and colleagues have, since the beginning of our craft, urged us to comment our code. These recommendations still echo like a song that we can’t get out of our heads. Once upon a time when languages mandated brevity in the naming of variables and methods, and the tools were less capable, this advice was irrefutable. These days, however, perhaps comments are an Anti-Pattern?

Must All Technology Recommendations Provide Tangible and Quantifiable Business Value?

2012-01-26T12:15:00.001-05:00

Must All Technology Recommendations Provide Tangible and Quantifiable Business Value?

Resources Updated
I've updated the Resources Links page, adding more screenshots too.

Book Chapters Accepted for PLoP Shepherding

Well, the book project (i.e. Addison Wesley book on SOA Design Patterns) continues to move along. Upon the recommendation of Scott Ambler, and in order to ensure the highest levels of quality, I decided to follow the pattern (pun intended) established by many of the pattern authors that have preceded me. I have therefore submitted a few chapters from my book to the Pattern Languages of Programming Conference put on by Hillside.Net. This conference is the premier event for pattern authors and pattern enthusiasts to gather, discuss, learn more about patterns and software development, and acquire feedback from peers with the goal being to improve the patterns.

Thanks to Jim Webber for Help on Service Design Patterns Book

I’d like to thank Dr. Jim Webber of ThoughtWorks for graciously volunteering to critique a few chapters from my upcoming Service Design Patterns book. Jim is an authority on the practical application of REST. Thanks Jim, your feedback was awesome!!!!

btw: Jim has a book titled REST in Practice coming out sometime this year. In addition to RESTful Web Services, this book looks like it will be a "must-have" for those who embrace REST.

Patterns for Flexible WCF Services

2012-01-25T14:45:00.001-05:00

Patterns for Flexible WCF Services

While SOA promotes loose coupling at the transport layer and also facilitates platform independence between consumers and the services they interact with, we are still coupled to the interface as defined by the service’s contract. We’ve learned a lot about how to create loosely coupled systems over the last few decades, but how can we apply those lessons to services? This article expands upon Martin Fowler’s Service Layer Pattern. It presents patterns that allow you to define descriptive, maintainable, yet extensible contracts specifically with Microsoft’s WCF technology.

When Flexibility in Service Contracts Goes Awry

One of the central themes in Service-Orientation (SO) is the idea of the contract. While this concept is not new (e.g. COM components developed in C++ described their contracts with Interface Definition Language, while the VB IDE hid the contract from developers), the way we document that contract is quite different when we use Service-Oriented principles. Most people probably know by now that web services, the most common way to implement the Service-Oriented style of design, uses XSD and WSDL to define these contracts. One of the most interesting developments that I've seen is how people are viewing these contracts. Most people, for obvious reasons, seems to prefer contracts that are explicit and self-describing. Many people, even those who espouse the "Contract First" concept, also want contracts that can be unilaterally altered in some way. The hope is that none of the consuming applications will break when these changes are introduced "under the radar". Recently, when considering all of this, I found myself reflecting upon what I learned about contracts in the few law classes I took back in my college days a long long time ago.

Service Design Patterns Manuscript Accepted Into Martin Fowler's Signature Series!!!

2012-01-24T14:45:00.001-05:00

Service Design Patterns Manuscript Accepted Into Martin Fowler's Signature Series!!!

I am proud to announce that after three years of research, coding, writing, and rewriting, Martin Fowler has accepted my book "Service Design Patterns: Fundamental Design Solutions for SOAP/WSDL and RESTful Web Services" for inclusion into his prestigious Signature Series!!!!

Martin’s standards are high. He describes his review process here. This series includes such luminaries as Elliott Harold, Gregor Hohpe, Bobby Woolf, Josh Kerievsky, Gerard Meszaros, and Scott Ambler, to name a few. I am honored.

We’re going to hold off on going to the Copy/Edit phase for a little while so that I can incorporate feedback from this latest round of peer reviews. I expect to complete this work within a few weeks, and anticipate that we'll move to production for traditional "book form" and digital formats (i.e. Kindle, Nook, iPad, etc.) by Q2 or Q3 of this year.

Once Addison Wesley has what they need to move to production, I’ll restart my efforts to deploy the companion web site to www.ServiceDesignPatterns.com. This site will contain brief pattern summaries, much like is done at http://martinfowler.com/eaaCatalog and http://www.eaipatterns.com/.

Stay tuned ...

Looking at Coupling Using the "Old Definition"

Proponents of Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) oftentimes argue that one of its primary benefits is loose coupling. Some contend that services are inherently loosely coupled, and therefore make it easier than ever before to build complex applications by simply integrating their functions into a cohesive whole in order to achieve some larger objective. The skeptic in me recalls similar promises made in the past, so I have to ask will the mere adoption of such an architectural approach guarantee loose coupling? This article will explore the concept of coupling within the context of services by referring to an older definition of the term.

Hey managers … want to know a sure-fire way of demoralizing your developers and possibly even convincing them to leave the company? Well, I’ve got the recipe to help you do just that. Give them a lofty goal to shoot for, but never commit to really seeing that objective come to fruition. Oh, and keep that to yourself; don’t let the troops know that you’re iffy about the direction. Also, tell them that this is one of the most important projects for the company; give them a sense of urgency. Encourage them to work hard to meet artificial deadlines. Make sure that they’ve built a working product they are proud of. If you let this go on for at least one year, you’ll get the best effect; in general, the longer you drag it out, the better. Then, when the time is just right, tell them that there’s been a change in strategy. You’ll want to have a camera with you to capture the looks on their faces when you tell them the good news!

Architectural Decisions and Their Consequences

For many, code reviews are a thing that are akin to a visit to the dentist. Some organizations focus on things that don’t necessarily translate into something that either has business value or helps the teams do what they do better. For example, undue attention is oftentimes paid to certain coding styles (e.g. where to declare instance fields, order of these declarations, naming of variables, and other minutia). Every developer has a different style and needs to be creative, and while, within a given organization, we hope to achieve a similar "look and feel" to our code, our goal shouldn’t be to make their code identical to what we would have produced ourselves. Attention to such matters probably isn’t the best use of everyone's time and won’t provide the "value add" that would justify the review itself.

History of Patterns

Web sites that present a history of design patterns

... A Bit of Patterns History

A History of Patterns

Resources Updated

2012-01-23T16:15:00.001-05:00

Resources Updated
I've updated the Resources Links page, adding more screenshots too.

Apple Logo Steve Jobs Demo (Updated link to post about the demo)
An animated version of the Apple logo featuring Steve Jobs created recently by Jonathan Mak.

Grid Login Demo
My latest demo. View the post to see what it's about.

Architectural Decisions and Their Consequences

2012-01-22T16:45:00.001-05:00

Our customers continually challenge us to design and produce systems that are characterized by a plethora of adjectives. We’ve all heard the wish-list so many times, "We need a system that is agile, scalable, highly available, secure ..." and so forth. While our hearts are certainly in the right place in our efforts to achieve such things for our customers, oftentimes we can be somewhat naïve concerning our own abilities to attain all goals equally on a given project. The truth is that we can’t have it all, and as architects we must carefully weigh the trade-offs and consequences of choosing to optimize for a given goal. It then follows that the difficulty of evaluating the consequences of our design decisions will only compound as the number of goals increase.

The False Destination Anti-Pattern

2012-01-21T20:15:00.001-05:00

Creating Custom WCF Behaviors

2012-01-20T23:30:00.001-05:00

Must All Technology Recommendations Provide Tangible and Quantifiable Business Value?

I'll be giving a brand new version of this presentation at VS Live! Las Vegas on October 17, 2007.

Hidden Colours Demo

2012-01-20T01:15:00.001-05:00

Hidden Colours Demo
My latest demo uses circles created in CSS along with CSS3 rotation and transitions, to animate letters that also change colour. Fun!

Must All Technology Recommendations Provide Tangible and Quantifiable Business Value?

2012-01-19T03:45:00.001-05:00

The Hard Skills are the Soft Skills

I was recently asked what I considered to be the three most important characteristics of a good software architect. I had to think long and hard. "How can I possibly boil it down to three essential attributes?", I pondered. I recalled some of the things that I wrote about in the articles What Does it Mean to be a Software Architect? - Part I and What Does it Mean to be a Software Architect ? - Part II. Finally I reluctantly answered stating that I thought architects should have a good understanding of the business problem domain including its general strategies and tactics, the fundamentals of abstraction and modeling both business and technical concepts, and how to assess the trade-offs involved when recommending an approach. Later in the day, after having reflected upon the question at length, I realized that I had missed a critical category. Software Architects must also be adept at the soft skills if they are to be effective in their position. Social skills are essential to success in this career path, and they are much harder for most of us techies to learn than are the hard skills like producing well written software.

Speaking at IASA Architecture Connections

I will be giving an updated version of the following talk at the IASA Connections Architect Connections Conference. This unique conference, devised especially for software architects, will be held in San Francisco from October 6-8, 2008. I am honored to be included amongst a great bunch of speakers, and am really looking forward to attending a number of the presentations myself. Even if you can't make it to this conference, you may want to check out the International Association of Software Architects.

Chasing the Silver Bullet - SOA Myths and Opportunities

2012-01-18T04:45:00.001-05:00

Chasing the Silver Bullet - SOA Myths and Opportunities

I'll be giving the following presentation at DevTeach 2007 in Montreal, Canada.

