[svlug] ACCU meeting on Tuesday next week

[Walter Vannini]

Please note that this meeting is on a Tuesday, not the usual Wednesday.

Feel free to forward this notice to anyone who is interested.

When:      Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Topic:     With Economy and Elegance
Speaker:   Kevlin Henney
Time:      6:30pm doors open
         7:00pm meeting begins
Where:     Symantec
         VCAFE building
         350 Ellis Street (near E. Middlefield Road)
         Mountain View, CA 94043
Map:       <http://tinyurl.com/334rv5>
Directions: VCAFE is accessible from the semicircular courtyard between Symantec buildings <http://tinyurl.com/2dccgc>
Cost:      Free
More Info: <http://www.accu-usa.org>

Those involved in software often seek to relate the often abstract activity of software development to other more concrete and familiar disciplines, such as physical forms of engineering and traditional crafts. However, rather than providing software development with a clear sense of identity, these perspectives often caricature other disciplines and teach us little about our own. For example, the imagery of craft is often associated with cottage industries free of corporate concerns and a gentle idyllic non-process process. By contrast, to invoke engineering the appeal is often to exclude the notion of craft and concern for aesthetics but to include a rigid idea of process.

The truth is inevitably richer, more complex and offers more insight. For example, the Institution of Structural Engineers states that "Structural engineering is the science and art of designing and making, with economy and elegance, buildings, bridges, frameworks, and other similar structures so that they can safely resist the forces to which they may be subjected." All of which makes quite clear that the profession of structural engineering is perceived by that profession as a more rounded and well-balanced discipline than the two-dimensional perception software developers and others might project onto it.

Interestingly, looking at the phrasing used to characterize structural engineering, there are only a couple of words that have to be replaced to arrive at a description that applies usefully and insightfully to software development. Significantly, although software development is ultimately concerned with the development of software (the clue is in the name), it should do so with economy and elegance.

Kevlin is an independent consultant and trainer based in the UK. He has developed and delivered training courses, consultancy and software across a number of domains ever since getting involved in professional software development in the late 1980s. Kevlin's consulting company is Curbralan Limited, which he founded in 2000. Its url is <http://www.curbralan.com/> . Kevlin is a regular speaker at conferences, a former contributor to the Boost libraries, and a past and present columnist for various treeware and online magazines, including C++ Report, CUJ and Reg Developer. Kevlin is the coauthor, with Frank Buschmann and Doug Schmidt, of volumes 4 and 5 in Wiley's Pattern-Oriented Software Architecture series.

---- Upcoming ACCU talks -----

Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Hans Boehm
"Threads in C++0x: An Update"

Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Steve Dewhurst
"The CERT C++ Secure Coding Standard"

Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Speaker TBA
Topic TBA

Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Speaker TBA
Topic TBA

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The ACCU meets monthly. To suggest topics and speakers please email Walter Vannini via walterv at gbbservices.com