RockIT

Engineering vs Craftsmanship

attila@rockit.zone (Attila Fejér) — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 21:25:00 +0200

In the world of software development, two terms often arise when discussing the qualities of experienced professionals: engineering and craftsmanship. While we sometimes use these terms interchangeably, they represent distinct skill sets and mindsets.

Emily Bache and Dave Farley published the video What Is A Software Engineer? | Craftsmanship Movement Was A “Step Backwards”. It inspired me to write this post with a different opinion: combining the two approaches leads to superior software development.

Sustainable Refactoring

attila@rockit.zone (Attila Fejér) — Wed, 15 May 2024 18:49:00 +0200

In the fast-paced world of software development, maintaining code health while delivering new features is a constant challenge. One strategy that has emerged as a crucial practice is refactoring. However, the traditional approach to refactoring can often clash with the demands of project timelines and stakeholder expectations.

In this post, we’ll explore how sustainable refactoring techniques can help strike a balance between code health and feature delivery.

Will Customers Ever Speak Our Language?

attila@rockit.zone (Attila Fejér) — Thu, 09 May 2024 09:10:00 +0200

Software developers face a constant challenge: the communication gap between them and customers. TLDR: customers will never speak the developers’ language. While both parties strive for the same goal—creating valuable, functional software—their perspectives, priorities, and vocabularies often differ. In this post, we’ll dive into the reasons for this difference, explore the implications, and discuss strategies for bridging the gap.

Replacing Type Code With State/Strategy

attila@rockit.zone (Attila Fejér) — Wed, 01 May 2024 22:13:00 +0200

Previously, we talked about potential issues switch-case can cause, and what to do when the type affects only data, or behavior, too.

Now that we are switch-case ninjas, we can go even further and see how to tackle when the type code and the behavior change dynamically at runtime.

AI Tools and Refactoring

attila@rockit.zone (Attila Fejér) — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 20:50:00 +0200

Previously in the series, we saw that AI tools have limitations. We also discussed maximizing our productivity by using them to write code - without shooting ourselves in our legs.

In this post, we’ll cover one more piece of the puzzle: how they can (or can’t) help us to refactor.

How To Use AI Developer Tools In 2024

attila@rockit.zone (Attila Fejér) — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 12:15:00 +0200

In the previous post, we saw the limitations of AI developer tools. Yes, they are not perfect. However, they are still able to improve our productivity significantly.

This time, we’ll dive into how we can effectively use them to achieve a better development experience, higher-quality output, and faster delivery.

Describing Software Behavior

attila@rockit.zone (Attila Fejér) — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 22:54:00 +0200

In the world of software development, understanding software behavior is crucial. It’s not just about writing code; it involves various steps and artifacts. In this post, we’ll dive into the different ways to describe what a software product does, showing how they all connect to depict software behavior.

AI Developer Tool Limitations In 2024

attila@rockit.zone (Attila Fejér) — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 20:53:00 +0200

With the rise of ChatGPT, ~~Bard~~ Gemini, GitHub Copilot, Devin, and other AI tools¹, developers started to fear that AI tooling would replace them. Even though their capabilities are indeed impressive, I don’t fear our jobs will go away in 2024.

Replacing Type Code With Subclasses

attila@rockit.zone (Attila Fejér) — Sun, 04 Feb 2024 09:51:00 +0200

We’ve previously dived into the complexities and maintenance challenges of switch-case and saw a refactoring technique for simple scenarios.

Today, we’ll raise the bar a bit and focus on situations when our type code affects behavior. We’ll use pets to demonstrate the concepts.

Replacing Type Code With Class

attila@rockit.zone (Attila Fejér) — Sun, 23 Apr 2023 09:48:00 +0200

In the previous part, we had an overview of why switch-case could be hard to maintain. This part will focus on the simplest scenario: when type-code only affects data, not behavior. We’ll do this by modeling a pizzeria.

The Dark Side of Switch-Case

attila@rockit.zone (Attila Fejér) — Sun, 23 Apr 2023 09:47:00 +0200

In a nutshell: switch-case makes code harder to maintain. We’ll understand the reasons to eliminate it and see when its usage is justified.

Tech Content Creators' Responsibilities

attila@rockit.zone (Attila Fejér) — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 13:02:20 +0200

As online learning flourishes, it’s easier than ever to learn new things. If we search for virtually any technology, we’ll get remarkable amounts of results. In some sense, it’s good, since we have the freedom to choose. But how should we make that choice?