Addison Wesley Book on SOA Design Patterns

Some of you may have noticed that my frequency of postings has decreased throughout this year. Well, hopefully you’ll find my excuses to be acceptable. First, my “day job” places significant demands upon me, as does my family. These must take priority.

A Circle That Text Flows Round Demo

2012-01-17T06:00:00.001-05:00

A Circle That Text Flows Round Demo
My latest demo shows a way to create a circle shape in a two column layout that the text flows around.

Apple Logo Steve Jobs Demo (Updated link to post about the demo)
An animated version of the Apple logo featuring Steve Jobs created recently by Jonathan Mak.

Update
I have added a new search form for finding demos. I also improved the code for the posts search. Plus I simplified up the Demos page. Anything amiss, let me know.

Hidden Colours Demo
My latest demo uses circles created in CSS along with CSS3 rotation and transitions, to animate letters that also change colour. Fun!

Addison Wesley Book on SOA Design Patterns

2012-01-16T10:45:00.001-05:00

I am proud to announce that I have recently signed a contract with Addison Wesley to create a book on SOA Design Patterns. The general concept is as follows ...

GO4 Patterns

2012-01-15T12:00:00.001-05:00

GO4 Patterns

Web sites that discuss the Gang of Four Design Patterns ...

About the Gang of Four

Data and Object Factory - Design Patterns

Discover the Design Patterns You're Already Using in the .NET Framework

Creational Patterns

Structural Patterns

Behavioral Patterns

All Categories of GO4 Patterns

AntiPatterns, The Top 10 List
Design Patterns are in vogue these days, but unfortunately Anti-Patterns seem to prevail. Here's a light-hearted and satirical look at the common ways architects and developers shoot themselves in the foot.

What Does it Mean to be a Software Architect? - Part III

Some people equate software architecture with the detailed design of things like services, classes, database tables, and so forth. In practice, software architecture actually encompasses much more, and the role of the architect oftentimes involves aspects of other competencies. Unfortunately, for organizations that are unfamiliar with the function of architecture, problems can arise when the architect’s daily work leads them to become involved in functions that are traditionally performed by project managers, business analysts, and developers. This article takes an in depth look at some of the things architects do, where problems can arise between architects and other groups within an organization, and ways that the architect can become effective in their role.

Chasing the Silver Bullet - SOA Myths and Opportunities

I'll be giving the following presentation at DevTeach 2007 in Montreal, Canada.

Software Architect

2012-01-14T16:00:00.001-05:00

Web sites that discuss the role of the Software Architect ...

Bredemeyer.com - Resources for Software Architects

Bredemeyer.com - Architect Role and Skills

What It Takes to Be a Great Enterprise Architect

SoftwareArchitecture.com - Software Architecture Discipline

Worldwide Institute of Software Architects - Role of Software Architect

Worldwide Institute of Software Architecture

SOA Design Patterns Book Chapters Accepted into PLoP Conference

I'll be giving the following presentation at VS Live! San Francisco on March 28, 2007.

History of Patterns

Web sites that present a history of design patterns

... A Bit of Patterns History

A History of Patterns

Chasing the Silver Bullet - SOA Myths and Opportunities

I'll be giving the following presentation at DevTeach 2007 in Montreal, Canada.

Two-Phase Commit is Evil !!!

Distributed transactions have been a part of the developer’s toolkit for a long time. Many assume that when resources like databases are not centralized, we must use distributed transactions. However, there is a dark side we must be prepared to confront if we follow this path. In this session we’ll come face to face with the devil, and learn how to defeat him. We’ll delve into the CAP theorem, and present a few real-world examples that demonstrate the wisdom this theorem encapsulates. We’ll also explore several alternatives to distributed transactions, and review the trade-offs associated with these approaches. View the "Two-PhaseCommit is Evil" presentation.

Resources Updated

2012-01-13T19:30:00.001-05:00

Resources Updated
I've updated the Resources Links page, adding more screenshots too.

WCF Services, Data Contracts, and the Document/Literal/Wrapped Pattern

It’s been some time since I wrote the article Patterns for Flexible WCF Services. In that article I show how “Data Contracts bloat your messages” (my words) and how “WCF automatically wraps … parameters within … messages that it generates from the name of the operation”. There is one thing I didn’t say in the article that I’ve been meaning to get back to. There is good reason for why Microsoft does this.

Speaking at Dr Dobb's Architecture and Design World 2007

Competitions
I restored the Competitions page I once had.

Becoming an Architect

I've posted the most recent version of this presentation here:
http://www.designpatternsfor.net/Presentations/BecomingAnArchitect.pdf

Speaking at Dr Dobb's Architecture and Design World 2007

2012-01-12T21:00:00.001-05:00

I'm honored to have been selected to speak at the Dr Dobb's Architecture and Design World 2007. The roster is really quite exceptional with people like Ivar Jacobsen, Arnon Rotem-Gal-Oz, and a number of other thought-leaders in the architectural space. Here are the presentations I'll be giving:

Leadership and the Software Architect

Many would agree that the role of software architect involves leadership. While there may be differences in the leadership styles for our profession when compared to others, the fundamental principles of leadership are relatively consistent regardless of your profession or functional area. I will not attempt to define leadership; others have already done a much better job at this than I could ever do. I will, however, provide a reading list of some of my favorite books on the subject.

Competitions

2012-01-12T01:15:00.001-05:00

Competitions
I restored the Competitions page I once had.

Resources Updated
I've updated the Resources Links page, adding more screenshots too.

Update
I have added a new search form for finding demos. I also improved the code for the posts search. Plus I simplified up the Demos page. Anything amiss, let me know.

A Circle That Text Flows Round Demo
My latest demo shows a way to create a circle shape in a two column layout that the text flows around.

Grid Login Demo
My latest demo. View the post to see what it's about.

The Spirit of Code Reviews

2012-01-11T05:15:00.001-05:00

Implementing SOA Design Patterns in WCF

Data Access Patterns for a SOA World
Demo 1 Demo 2

We all know and love the Dataset and the various data-oriented wizards that abound in Visual Studio. These items provide very powerful functions and facilitate the speed of development, but in their use are we being shortsighted?

In this session you’ll learn about data access patterns that will help you evolve your object and database models independently. We’ll also explore data-access oriented design patterns that contribute to superior application performance.

I'll be giving this presentation at VS Live! San Francisco on March 27, 2007

Using Generics to Enable the Data Director Pattern

Context:

You decide to use the Data Mapper pattern because you’d like to decouple the data model from the domain model (i.e. business objects).
You decide not to use code generation for Object-Relational Mapping because you want more flexibility in the ways you work with domain objects. For example, you might want to flexibly build object hierarchies, or you might want to merge or split business object fields and and database columns. You might also use continuous integration techniques to build or check the validity of your calls to stored procedures.
You decide not to use the reflective approach for Object-Relational Mapping because you want a higher degree of run-time performance.
You decide you’d rather not use a vendor product so that you may avoid vendor lock-in.
You want to minimize the amount of code required to map data from business objects to stored procedures and vice versa.
You want to achieve a highly structured and consistent way to organize the mapping logic for all database CRUD operations for individual business objects or for lists of the same.

This article will discuss a simple pattern that leverages the power of Generics to achieve these ends.

Some Can't See the Forest for the Trees

I recently took part in Microsoft’s launch event for Visual Studio 2005. Thom Robbins, a Microsoft Developer Evangelist in the Boston area, asked that I, along with a number of folks from the community, man the "Ask the Experts" lounge (Ok, hold down the uncontrollable laughter please ;) ... I appreciate the humorous juxtaposition of that word being used in the same proximity as a reference to myself). Anyway, upon registration for the event I was given a blue shirt with the word Microsoft emblazoned over the left breast pocket. Upon donning the uniform for the day I became keenly aware of how that symbol was akin to painting a large bulls-eye on my chest.

Implementing SOA Design Patterns in WCF
Demo Code

Both Service-Orientation and the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) offer the promise of greater interoperability and ease of integration, but in order to realize benefits such as these we must evolve the way we architect solutions. While many of the lessons learned from Distributed Object-Oriented Architectures can be leveraged, much of what we did “back in the day” will not help us to achieve the goals of SOA even if we choose to use the WCF. In fact, many of the old ways have become Anti-Patterns. In this session you’ll see how the WCF can be leveraged to create extensible, versioned, responsive, interoperable, and easy-to-maintain services. We’ll also see how Microsoft’s “Web Service Software Factory” might help or hinder us in our efforts.

The Hard Skills are the Soft Skills

2012-01-10T07:00:00.001-05:00

The Hard Skills are the Soft Skills

Implementing SOA Design Patterns with WCF

I'll be giving a brand new version of this presentation at VS Live! Las Vegas on October 16, 2007. I'll be providing lots of new code examples demonstrating a number of patterns, and will de-emphasize the slides.

Service Design Patterns Book Update

WCF Workflow Services

We all know that WCF is Microsoft’s technology for the creation of WS* and RESTful services. Then there’s WF for workflow modeling and development. These two technologies go together like, well you know, peanut butter and jelly. Join us in this session to see how to create WCF services that leverage WF in order to invoke asynchronous long-running processes.

View the "WCF Workflow Services" presentation here.

View the "WCF Workflow Services" code here.

Note: The demo code requires you to host the services within IIS and run Visual Studio as Administrator.

