Mainframe data, historically accessed via built-from-scratch COBOL applications, is now more likely to be accessed by newer Web and mobile applications. Developers therefore must constantly modify mainframe code to accommodate these non-mainframe end-user applications. This has resulted in faster, more frequent mainframe development cycles, but admittedly, the mainframe’s culture, tools and processes have not always … continue reading
When you’re watching the Oakland Athletics beat up on the Anaheim Angels on the MLB.tv streaming service, you’re probably not thinking about the software involved in that equation. But it’s the software that has taken 15 years of continual evolution to get to the point where, nowadays, baseball’s premium subscription service isn’t just a nice … continue reading
RethinkDB has announced version 2.3 of its open-source database for the real-time Web. The latest release comes with new security features, performance enhancements, new ReQL features, and a beta release of its recently introduced Windows port. Highlights of RethinkDB 2.3 include built-in TLS support; the ability to create user accounts and assign permissions; a new … continue reading
Overlooking the front end of your agile development process keeps teams from: 1. Understanding the business case. Many initiatives vie for business dollars, but only a few get funded. To gain funding, business leaders document a clear business case and a sound economic argument. They articulate the problem and the value of solving it, often … continue reading
Black Duck has announced version 3.0 of its open-source security solution, Hub, with increased code-scanning performance and new agile functionality. “Because of its widespread use, open source represents a large ‘attack surface’ where hackers can use (and reuse) vulnerabilities in open-source components to gain access to a large number of systems and sensitive data,” said … continue reading
Red Hat has announced the availability of a no-cost Red Hat Enterprise Linux developer subscription yesterday, which is part of the Red Hat Developer Program. It is offered as a self-supported, development-only subscription. It provides developers with a stable development platform for building enterprise applications across cloud, physical, virtual and container infrastructures. With this subscription, … continue reading
Before the shift in software methodologies, the application life cycle was fairly simple—or at least straightforward. Now, contextual elements of ALM have changed drastically because of the evolving nature of the industry. Where the old ALM process was all about managing application development, today’s faster pace of delivery and more complex applications are forcing companies … continue reading
The Linker is M.I.A., but one thing that will never go missing are these links… Swift enlightenment… Four key roles on agile software development teams… Software testing vs. software development… Take a step back before you refactor… A painless self-hosted Git service… A Python virtual environments primer… How to avoid brittle code… Concurrency in Rust… … continue reading
More and more enterprises are realizing that a streamlined Continuous Delivery pipeline is an integral part of extracting maximum business value from the DevOps movement. The potential benefits of rolling out more frequent software deployments are enormous, but speed, agility and innovation must be balanced with stability and quality. Refocusing everything on delivering customer value … continue reading
Mobile apps are a necessity for companies of all sizes, and apps are getting more complex all the time. That along with the dizzying array of devices requires a well thought-out mobile testing strategy. And it will involve a bit of risk/reward analysis. Mobile apps come with inherent risks. For usability, compatibility and responsiveness testing, … continue reading
Software testing is changing for the better with the rise of agile and DevOps. Instead of testing occurring at the end of the development cycle, modern methods integrate testing into every step of the process. By moving testing earlier, using Test-Driven Development (TDD), features can be released immediately after passing automated tests. TDD is becoming … continue reading
If you work in a large company, you probably have application designers, developers and product managers. And, one of your biggest challenges is to get them to work together, on the same schedule, with the same understanding of what you’re creating. Jonathan Atkins is director of design for IBM Watson, having joined Big Blue about … continue reading
