Also posted at http://meta.programmers.stackexchange.com/a/2822/226. Gary Bernhardt took the stage to talk about the evolution of programming languages and technologies. He talked about the fact that languages and technologies evolve in waves: first there’s a wave of expansion where a new language comes along and increases the number of things we can do, and it is followed [...]

Also posted at http://meta.programmers.stackexchange.com/a/2738/226. The second session of the first day was by Michael Feathers giving a demo of using functional approaches to different problems. I took two main lessons out of it: 1. “Clever code” is relative. 2. Functional programming can help establish a common base of understanding that doesn’t vary from one problem domain [...]

Also posted at http://meta.programmers.stackexchange.com/a/2672/226 Craftsmanship is not about language or process. It’s about community and quality. SCNA 2011 opened with a keynote by Corey Haines. He talked about the past and the future of software development as a profession, the trends that are emerging in the current economic climate and how that affects us as professional [...]

Also posted at http://meta.programmers.stackexchange.com/a/2671/226 Last week I had the opportunity to attend the Software Craftsmanship North America 2011 conference in Chicago, IL. I had a blast and I want to make a series of blog posts about my experiences. Since my attendance was very graciously sponsored by Stack Exchange, I will also try to link stuff [...]