Well, it's been some time since I've posted an entry. Life is incredibly busy, and I'm afraid that this site has been a lower priority for the last 2+ years. Work, family, and the book take precedence. Speaking of the book, I went through a first round of technical review, and got some excellent feedback. Honestly, it was akin to a trip to the dentist, but was necessary. I was challenged to rethink a number of areas, and I'm extremely grateful to my reviewers. As a result, I've been reworking and merging a number of chapters and patterns for the last 5 months. I expect to get a 'final draft' out to the review team early next year. I never knew that a patterns book would be sooooo hard!!!! side note: Writing a book plays havoc with your family and professional life too.

Interesting Factoid: My initial list included 70+ patterns. After significant contemplation over a long period of time, I dropped many because they really weren't 'Service Design Patterns' (e.g. workflow patterns should be in their own catalog; I recommend http://www.workflowpatterns.com; all discussions of 'Event Driven Architecture' have been dropped too ). I also discovered that many patterns were really one in the same, so I wound up merging several. The current pattern count is now fewer than 20.

Factoid 2: I've written hundreds and hundreds of pages; I'm guessing well over 1000. At this time I'm estimating that the final page count will be approximately 250.

Thanks to Jim Webber for Help on Service Design Patterns Book

2012-01-09T10:45:00.001-05:00

Thanks to Jim Webber for Help on Service Design Patterns Book

Just when we were starting to get used to technologies like .Net Remoting, ASMX (i.e. web services), System.Messaging, and Enterprise Services, along comes WCF, a technology that is positioned to take the place of all of those things. How could they do this to us? Why did they do this to us?

Come to this session to learn what the Windows Communication Foundation is all about. We’ll cover WCF’s high level architecture, its goals, and some of the basic concepts. You’ll see plenty of code and only a few powerpoint slides. Since this will be a very informal discussion, we’ll leave plenty of time for Q&A.

I'll be giving this presentation at the .Net Learning Group on Monday, April 16 at 7pm at the Microsoft facilities in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Enterprise Architecture: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

Enterprise Architecture (EA) is the most difficult and contentious architect role there is. Unfortunately, it is not understood very well and often gets a bad rap. Some see EA as a product of the ivory tower providing nothing but PowerPoints. Others look upon EA with disdain because they don’t develop production code. Many try to run skunk-works projects because they fear that EA will slow things down with bureaucracy or torpedo their initiatives.

In this session we’ll look at EA from two perspectives. We’ll review the mission of EA , the value they bring to large organizations, and the common roadblocks to EA initiatives. We’ll also look at how project teams and Solution Architects perceive EA. Join us in this interactive session where we’ll discuss all of this and much more!

EnterpriseArchitectureGoodBadUgly.pdf

Implementing SOA Design Patterns in WCF ... Part II
Demo Code

Both Service-Orientation and the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) offer the promise of greater interoperability and ease of integration, but in order to realize benefits such as these we must evolve the way we architect solutions. While many of the lessons learned from Distributed Object-Oriented Architectures can be leveraged, much of what we did “back in the day” will not help us to achieve the goals of SOA even if we choose to use the WCF. In fact, many of the old ways have become Anti-Patterns. In this session you’ll see how the WCF can be leveraged to create extensible, versioned, responsive, interoperable, and easy-to-maintain services.

Contains a lot of code samples demonstrating anti-patterns in contract design, message exchange patterns, and patterns for flexible service design.

Software Architecture

Looking at Coupling Using the "Old Definition"

2012-01-08T12:30:00.001-05:00

Looking at Coupling Using the "Old Definition"

Competitions
I restored the Competitions page I once had.

Update
I have added a new search form for finding demos. I also improved the code for the posts search. Plus I simplified up the Demos page. Anything amiss, let me know.

Have It Your Way – REST and SOAP in WCF Solutions

I'll be giving this talk at VS Live in Orlando on May 14, 2008.

Architectural Decisions and Their Consequences - Part II

In the last article on this topic, I identified a number of characteristics or attributes that we might want our systems to possess. I suggested that empirical data has shown that we can not achieve all goals equally within a given project, and that when we are considering the degree to which we choose to optimize for a given goal, we should also consider the impact the corresponding efforts would have upon the project’s schedule, cost, and complexity of the resulting solution. I also hinted that some goals actually compete against each other and may be difficult to achieve in unison. This article explores the impact that architectural goals have upon each other.

Service Design Patterns Book Moves to Copy-Edit/Production Phase

2012-01-07T14:30:00.001-05:00

Service Design Patterns Book Moves to Copy-Edit/Production Phase

In my last post on this topic, I announced that the manuscript had moved into the "Development Edit" phase. I thought that this would only take a month or so, but it turned out that the process was much more involved than I had anticipated. The total time to complete this phase was further elongated by the fact that I teamed up with good friends to launch a new business. Oh, and then there were the holidays. Anyway, you get the picture.

In the "Copy-Edit/Production" phase my editors will make a final pass at grammar and will also finalize everything for print. "Real artists" will turn my rough artwork into professional, high-quality images. Once the editors and artists are done, I’ll review their work yet again. Then we go to "production". The manuscript content will be created for traditional "book form" (i.e. paper), and for digital forms as well (i.e. for the Kindle, Nook, iPad, etc.).

The page count, excluding the table of contents and indices, stands at approximately 300 pages. I wanted to produce a book that is more concise and has less "fluff" than is the norm these days for technical books. Nonetheless, it is dense with examples that employ C#, Java, JSON, XSD, XML, POX, SOAP, WSDL, REST principles, and on. The intent is not to show you how to use a specific language or API. After all, these things inevitably change in a year or two. Instead, the goal was to use popular languages and open standards to illustrate common design solutions that are timeless.

I have also started to produce content for a companion web site that will be deployed to www.ServiceDesignPatterns.com. This site will contain brief summaries of the patterns, much like is done at http://martinfowler.com/eaaCatalog and http://www.eaipatterns.com/. I will, of course, announce when this site goes live.

We are nearing the end of this long research project. I've learned that patterns books are much harder to write than I could have imagined. I must admit that I was extremely naive about what I had signed up for at the beginning of this project. Once the book is done and the companion web site has been rolled out, I may return to regular blogging again and write a few articles on what I learned in this project.

I must express my gratitude to everyone who continues to visit this site even though I've "gone dark" from the blogging world for ~3 years. It's amazing to see that several articles I wrote "so long ago" are still are read. I'm also humbled and appreciative of those who check in to ask how I'm doing with this project and when the book will be released.

GO4 Patterns

Web sites that discuss the Gang of Four Design Patterns ...

About the Gang of Four

Data and Object Factory - Design Patterns

Discover the Design Patterns You're Already Using in the .NET Framework

Creational Patterns

Structural Patterns

Behavioral Patterns

All Categories of GO4 Patterns

Are Code Comments an AntiPattern ?

Book Chapters Accepted for PLoP Shepherding

Inversion of Control, Dependency Injection, and the Service Locator on Blah Blah Architecture

2012-01-06T16:45:00.001-05:00

Inversion of Control, Dependency Injection, and the Service Locator on Blah Blah Architecture

I recently spoke with Mario Cardinal , a Microsoft MVP (Solutions Architect), about the concept of Inversion of Control. We discussed the Dependency Injection and Service Locator patterns at a high level within the context of a scenario where an Order object uses or is dependent upon a Shipper object.

Thanks to Jim Webber for Help on Service Design Patterns Book

AntiPatterns, The Top 10 List

2012-01-05T19:30:00.001-05:00

I'm excited to have been invited to Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada from June 8 through June 12 2009 for DevTeach, the International Developer's Conference for .Net. I've always wanted to get out there; I hear it's a beautiful place.

Here are the talks I'll be giving ...

Two-Phase Commit is Evil
Distributed transactions have been a part of the developer’s toolkit for a long time. Many assume that when resources like databases are not centralized, we must use distributed transactions. However, there is a dark side we must be prepared to confront if we follow this path. In this session we’ll come face to face with the devil, and learn how to defeat him. We’ll delve into the CAP theorem, and present a few real-world examples that demonstrate the wisdom this theorem encapsulates. We’ll also explore several alternatives to distributed transactions, and review the trade-offs associated with these approaches.

REST vs WS* Smackdown
Two camps have risen in the SOA world, the RESTafarians and the WSDL-ites. Each has passionately argued that they are the one true path. Now they need battle no longer, for in .Net 3.5 they have been brought together into the same happy WCF family. In this session we’ll dive into the tenets of REST, and consider when to use it versus WS* types of services. Not only that, but we’ll see how the same service can be created in the REST and WS* styles with C# and WCF.

WCF and WF, Like Birds of a Feather
We all know that WCF is Microsoft’s technology for the creation of WS* and RESTful services. Then there’s WF for workflow modeling and development. These two technologies go together like, well you know, peanut butter and jelly. Join us in this session to see how to create WCF services that leverage WF in order to invoke asynchronous long-running processes. If time allows, we’ll also peer into the future to see what .Net 4.0 will bring to the table.

Becoming an Architect
So you think you know what it means to be a software architect? Are you sure? Some people simply equate software architecture with the design of things like services, interfaces, applications, and so forth. In practice, software architecture and the responsibilities of the architect encompass much more than you might think. Join us in this session as we explore what it means to be a software architect from one who knows. We’ll take a look at the different species of architects, the work of the architect, the skills required to do the job, and some common issues the architect must confront. We’ll also attempt to answer the question, "Should architects code?"

