Here is a wonderful way to spend about an hour of your time, particularly if you are in anyway associated with software development. Listen to Grady Booch talks about “The promise, the limits, the beauty of software”. Apart from that he also talks about pimped out laptops, being half dead, and fun stuff like,
“I looked at a machine from Siemens, and thought, Damn, I know the guys who wrote the software for this machine."
Apparently, they used UML to design that machine, that was used to scan him for his aneurysm. He talks about several such fun stuff and also about a lot of serious stuff about what’s wonderful and also scary about software and the process of development.
Also, it is quite nice to see that the father of UML, is in with times (was it like 30 years ago he did that?!), and is in support of agile and iterative development methodologies.
“We have build systems as an industry that are in the interstitial spaces of the world, and I believe that in the coming decade we will reach the point of no return."
A few more gems
“Challenge for us as an industry is, how do we express the excitement, to the people that follow us,as to the beauty and elegance of the things we have done”
A special mention of Cisco IOS:
“The initial version was apparently about 30000 lines of code and was donated by the developer (employee #4 @ Cisco), and the current version is about 30-50 million lines of code. Some of the early elegance is disappearing and is a very very brittle system."
and of Britney Spears
“Software creates new forms of artistic expression. They allow people like Britney Spears who have no musical talent, to make lots of money”
Now who else can talk to you about Cisco IOS and Britney Spears in the same presentation! Also he plays Halo 3! Now go see it!
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