Sometimes the simplest answer is the best. Many Enterprise Java developers, accustomed to dealing with Java's spiraling complexity, have fallen into the habit of choosing overly complicated solutions to problems when simpler options are available. Building server applications with "heavyweight" Java-based architectures, such as WebLogic, JBoss, and WebSphere, can be costly and cumbersome. When you've reached the point where you spend more time writing code to support your chosen framework than to solve your actual problems, it's time to think in terms of simplicity. In Better, Faster, Lighter Java authors Bruce Tate and Justin Gehtland argue that the old heavyweight architectures are unwieldy, complicated, and contribute to slow and buggy application code. As an alternative means for building better applications, the authors present two "lightweight" open source architectures: Hibernate--a persistence framework that does its job with a minimal API and gets out of the way, and Spring--a container that's not invasive, heavy or complicated. Hibernate and Spring are designed to be fairly simple to learn and use, and place reasonable demands on system resources. Better, Faster, Lighter Java shows you how they can help you create enterprise applications that are easier to maintain, write, and debug, and are ultimately much faster. Written for intermediate to advanced Java developers, Better, Faster, Lighter Java, offers fresh ideas--often unorthodox--to help you rethink the way you work, and techniques and principles you'll use to build simpler applications. You'll learn to spend more time on what's important. When you're finished with this book, you'll find that your Java is better, faster, and lighter than ever before.
"Hackos and Redish wisely offer us the three things we most need about user and task analysis: practical advice, practical advice, and practical advice." -Ben Shneiderman, University of Maryland
"This book is well written, thorough, and loaded with techniques, examples, and resources that bring analysis to everyone." -Marcia L. Conner, Director of Usability & Learnability PeopleSoft, Inc.
User and Task Analysis for Interface Design helps you design a great user interface by focusing on the most important step in the process -the first one. You learn to go out and observe your users at work, whether they are employees of your company or people in customer organizations. You learn to find out what your users really need, not by asking them what they want, but by going through a process of understanding what they are trying to accomplish.
JoAnn Hackos and Janice (Ginny) Redish, internationally known experts in usable design, take you through a step-by-step process to conduct a user and task analysis. You learn:
* How interface designers use user and task analysis to build successful interfaces
* Why knowledge of users, their tasks, and their environments is critical to successful design
* How to prepare and set up your site visits
* How to select and train your user and task analysis team
* What observations to make, questions to ask, and questions to avoid
* How to record and report what you have learned to your development team members
* How to turn the information you've gathered into design ideas
* How to create paper prototypes of your interface design
* How to conduct usability tests with your prototypes to find out if you're on the right track.
This book includes many examples of design successes and challenges for products of every kind.
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 6th International Symposium on Self-Stabilizing Systems, SSS 2003, held in San Francisco, CA, USA, in June 2003. The 15 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 27 submissions. The papers address self-stabilization issues for various types of systems and software including communication protocols, sensor networks, biological systems, and directed networks; several new algorithms are presented.
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i?{1/2}??If you work in technology, youi?{1/2}??re probably familiar with terms like i?{1/2}??technical debt.i?{1/2}?? The metaphor seems easy, but using it to influence change can be remarkably hard. To do that, youi?{1/2}??re going to want to present options to decision makers, backed up by evidence. Ii?{1/2}??ve been impressed watching Chris Sterling research and refine his work in just this area for several years, and Ii?{1/2}??m pleased to see him release it as a book. If you want to go beyond clichés to talk about how to deal with the problem of software debt, this is the seminal work in the fieldi?{1/2}??and iti?{1/2}??s also the book for you.i?{1/2}?? i?{1/2}??Matthew Heusser, Software Process Naturalist
i?{1/2}??Inertia: Iti?{1/2}??s what restricts change and leads to a cost of making a change or starting a change after a period of no investment or maintenance. This book explains in great detail what the different types of debt are that lead to inertia and, ultimately, to a cost to the business in managing software maintenance and development. The richness of explanation in this book of how to manage the virtual debt that every business incurs is unmatched. Every business-focused CIO, enterprise architect, software architect, or project manager should have a copy.i?{1/2}??i?{1/2}??Colin Renouf, Enterprise Architect i?{1/2}??Software debt is an important concept and Sterling does a sterling job of explaining what it is, why it is bad, and how to avoid it. A healthy dose of theory sprinkled with lots of pragmatic examples.i?{1/2}??i?{1/2}??Roger Sessions, CTO, ObjectWatch (objectwatch.com) i?{1/2}??Chris Sterlingi?{1/2}??s experience in Agile architecture and his focus on software debt make this book a must-read for architects and engineers on Agile teams.i?{1/2}??i?{1/2}??Jan Bosch, VP Engineering Process, Intuit i?{1/2}??This book offers highlights and shortcomings of managing inherited software code and the debts that come with quality software. The author offers a unique perspective on dealing with software development issues. A must-read for all software developers.i?{1/2}??i?{1/2}??Leyna Cotran, Institute for Software Research, University of California, Irvine i?{1/2}??The vital importance of rapid feedback to the software process is a fundamental premise of modern software methods. When such feedback is quantified in the form of software debt, the software process becomes most effective. Chris Sterlingi?{1/2}??s book holds the details you need to know in order to quantify the debt and pay it back. Moreover, it will teach you how to avoid debt in the first place.i?{1/2}??i?{1/2}??Israel Gat, The Agile Executive (theagileexecutive.com and on Twitter at @agile_exec) i?{1/2}??This book represents a wonderful opportunity for a larger community to take advantage of Chrisi?{1/2}??s many years of experience and his innovative approaches to Agile architecture and continuous quality. . . . His book distills many of his principles and techniques into practical guidelines, and he manages to convey very powerful ideas in accessible prose, despite the inherent complexity of architecture and technical debt. . . . Chrisi?{1/2}??s book will help architects, leaders, and teams see their way to better systems and better organizational performance.i?{1/2}??i?{1/2}??Evan Campbell, Founder of Chinook Software Consulting
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