Book Chapters Accepted for PLoP Shepherding

Using Generics to Enable the Data Director Pattern

Context:

You decide to use the Data Mapper pattern because you’d like to decouple the data model from the domain model (i.e. business objects).
You decide not to use code generation for Object-Relational Mapping because you want more flexibility in the ways you work with domain objects. For example, you might want to flexibly build object hierarchies, or you might want to merge or split business object fields and and database columns. You might also use continuous integration techniques to build or check the validity of your calls to stored procedures.
You decide not to use the reflective approach for Object-Relational Mapping because you want a higher degree of run-time performance.
You decide you’d rather not use a vendor product so that you may avoid vendor lock-in.
You want to minimize the amount of code required to map data from business objects to stored procedures and vice versa.
You want to achieve a highly structured and consistent way to organize the mapping logic for all database CRUD operations for individual business objects or for lists of the same.

This article will discuss a simple pattern that leverages the power of Generics to achieve these ends.

How to Take WCF Data Services to the Next Level

2012-01-04T21:30:00.001-05:00

How to Take WCF Data Services to the Next Level

Visual Studio has made it incredibly easy for developers to create WCF Data Services that provide access to databases and other resource types in no time flat. When combined with the OData protocol and Linq, clients are given an easy yet powerful way to perform basic CRUD operations. However, you'll eventually come to a place where the out-of-the-box features don't quite meet your needs. Fortunately, WCF doesn't box you in.

In this session you'll learn how to take your Data Services to the next level. You'll see how to leverage the power of custom Interceptors to alter the default behaviors of services. You'll also learn techniques to enforce common generic behaviors which handle such things as data validation, data transformation, caching, and logging. The possibilities for this amazing WCF extensibility mechanism are endless.

View the "WCF Data Services" presentation here.

View the "WCF Data Services" code here.

Note: The demo code requires you to host the services within IIS and run Visual Studio as Administrator.

Service Design Patterns

Here's a presentation I did on Domain Service Design Patterns at SD West 2009.

It's a pretty big file, so you'll want to save it to disk rather than load into your browser. Enjoy.

Competitions
I restored the Competitions page I once had.

Early Announcement of ServiceDesignPatterns.com site

Within the next couple of months I'll be pushing to get the book manuscript out for another round of technical review. Once that is done, I'll start work on ServiceDesignPatterns.com, the companion site for this book. This site will provide brief pattern summaries, similar what is provided on the sites for Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture and Enterprise Integration Patterns.

Even though I've not posted much over the last two years due to my work on the book, work commitments, and other family stuff (i.e. new baby), I continue to receive, on average, about 50,000 page requests per month. This tells me that many of you find the content on this site to be compelling, and you're staying "tuned in". All I can say is thank you so much for your continued patronage, and I look forward to publishing the book and returning to regular blogging! :P

Patterns-Oriented Sites

Web sites that are pattern-oriented ...

Hillside Patterns

Cetus Links - Architecture & Design Patterns

Patterns and Software Essential Concepts and Terminology

Microsoft Patterns and Practices Home

Martin Fowler: Enterprise Application Architecture

Martin Fowler: Patterns in Enterprise Software

Patterns and Best Practices for Enterprise Integration

Patterns Share.Org

Microsoft Patterns and Practices Live!

Web Service Security: Scenarios, Patterns, and Implementation Guidance: Home

Brad Appleton's Patterns in a Nutshell

Anti-Patterns in Software Projects … The Human Factor

About Me

2012-01-03T21:45:00.001-05:00

About Me

You may have noticed that I've written a number of articles that provide my perspective on what it means to be an architect and the issues the architect faces (re: The Hard Skills are the Soft Skills, The Many Species of Architects, The Passage from Developer to Architect). Some of you may be wondering, "Who is this guy Rob Daigneau, and what qualifies him to make such statements and recommendations?". Well, maybe it's time that I tell you something about myself.

<

Inversion of Control, Dependency Injection, and the Service Locator on Blah Blah Architecture

Chasing the Silver Bullet - SOA Myths and Opportunities

I'll be giving the following presentation at DevTeach 2007 in Montreal, Canada.

Speaking at DevTeach - Toronto 2010

2012-01-02T23:30:00.001-05:00

Speaking at DevTeach - Toronto 2010

I'll be doing the following presentations at DevTeach - Toronto.

Two-Phase Commit is Evil: 15h00 - 16h15
Distributed transactions have been a part of the developer’s toolkit for a long time. Many assume that when resources like databases are not centralized, we must use distributed transactions. However, there is a dark side we must be prepared to confront if we follow this path. In this session we’ll come face to face with the devil, and learn how to defeat him. We’ll delve into the CAP theorem, and present a few real-world examples that demonstrate the wisdom this theorem encapsulates. We’ll also explore several alternatives to distributed transactions, and review the trade-offs associated with these approaches.

Becoming an Architect: March 9: 09h30 - 10h45
So you think you know what it means to be a software architect? Are you sure? Some people simply equate software architecture with the design of things like services, interfaces, applications, and so forth. In practice, software architecture and the responsibilities of the architect encompass much more than you might think. Join us in this session as we explore what it means to be a software architect from one who knows. We’ll take a look at the different species of architects, the work of the architect, the skills required to do the job, and some common issues the architect must confront. We’ll also attempt to answer the question, "Should architects code?"

<

Service Design Patterns Book Moves to Copy-Edit/Production Phase

Patterns-Oriented Sites

Have it Your Way - REST and SOAP in WCF Solutions

2012-01-01T23:45:00.001-05:00

Have it Your Way - REST and SOAP in WCF Solutions
Demo Code

Two camps have risen in the SOA world, the RESTafarians, and the SOAP/WSDL-ites. Each has passionately argued that they are the one true path to SOA. Now they need battle no longer, for in .Net 3.5 they have been brought together into the same happy WCF family.

In this session you’ll learn what REST is, when to use it vs SOAP/WSDL, and how to do it.

Speaking at Dr Dobbs' SD West 2009

2012-01-01T00:00:00.001-05:00

I love Dr Dobbs. They are vendor neutral, so you know that few here have supped of the proverbial kool-aid. I am proud to announce that Dr Dobbs has asked me to speak at the prestigious SD West 2009 Conference & Expo which will be held from March 9–13 at the Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA (the heart of Silicon Valley).

SD West is where the software development community gathers to learn about the latest business-critical technologies, network with peers, connect with innovative vendors and get inspiration from industry visionaries. The comprehensive conference program covers today’s most important topics including cloud computing, concurrent programming, dynamic languages, agile processes, security, testing and much more. As a speaker, I can offer you an additional $100 off the VIP Pass. Simply register at http://www.SDExpo.com with the code 9ESPK to get your discount.

A Circle That Text Flows Round Demo
My latest demo shows a way to create a circle shape in a two column layout that the text flows around.

Becoming an Architect on ARCast

W

User Interface Patterns

Web sites that present User Interface Pattners ...

The Interaction Design Patterns Home Page

User Interface Design Patterns Introduction

Service Design Patterns

2011-12-31T04:45:00.001-05:00

Service Design Patterns

Here's a presentation I did on Domain Service Design Patterns at SD West 2009.

It's a pretty big file, so you'll want to save it to disk rather than load into your browser. Enjoy.

Technical Resumes from a Hiring Manager’s Point of View

I'll be giving an updated version of this presentation at VS Live! San Francisco on March 27, 2007

Textfit Demo
My proposal for a new CSS property 'textfit'. It enlarges the font size and other properties to ensure text fits the edges inside a box as closely as possible. Full details in the demo.

Update
I have added a new search form for finding demos. I also improved the code for the posts search. Plus I simplified up the Demos page. Anything amiss, let me know.

When Flexibility in Service Contracts Goes Awry

I get swamped with resumes from people looking for a job … totally and utterly swamped! If I were to print out just the short list of resumes screened by our Human Resources department for the basic buzzwords, that stack of paper would easily reach a few feet tall. So what can a smart, ambitious, and talented individual like you do to stand out from the crowd?

Technical Resumes from a Hiring Manager’s Point of View

2011-12-30T07:00:00.001-05:00

Technical Resumes from a Hiring Manager’s Point of View

Service Design Patterns Manuscript Accepted Into Martin Fowler's Signature Series!!!

A Circle That Text Flows Round Demo
My latest demo shows a way to create a circle shape in a two column layout that the text flows around.

Software Architect

2011-12-29T07:15:00.001-05:00

Anti-Patterns in Software Projects ... The Human Factor

I'll be giving the following presentation at DevTeach 2007 in Montreal, Canada.

Patterns-Oriented Sites

I'll be giving an updated version of this presentation at VS Live! San Francisco on March 27, 2007

The Passage from Developer to Architect

I'll be giving the following presentation at VS Live! San Francisco on March 28, 2007.

Hidden Colours Demo

2011-12-28T10:00:00.001-05:00

Hidden Colours Demo
My latest demo uses circles created in CSS along with CSS3 rotation and transitions, to animate letters that also change colour. Fun!

Resources Updated
I've updated the Resources Links page, adding more screenshots too.

8 Groovy CSS Proposals
Eight proposals I have envisaged for the future of CSS.

Apple Logo Steve Jobs Demo (Updated link to post about the demo)
An animated version of the Apple logo featuring Steve Jobs created recently by Jonathan Mak.

The Passage from Developer to Architect

2011-12-27T12:00:00.001-05:00

Those who have been software developers for any length of time are probably familiar with the fabled crossroads where we must choose between a managerial path and a technical one. There is yet another crossroads we might encounter. When we are asked to play the role of architect, we must choose whether or not we will act as a "pure architect" who focuses on the world of abstract ideas, or if we will also continue to code (i.e. become a developer/architect). The compulsion to pitch in and help with the programming effort can indeed be strong. Most developers who want to be architects or think of themselves as such probably love coding, as do I, and leaving your love is hard. But if your goal is to become a professional architect, especially the enterprise species of architect, then you might have to consider leaving your beloved behind, at least in the workplace.

Speaking at Dr Dobb's Software Development Best Practices Conference 2008

I'll be pontificating ;-) about some of my favorite subjects at the Dr Dobb's Software Development Best Practices 2008 which is being held in Boston from October 27-30. Once again, Dr Dobbs has put together a great conference with a line-up of speakers that I can't get enough of myself. As a speaker, I am allowed to offer you an additional $100 off the VIP Pass. Simply use the code 8ESPK when you register at http://www.SDBestPractices.com, but you gotta' do so by September 19 (sorry for the late notice). Here are the presentations I'll be doing ...

REST vs WS-Star Smackdown

W

Creating Custom WCF Behaviors
Demo Code

Custom behaviors provide a mechanism to modify the WCF runtime execution at the proxy (i.e. client) or dispatcher (i.e. service) via attributes or configurations. This powerful technique may be used to inject logic upon the Service, Contract, Endpoint, or Operation. While the commonly cited cases where behaviors are used include instance management, concurrency, and threading, the possibilities for this amazing WCF feature are endless.

In this session we will explore how WCF custom behaviors might be leveraged to implement a concept similar to Aspects. You’ll learn how this powerful feature can be used to apply cross-cutting logic to your services in a manner that is both simple to understand and implement. You’ll also see that the concepts of SOA, OOP, and AOP (i.e. Aspect-Oriented Programming) should be thought of as being complementary rather than competing.

Hidden Colours Demo

2011-12-26T15:30:00.001-05:00

Hidden Colours Demo
My latest demo uses circles created in CSS along with CSS3 rotation and transitions, to animate letters that also change colour. Fun!

Textfit Demo
My proposal for a new CSS property 'textfit'. It enlarges the font size and other properties to ensure text fits the edges inside a box as closely as possible. Full details in the demo.

REST vs WS-Star Smackdown

2011-12-25T15:30:00.001-05:00

Two camps have risen in the SOA world, the RESTafarians and the WSDL-ites. Each has passionately argued that they are the one true path. Now they need battle no longer, for in .Net 3.5 they have been brought together into the same happy WCF family. In this session we’ll dive into the tenets of REST, and consider when to use it versus WS* types of services. Not only that, but we’ll see how the same service can be created in the REST and WS* styles with C# and WCF.

View the "REST vs WS-Star Smackdown" presentation here.

View the "REST vs WS-Star Smackdown" code samples for WCF here.

Architectural Decisions and Their Consequences - Part II

Apple Logo Steve Jobs Demo (Updated link to post about the demo)
An animated version of the Apple logo featuring Steve Jobs created recently by Jonathan Mak.

Architectural Decisions and Their Consequences - Part II

2011-12-24T18:30:00.001-05:00

Early Announcement of ServiceDesignPatterns.com site

So You Want to be an Enterprise Architect?

2011-12-23T21:15:00.001-05:00

So You Want to be an Enterprise Architect?

A lot of developers seem to have this idealized vision of what it means to be an Enterprise Architect. They might see themselves as the man in charge riding in on the white horse, the person with all the answers whom everyone will follow. I hate to burst your bubble, but this is never the case. If you are designated to be a “real” Enterprise Architect, the problems confronting you will be countless, and most of these are not technical issues.

The Hard Skills are the Soft Skills

Apple Logo Steve Jobs Demo (Updated link to post about the demo)
An animated version of the Apple logo featuring Steve Jobs created recently by Jonathan Mak.

Implementing SOA Design Patterns with .NET

2011-12-22T23:45:00.001-05:00

Implementing SOA Design Patterns with .NET

I'll be giving this presentation at the BeanTown.Net User Group Meeting on February 1, 2007.

November 21 at the Visual Studio User's Group Montreal

I'll be presenting Data Access Patterns for a SOA World at the Visual Studio User's Group Montreal.

Speaking at IASA Architecture Connections

What Does it Mean to be a Software Architect? - Part I

One of the goals of this site is to help you develop those skills that will enable you to play the role of a software architect on a project. In order to help you meet that goal, we should probably provide a definition for the word architect.

Do You Feel like You’ve Peaked as a Software Developer?

It happens to most software developers sooner or later. You get to that point in your career when it seems like you’ve gone as far as you can go. You know you’re there when it feels like you’re just doing the same thing over and over again. You might have pushed hard to learn new languages or tools over the years, but now you’ve got that sinking feeling like you’ve been there before and it’s just gotten boring. Perhaps when you started you had a real passion for the craft. Nowadays, however, you’re tired of it all, and it’s hard to motivate yourself to keep coding when you know that whatever you learn will probably be obsolete in a few years. You struggle to make sense of some new API, but the programs you write make you feel like Bill Murray in Ground Hog Day. Uggghhh!!!! This is a time for reflection, a time to investigate where you want to take your career. You’ll undoubtedly consider whether your career as a developer is merely a way to earn money, a stepping stone on to something else, or a true calling. Some may be swayed by the traditional belief that you’ve got to move on to management. Be forewarned, that career path isn’t as rosy as you might think, and requires an entirely different set of skills. Others may still feel an attraction to writing software, but just don’t know how to bring the zest back again. This article is for those who want to breathe new life into their careers as software professionals.

Speaking at Dr Dobb's Software Development Best Practices Conference 2008

Textfit Demo

2011-12-22T04:00:00.001-05:00

Textfit Demo
My proposal for a new CSS property 'textfit'. It enlarges the font size and other properties to ensure text fits the edges inside a box as closely as possible. Full details in the demo.

Flickr Contacts Idea
Showing one way to improve on the Flickr contacts page, by showing the image titles and always the last 5 images for each contact.

Apple Logo Steve Jobs Demo (Updated link to post about the demo)
An animated version of the Apple logo featuring Steve Jobs created recently by Jonathan Mak.

Hidden Colours Demo
My latest demo uses circles created in CSS along with CSS3 rotation and transitions, to animate letters that also change colour. Fun!

Speaking at Dr Dobb's Software Development Best Practices Conference 2008

2011-12-21T07:30:00.001-05:00

About Me

2011-12-20T09:45:00.001-05:00

About Me

<

Speaking at Dr Dobb's Software Development Best Practices Conference 2008

Implementing SOA Design Patterns in WCF

I'll be giving this presentation at VS Live! San Francisco on March 27, 2007

Must All Technology Recommendations Provide Tangible and Quantifiable Business Value?

Behind the Data Mapper Pattern

I wrote an article on Data Mappers quite some time ago, and it turned out to be very popular. I eventually took it down because so much happened in the ORM space in a very short period of time. I've learned a lot since I wrote that article from teams that I’ve worked with. For example, when I first wrote the article I worked with a team that primarily used “Hard-Coded” Data Mappers and “Code Generation” to produce mappers. Since then, I’ve worked with a team that uses nHibernate, the .Net port of the popular Java Object-Relational Mapper ( Hibernate). There are a few observations I can offer at this time concerning the use of nHibernate.

Two-Phase Commit is Evil !!!

Two-Phase Commit is Evil !!!

2011-12-19T12:45:00.001-05:00

Becoming an Architect

I've posted the most recent version of this presentation here:
http://www.designpatternsfor.net/Presentations/BecomingAnArchitect.pdf

Apple Logo Steve Jobs Demo (Updated link to post about the demo)

2011-12-18T15:00:00.001-05:00

Apple Logo Steve Jobs Demo (Updated link to post about the demo)
An animated version of the Apple logo featuring Steve Jobs created recently by Jonathan Mak.

Hidden Colours Demo
My latest demo uses circles created in CSS along with CSS3 rotation and transitions, to animate letters that also change colour. Fun!

Hidden Colours Demo

2011-12-17T16:00:00.001-05:00

Hidden Colours Demo
My latest demo uses circles created in CSS along with CSS3 rotation and transitions, to animate letters that also change colour. Fun!

Desktop Demo
Using CSS to imagine a better Windows desktop.

The Near-term Future for this Site

2011-12-16T17:00:00.001-05:00

Looking at Coupling Using the "Old Definition"

Architectural Decisions and Their Consequences - Part II

2011-12-15T18:00:00.001-05:00

Architectural Decisions and Their Consequences - Part II

Flickr Contacts Idea

2011-12-14T22:15:00.001-05:00

Flickr Contacts Idea
Showing one way to improve on the Flickr contacts page, by showing the image titles and always the last 5 images for each contact.

Why Architects Should Keep Their Coding Skills Up to Par

2011-12-13T23:30:00.001-05:00

Why Architects Should Keep Their Coding Skills Up to Par

The question of whether or not architects should code in their daily work has spurred many a passionate debate. In my article, The Passage from Developer to Architect, I argued that coding limits the architect’s bandwidth and can prevent the architect from keeping an eye on the "big picture". In this article I’ll take what may appear to be a conflicting position. Architects should remain proficient in at least one programming language.

Service Design Patterns Manuscript Accepted Into Martin Fowler's Signature Series!!!

Technical Resumes from a Hiring Manager’s Point of View

Anti-Patterns in Software Projects ... The Human Factor

I'll be giving the following presentation at DevTeach 2007 in Montreal, Canada.

When Flexibility in Service Contracts Goes Awry

I'll be giving a brand new version of this presentation at VS Live! San Francisco on April 2, 2008.

Update

2011-12-13T00:15:00.001-05:00

Update
I have added a new search form for finding demos. I also improved the code for the posts search. Plus I simplified up the Demos page. Anything amiss, let me know.

A Circle That Text Flows Round Demo
My latest demo shows a way to create a circle shape in a two column layout that the text flows around.

Textfit Demo
My proposal for a new CSS property 'textfit'. It enlarges the font size and other properties to ensure text fits the edges inside a box as closely as possible. Full details in the demo.

Hidden Colours Demo
My latest demo uses circles created in CSS along with CSS3 rotation and transitions, to animate letters that also change colour. Fun!

When Flexibility in Service Contracts Goes Awry

2011-12-12T04:15:00.001-05:00

User Interface Patterns

Web sites that present User Interface Pattners ...

The Interaction Design Patterns Home Page

User Interface Design Patterns Introduction

About Me

<

Looking at Coupling Using the "Old Definition"

Data Access Patterns for a SOA World

2011-12-11T09:00:00.001-05:00

Data Access Patterns for a SOA World
Demo 1 Demo 2

Flickr Contacts Idea

2011-12-10T13:45:00.001-05:00

Flickr Contacts Idea
Showing one way to improve on the Flickr contacts page, by showing the image titles and always the last 5 images for each contact.

Must All Technology Recommendations Provide Tangible and Quantifiable Business Value?

What is a Markup Language

2011-12-09T16:15:00.001-05:00

What is a Markup Language
A markup language is a language that has tags that provide information about the enclosed content. If you write web pages you are using a markup language (HTML) every day.

Learn more about markup languages in the article: What are Markup Languages

Understanding HTML

What is a Markup Language originally appeared on About.com Web Design / HTML on Friday, December 2nd, 2011 at 03:55:08.

Apple Logo Steve Jobs Demo (Updated link to post about the demo)
An animated version of the Apple logo featuring Steve Jobs created recently by Jonathan Mak.

Update
I have added a new search form for finding demos. I also improved the code for the posts search. Plus I simplified up the Demos page. Anything amiss, let me know.

Real World HTML5 and CSS3

If you’ve been considering HTML5 or CSS3 but haven't been willing to make the jump yet, then this book might be just the ticket. It's not a book that will teach you HTML or CSS, but if you already have familiarity with them, it will help you update your websites to more modern technology.

Learn more by reading my review: HTML5 and CSS3 for the Real World

Other HTML5 and CSS3 Book Reviews

Real World HTML5 and CSS3 originally appeared on About.com Web Design / HTML on Monday, December 5th, 2011 at 03:58:03.

What Does it Mean to be a Software Architect? - Part I

Flickr Contacts Idea
Showing one way to improve on the Flickr contacts page, by showing the image titles and always the last 5 images for each contact.

Desktop Demo
Using CSS to imagine a better Windows desktop.

What Does it Mean to be a Software Architect? - Part I

2011-12-08T16:45:00.001-05:00

Interview with the University of Bolton, U.K.

2011-12-07T20:30:00.001-05:00

Interview with the University of Bolton, U.K.

I recently had the pleasure to be interviewed by Adil Fathelrahman, PhD E-Business Researcher, of the University of Bolton Business School in the U.K. The research project for which I was contacted pertains to Software Design Patterns, and is being overseen by Dr. Mathew Shafaghi, a Director of Research and Enterprise at this fine institution. The stated goal of this project is "to investigate existing software design and implementation patterns of web services based solutions of Enterprise Applications Integration (EAI) with the aim of providing IT companies within small to medium sector with a better understanding of existing software design patterns , frameworks and templates and how to make use of software design patterns to help reduce cost, increase efficiency and improve speed of time to market. The above will be instrumental to assisting companies in the sector to work towards achieving a competitive advantage.". What follows are the questions I was posed and my candid, and hopefully helpful answers.

Becoming an Architect on ARCast

Service Design Patterns Manuscript Accepted Into Martin Fowler's Signature Series!!!

Service Design Patterns Manuscript Accepted Into Martin Fowler's Signature Series!!!

2011-12-06T20:45:00.001-05:00

November 21 at the Visual Studio User's Group Montreal

I'll be presenting Data Access Patterns for a SOA World at the Visual Studio User's Group Montreal.

Hidden Colours Demo
My latest demo uses circles created in CSS along with CSS3 rotation and transitions, to animate letters that also change colour. Fun!

Implementing SOA Design Patterns with .NET

2011-12-05T21:45:00.001-05:00

Implementing SOA Design Patterns with .NET

What Does it Mean to be a Software Architect? – Part II

In this installment I’ll attempt to identify what I think are the primary concepts that all architects should have some familiarity with. There are, of course, countless topics in the field of software architecture, but I believe that these are the foundational concepts we should all become acquainted with ...

Flickr Contacts Idea

2011-12-05T02:00:00.001-05:00

Flickr Contacts Idea
Showing one way to improve on the Flickr contacts page, by showing the image titles and always the last 5 images for each contact.

Web Safety
It's hard to think how a website might be able to hurt you, but if you’re at work and you accidentally (or deliberately) go to an offensive site, you might be fired or sued for sexual harassment. I have one friend who was nearly fired simply for going to a website that played music automatically. And children are especially vulnerable to unscrupulous sites. As a web designer, you have a duty to make your sites safe for your visitors.

Help with Child Safety Online

Web Safety originally appeared on About.com Web Design / HTML on Monday, November 28th, 2011 at 04:50:08.

A Short History of Design Patterns

A Short History of Design Patterns

2011-12-04T03:00:00.001-05:00

The idea of design patterns is not new. Ever since there were engineers, design patterns have existed. The architects of the great pyramids must have used design patterns to envision and eventually build one of the most durable testimonies to quality engineering.

I'll be giving a brand new version of this presentation at VS Live! San Francisco on April 2, 2008.

Apple Logo Steve Jobs Demo (Updated link to post about the demo)

2011-12-03T03:15:00.001-05:00

Apple Logo Steve Jobs Demo (Updated link to post about the demo)
An animated version of the Apple logo featuring Steve Jobs created recently by Jonathan Mak.

Flickr Contacts Idea
Showing one way to improve on the Flickr contacts page, by showing the image titles and always the last 5 images for each contact.

Web Safety
It's hard to think how a website might be able to hurt you, but if you’re at work and you accidentally (or deliberately) go to an offensive site, you might be fired or sued for sexual harassment. I have one friend who was nearly fired simply for going to a website that played music automatically. And children are especially vulnerable to unscrupulous sites. As a web designer, you have a duty to make your sites safe for your visitors.

Help with Child Safety Online

Web Safety originally appeared on About.com Web Design / HTML on Monday, November 28th, 2011 at 04:50:08.

Speaking at Dr Dobbs' SD West 2009

2011-12-02T05:30:00.001-05:00

Becoming an Architect
So you think you know what it means to be a software architect? Are you sure? Some people simply equate software architecture with the design of things like services, interfaces, applications, and so forth. In practice, software architecture and the responsibilities of the architect encompass much more than you might think. Join us in this session as we explore what it means to be a software architect from one who knows. We’ll take a look at the different species of architects, the work of the architect, the skills required to do the job, and some common issues the architect must confront. We’ll also attempt to answer the question, "Should architects code?"

Thanks to Jim Webber for Help on Service Design Patterns Book

An Introduction to WCF

2011-12-01T10:15:00.001-05:00

Anti-Patterns in Software Projects … The Human Factor

Becoming an Architect

2011-11-30T10:45:00.001-05:00

Are We Being Unrealistic?

2011-11-29T11:15:00.001-05:00

Are We Being Unrealistic?

I’ve consulted for a number of organizations in several industries over the years and I keep seeing the same things. The issues are pretty well known and catalogued in a couple of Steve McConnell’s books (re: Rapid Development, Taming Wild Software Schedules, check out the chapter on Classic Mistakes; and Software Project Survival Guide, How to be Sure Your First Important Project Isn’t Your Last), so I won’t bother covering that ground again. Anyway, I was heavily influenced both by these writings and also by my schooling in computer science, and I developed an unshakeable belief that there was a “right way” to conduct software projects. This was further supported by my good fortune in occasionally finding my way on to teams where such principles were put into practice. I saw that this stuff actually did work, and both the developer teams and business customers were happier with the results. Regardless, time and again, I continued to witness organizations that kept making the same mistakes in software projects and have seemd to accept that this was just the way it was. Still, I held on to the belief that if I could just show the involved parties that there was a better way, then business-as-usual could change in a revolutionary way within those organizations. In recent times, however, I’ve come to think that maybe we technologists have been unrealistic all along.

Chasing the Silver Bullet - SOA Myths and Opportunities

I'll be giving the following presentation at DevTeach 2007 in Montreal, Canada.

The Scoop on OOP in 90 Minutes
Demo Code

The .Net framework offers significant benefits in terms of performance, productivity, and ease of maintenance, but the cost of admission to the party is a basic understanding of Object-Oriented Programming. This session will provide you the fast-path to OOP you've been seeking. You'll see that everyone can do OOP.

Have It Your Way – REST and SOAP in WCF Solutions

2011-11-28T13:30:00.001-05:00

Have It Your Way – REST and SOAP in WCF Solutions

I'll be giving this talk at VS Live in Orlando on May 14, 2008.

How to Take WCF Data Services to the Next Level

2011-11-27T16:00:00.001-05:00

How to Take WCF Data Services to the Next Level

Desktop Demo

2011-11-26T20:30:00.001-05:00

Desktop Demo
Using CSS to imagine a better Windows desktop.

A Circle That Text Flows Round Demo
My latest demo shows a way to create a circle shape in a two column layout that the text flows around.

Copyright on the Web
One of the most common problems I see on web pages is one that isn’t very obvious—copyright infringement. It’s so easy to take images and writing from other people’s sites that many believe that it is okay. But in reality, every piece of creative work that someone does is protected by copyright—unless they explicitly give it away. So the next time you think about borrowing a graphic or using somoene’s content, ask their permission first.

Web Copyright FAQ

Anti-Patterns in Software Projects … The Human Factor

Anti-Patterns in Software Projects … The Human Factor

2011-11-26T01:00:00.001-05:00

Asynchronous Messaging Patterns with WCF

I'll be giving this presentation at VS Live! San Francisco on April 2, 2008.

SOA Design Patterns Book Chapters Accepted into PLoP Conference

Speaking at DevTeach in Vancouver, BC

Desktop Demo

2011-11-25T01:30:00.001-05:00

Desktop Demo
Using CSS to imagine a better Windows desktop.

Interview with the University of Bolton, U.K.

2011-11-24T03:00:00.001-05:00

Interview with the University of Bolton, U.K.

What Does it Mean to be a Software Architect? - Part I

Hidden Colours Demo

2011-11-23T04:00:00.001-05:00

Hidden Colours Demo
My latest demo uses circles created in CSS along with CSS3 rotation and transitions, to animate letters that also change colour. Fun!

How to Adapt a List of Domain Objects for Use In a Bound DataTable

2011-11-22T06:15:00.001-05:00

How to Adapt a List of Domain Objects for Use In a Bound DataTable

Let's say that you have received an array of Domain Objects (a.k.a. Business Objects) from a web service or other type of remote call. You would like to keep these domain objects as simple as possible, and would rather not extend their basic functionality. Maybe you can't change or extend them because they come from another company or are received from a non .Net platform. This article shows you how to adapt an array of domain objects for use by a DataSet so that you can leverage its easy-to-use data-binding capabilities, its ability to track Added, Modified, and Deleted Rows, and its other advanced features like search, sort, and filter. I'll also show you how to produce a List of domain objects that represents the Added, Modified, and Deleted rows tracked by the DataSet's DataTables.

The Passage from Developer to Architect

Anti-Patterns in Software Projects … The Human Factor
The creation of software products is a highly complex endeavor. One methodology after the next is touted as being the solution to smoother project execution, but the pundits never seem to account for the chasm that exists between academia and reality in corporate world. This chasm exists because of the human factor, the ingredient which ultimately has the greatest influence upon the success of any software project. Join us in this session to see how people, teams, leadership styles, and politics can subvert the benefits that we should be realizing from strategic architecture plans, modern methodologies like Agile, and IT governance processes. We will identify some of the common anti-patterns attributable to people and organizations, and look at ways to address these self-defeating behaviors in positive manner.

Architectural Decisions and Their Consequences

A Short History of Design Patterns

Addison Wesley Book on SOA Design Patterns

2011-11-21T06:15:00.001-05:00

Addison Wesley Book on SOA Design Patterns

I am proud to announce that I have recently signed a contract with Addison Wesley to create a book on SOA Design Patterns. The general concept is as follows ...

The Command Queue Pattern

This is the second article in a two part series; the first was Using Generics to Enable the Data Director Pattern.

Context:

You decide to use the Data Director Pattern in order to decouple the data model from the domain model (i.e. business objects), and also because you want to achieve a highly structured and consistent way to organize the mapping logic for all database CRUD operations associated with individual business objects.
You need to execute a set of data operations as one transaction (i.e. all of the data operations must complete successfully or they should all be rolled back).
You would like the flexibility to easily swap in or out the data operations that should be executed within this transaction.
You would like to eliminate all of the repetitive and tedious ADO.Net coding that we typically need to do when performing CRUD operations (i.e. creating connections, transactions, commands, executing queries, and committing or rolling back transactions). You would also like to simplify the manner in which parameters are mapped to and from properties on domain objects.

This article will present a pattern that allows you to queue up a set of Data Mappers so that you may execute them as a unit which must complete in its entirety. It is called the “Command Queue” pattern because Data Mapper operations also function as Commands which may be added to a queue so that they may be executed sequentially.

PLoP 2008 Recap and SOA Design Patterns Book Update

PLoP 2008 Recap and SOA Design Patterns Book Update

2011-11-20T10:45:00.001-05:00

Well, PLoP 2008 came and went all too quickly. This event was so much more fun and helpful than I could have imagined. Thanks go out to many people including …

A Short History of Design Patterns

Speaking at DevTeach in Vancouver, BC

2011-11-19T10:45:00.001-05:00

Speaking at DevTeach in Vancouver, BC

Messaging Design Patterns for SOAP Services
SOAP has become the De facto standard for more complex service designs where there is a need for applications integration and collaboration. However, our use of WSDL and the wide-spread adoption of the Document-Literal-Wrapped pattern by SOAP toolkits have led to a proliferation of services that look remarkably like procedures and synchronous RPCs. That’s too bad, because SOAP is, at its core, a foundation for enabling one-way message exchanges. In order to more fully realize the benefits of SOA, we must reconsider the patterns we use when we design our services. Join us in this session to explore how we might evolve from a procedural orientation to a messaging orientation when using SOAP.

Poll: Do you use the BR element?

2011-11-18T14:15:00.001-05:00

Poll: Do you use the BR element?

You may look at this question and think “of course I use the BR element! What else would I use?” But there are some who feel that the BR element is unneccessary and should be removed from the specification. Instead, they say, you should use the P element and change the margins with the CSS margin-top and margin-bottom properties. I understand the premise, after all, the BR element was most useful before CSS was well supported and you needed to add a line-break, but it’s not as necessary now. Plus, by using the P element instead, your pages will be more accessible by screen readers, more semantically correct, and have better typographic control over the line heights of your paragraphs. So, even if you chose “yes” in the poll, knowing what you know now, would you still use the BR element? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Connect with Jennifer: LinkedIn | Facebook | Google+
Twitter: @About_WebDesign | @htmljenn
Don't miss any posts or new articles: RSS (blog) | RSS (latest articles)

Poll: Do you use the BR element? originally appeared on About.com Web Design / HTML on Thursday, November 17th, 2011 at 04:33:07.

Poll: Have you ever posted a web photo gallery?

I love building online photo galleries. In fact, the very first page I ever built was a photo gallery from when I was in the Peace Corps. I have created photo galleries for friends, built photo galleries for businesses (including one photographer), and I maintain one photo blog right now. Photo galleries are a fun way to show off your pictures online. Have you ever built one?

Free Photo Gallery Templates

Poll: Have you ever posted a web photo gallery? originally appeared on About.com Web Design / HTML on Thursday, November 10th, 2011 at 01:00:05.

HTML is great, but it can't do everything
If I had a nickel for every time somoene asked me how to validate a form field or password protect their images using HTML, well, I'd have at least 10 cents.

Image courtesy muresan113 from StockXchng #652150.

Seriously though, HTML, while great, is not the only technology you should be aware of when building Web pages. And there are some things that HTML simply can't do, no matter what bribes you give it.

Things HTML Just Can't Do

HTML is great, but it can't do everything originally appeared on About.com Web Design / HTML on Tuesday, November 8th, 2011 at 01:00:00.

A Circle That Text Flows Round Demo
My latest demo shows a way to create a circle shape in a two column layout that the text flows around.

HTML5 Design Gallery - HTML5 and CSS3 Readiness

Here’s another great HTML5 site from Paul Irish and others. While the HTML isn't different from HTML 4.01 documents you might have seen, the information on it is fabulous. It is a great visualization of browser support for several HTML5 and CSS3 features. You can see at a glance (well, with your mouse hovering) that @font-face and contenteditable are supported by all desktop browsers including IE 7! The only thing I wish it had were mobile browsers like iOS and Android. But if you primarily design for the desktop, this site is very handy.

Have you built an HTML5 site? Or do you know of one that does a great job with HTML5? Submit HTML5 site designs to be featured on this site.

HTML5 Design Gallery - HTML5 and CSS3 Readiness originally appeared on About.com Web Design / HTML on Wednesday, November 16th, 2011 at 04:12:00.

Service Design Patterns Book Moves to Copy-Edit/Production Phase

Desktop Demo
Using CSS to imagine a better Windows desktop.

Service Design Patterns Book Moves to Copy-Edit/Production Phase

2011-11-17T14:45:00.001-05:00

Update
I have added a new search form for finding demos. I also improved the code for the posts search. Plus I simplified up the Demos page. Anything amiss, let me know.

Anatomy of a Real Live ASP.Net 2.0 Web Site

I'll be giving an updated version of this presentation at VS Live! San Francisco on March 27, 2007

Anti-Patterns in Software Projects ... The Human Factor

2011-11-16T18:15:00.001-05:00

Anti-Patterns in Software Projects ... The Human Factor

I'll be giving the following presentation at DevTeach 2007 in Montreal, Canada.

Poll: Have you ever posted a web photo gallery?

Free Photo Gallery Templates

Poll: Have you ever posted a web photo gallery? originally appeared on About.com Web Design / HTML on Thursday, November 10th, 2011 at 01:00:05.

Must All Technology Recommendations Provide Tangible and Quantifiable Business Value?

Early Announcement of ServiceDesignPatterns.com site

2011-11-15T20:45:00.001-05:00

Early Announcement of ServiceDesignPatterns.com site

Agile Methodologies

Becoming an Architect on ARCast

HTML5 Design Gallery - Bifter

2011-11-15T00:45:00.001-05:00

HTML5 Design Gallery - Bifter

This is a great example of an HTML5 site. And what's even better, the story is totally applicable too! Check out the source code to see that the HTML5 is correct, the sectioning elements look great, and the outline has no untitled sections. Plus the graphics are all SVG. This is a wonderful example of HTML5.

Have you built an HTML5 site? Or do you know of one that does a great job with HTML5? Submit HTML5 site designs to be featured on this site.

Connect with Jennifer: LinkedIn | Facebook | Google+
Twitter: @About_WebDesign | @htmljenn
Don't miss any posts or new articles: RSS (blog) | RSS (latest articles)

HTML5 Design Gallery - Bifter originally appeared on About.com Web Design / HTML on Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011 at 04:11:00.

Service Design Patterns Book Moves to Development Edit Phase

In July of this year I turned the entire manuscript for the Service Design Patterns book over for a second and last round of technical review. I’d like to thank Jim Webber, Scott Ambler, Eric Newcomer, Marc Hadley, and Rebecca Wirfs-Brock. The team had great comments and suggested rework in a few areas. I am pleased to have received such positive feedback:

Jim Webber: "I have yet to see a book that covers fundamental patterns for services which I liked ... I would recommend this book."
Marc Hadley: "There’s a nice progression from one topic to the next from foundation patterns early on to more complex ones later. ... I particularly like the inclusion of code example to illustrate each abstract pattern. ... The book nicely codifies many of the patterns I’ve used myself in the past and it will be a useful introduction to those new to the topic while remaining a handy reference for the more experienced. ... It nicely complements other more traditional pattern books like the gang of four’s"
Rebbecca Wirfs-Brock: "The book is in really good shape ... It is immediately more practical than other books on this subject, and complementary to Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture".

Now we move into a phase called "Development Edit" where my editors help me make corrections to formatting, grammar, etc. I’m guessing this will take a month or so. Once that is done we get to the production phase where the book is prepared for printing.

I’m still holding off on posting content to the companion web site ServiceDesignPatterns.com for now.

Architectural Decisions and Their Consequences - Part II

2011-11-14T03:15:00.001-05:00

Architectural Decisions and Their Consequences - Part II

Here's a presentation I did on Domain Service Design Patterns at SD West 2009.

It's a pretty big file, so you'll want to save it to disk rather than load into your browser. Enjoy.

GO4 Patterns

Web sites that discuss the Gang of Four Design Patterns ...

About the Gang of Four

Data and Object Factory - Design Patterns

Discover the Design Patterns You're Already Using in the .NET Framework

Creational Patterns

Structural Patterns

Behavioral Patterns

All Categories of GO4 Patterns

Architectural Decisions and Their Consequences

I'll be giving a brand new version of this presentation at VS Live! Las Vegas on October 17, 2007.

Textfit Demo

2011-11-13T03:30:00.001-05:00

Textfit Demo
My proposal for a new CSS property 'textfit'. It enlarges the font size and other properties to ensure text fits the edges inside a box as closely as possible. Full details in the demo.

Flickr Contacts Idea
Showing one way to improve on the Flickr contacts page, by showing the image titles and always the last 5 images for each contact.

Apple Logo Steve Jobs Demo (Updated link to post about the demo)
An animated version of the Apple logo featuring Steve Jobs created recently by Jonathan Mak.

Enterprise Architecture: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

2011-11-12T06:15:00.001-05:00

Enterprise Architecture: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

Update
I have added a new search form for finding demos. I also improved the code for the posts search. Plus I simplified up the Demos page. Anything amiss, let me know.

Why Architects Should Keep Their Coding Skills Up to Par

Apple Logo Steve Jobs Demo (Updated link to post about the demo)
An animated version of the Apple logo featuring Steve Jobs created recently by Jonathan Mak.

Anatomy of a Real Live ASP.Net 2.0 Web Site

2011-11-11T09:15:00.001-05:00

How to Adapt a List of Domain Objects for Use In a Bound DataTable

How to Adapt a List of Domain Objects for Use In a Bound DataTable

2011-11-10T09:15:00.001-05:00

Have It Your Way – REST and SOAP in WCF Solutions

Are Code Comments an AntiPattern ?

I'll be giving this talk at VS Live in Orlando on May 14, 2008.

An Introduction to WCF

2011-11-09T12:15:00.001-05:00

Service Design Patterns Book Moves to Copy-Edit/Production Phase

Anti-Patterns in Software Projects … The Human Factor

Textfit Demo

2011-11-08T14:00:00.001-05:00

Textfit Demo
My proposal for a new CSS property 'textfit'. It enlarges the font size and other properties to ensure text fits the edges inside a box as closely as possible. Full details in the demo.

Hidden Colours Demo
My latest demo uses circles created in CSS along with CSS3 rotation and transitions, to animate letters that also change colour. Fun!

Flickr Contacts Idea
Showing one way to improve on the Flickr contacts page, by showing the image titles and always the last 5 images for each contact.

Desktop Demo
Using CSS to imagine a better Windows desktop.

HTML is great, but it can't do everything
If I had a nickel for every time somoene asked me how to validate a form field or password protect their images using HTML, well, I'd have at least 10 cents.

Image courtesy muresan113 from StockXchng #652150.

Seriously though, HTML, while great, is not the only technology you should be aware of when building Web pages. And there are some things that HTML simply can't do, no matter what bribes you give it.

Things HTML Just Can't Do

HTML is great, but it can't do everything originally appeared on About.com Web Design / HTML on Tuesday, November 8th, 2011 at 01:00:00.

The Scoop on OOP in 90 minutes

The Scoop on OOP in 90 minutes

2011-11-07T14:00:00.001-05:00

I'll be giving a presentation on OOP fundamentals at the .Net Learning Group on Monday, May 15 at 7pm at the Microsoft facilities in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Technical Resumes from a Hiring Manager’s Point of View

Leadership and the Software Architect

Architectural Decisions and Their Consequences - Part II

2011-11-06T18:45:00.001-05:00

Architectural Decisions and Their Consequences - Part II

The Many Species of Architects

Speaking at IASA Architecture Connections

The Command Queue Pattern

This is the second article in a two part series; the first was Using Generics to Enable the Data Director Pattern.

Context:

You decide to use the Data Director Pattern in order to decouple the data model from the domain model (i.e. business objects), and also because you want to achieve a highly structured and consistent way to organize the mapping logic for all database CRUD operations associated with individual business objects.
You need to execute a set of data operations as one transaction (i.e. all of the data operations must complete successfully or they should all be rolled back).
You would like the flexibility to easily swap in or out the data operations that should be executed within this transaction.
You would like to eliminate all of the repetitive and tedious ADO.Net coding that we typically need to do when performing CRUD operations (i.e. creating connections, transactions, commands, executing queries, and committing or rolling back transactions). You would also like to simplify the manner in which parameters are mapped to and from properties on domain objects.

The Hardest Project I've Ever Taken On

Thanks to Marc Hadley for Help on Service Design Patterns Book

I’d like to thank Dr. Marc Hadley of Oracle (formerly of Sun Microsystems) for taking time out of his busy day to meet with me in support of my work on the Service Design Patterns book. Marc is a Java and Web Services Architect , the specification lead for JSR 311 (i.e. a Java API for RESTful Web Services), and is the author of the Web Application Description Language (WADL). Marc has represented Sun in the W3C XML Protocol and W3C Web Services Addressing working groups where he was co-editor of the SOAP 1.2 and WS-Addressing specifications. Marc also served as the technical lead for Sun’s participation at the Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I) and was co-spec lead for JSR 224 (JAX-WS). Thanks so much Marc for your input, and I look forward to more stimulating conversations!!!!

Poll: Do you test your pages on mobile devices?

2011-11-05T20:00:00.001-04:00

Poll: Do you test your pages on mobile devices?

It’s one thing to test your pages on mobile devices when you’re writing a site for mobile, but do you test your pages on mobile devices when you’re not writing for mobile?

Connect with Jennifer: LinkedIn | Facebook | Google+
Twitter: @About_WebDesign | @htmljenn
Don't miss any posts or new articles: RSS (blog) | RSS (latest articles)

Poll: Do you test your pages on mobile devices? originally appeared on About.com Web Design / HTML on Thursday, October 27th, 2011 at 01:05:56.

Have you built an HTML5 site? Or do you know of one that does a great job with HTML5? Submit HTML5 site designs to be featured on this site.

Connect with Jennifer: LinkedIn | Facebook | Google+
Twitter: @About_WebDesign | @htmljenn
Don't miss any posts or new articles: RSS (blog) | RSS (latest articles)

HTML5 Design Gallery - Bifter originally appeared on About.com Web Design / HTML on Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011 at 04:11:00.

Poll: Do you use @import for style sheets?

There are two ways to include external style sheets: with the LINK element and with the @import property. Do you use @import for your style sheets?

Connect with Jennifer: LinkedIn | Facebook | Google+
Twitter: @About_WebDesign | @htmljenn
Don't miss any posts or new articles: RSS (blog) | RSS (latest articles)

Poll: Do you use @import for style sheets? originally appeared on About.com Web Design / HTML on Thursday, October 20th, 2011 at 02:00:03.