Newcastle/Tyne - SPA-NE (formerly NOOPS) Programme - Autumn 2004
Alan J. White
follows.
These events take place in the North East of England. BCS membership
is not required; there is no fee; there is no need to book.
Cheers
Alan J. White (SPA-NE secretary)
Tel. 0191 252 0488, email AWh...@cix.co.uk
P.S. NOOPS is now SPA-NE (Software Practice Advancement, North-East).
See http://www.bcs-oops.org.uk/ for information on BCS SPA, formerly
BCS OOPS, the national entity.
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Programme Summary
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1. "Design Recovery - Trying to Hit XP's Moving Target"
Bringing Class Diagrams to the Java Browser's Toolset
A talk by Paul Wells, a software engineering consultant
Thursday 14th October 2004, 7:00 pm
http://noops.prismtechnologies.com/spane/showTalk?tid=55
2. "Using and Extending Jaxen"
An open-source Java engine for evaluating XPath expressions
A talk by Romilly Cocking, an independent consultant and trainer
Thursday 11th November 2004, 7:00 pm
http://noops.prismtechnologies.com/spane/showTalk?tid=56
3. "Less Code/Compilation, More Software/Practice"
A talk by Jon Jagger, an independent trainer/designer/consultant
Thursday 9th December 2004, 7:00 pm
http://noops.prismtechnologies.com/spane/showTalk?tid=57
See below for further details.
All talks take place in room A316, Ellison Building, Ellison Place,
(also accessible from Northumberland Road), University of Northumbria,
Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8ST. Here is a street map:
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=425221&y=564754
You are invited to the Carriage pub (old Jesmond Station) after each
event.
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About BCS SPA-NE
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BCS, the British Computer Society, is the United Kingdom's Chartered
Engineering Institution for Information Systems Engineering.
SPA-NE is the northern chapter of SPA (formerly OOPS), the BCS
specialist group for advancing software practice. We hold talks on the
latest software technology topics, which we hope will help both
novices and experienced practitioners to improve their knowledge, and
provide a forum for swapping ideas.
If you feel that you could be a SPA-NE Activist in any way - by giving
a talk, recruiting a speaker, helping with the organisation of events
or anything else, please contact me or any other committee member.
For more information about BCS SPA-NE, please see:
http://noops.prismtechnologies.com/
To be added to the SPA-NE mailing list, please contact Alan White,
tel. 0191 252 0488, email A.J.W...@blueyonder.co.uk.
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Design Recovery - Trying to Hit XP's Moving Target
Bringing class diagrams to the Java browser's toolset
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ABSTRACT
Joining a Java development project with lines of code numbered in the
hundreds of thousands, and where many of the contributors have been
and gone, how do new team members get their heads around all that
code? It is rare for the original design documentation to have
survived, and even more rare for it to have retained any relevance.
With XP encouraging ever more frequent shifts in the design through
refactoring, the only trustworthy definition of the design is the
source code as it stands.
Eclipse version 3.0 offers a 'Java Browsing Perspective' providing
immediate, current, filtered, navigable views at an implementation
level built from its JDT model - ideal for the XP-oriented climate.
This talk is about bringing class diagrams back to the toolset for
Java browsing, presenting self-populating class diagrams as means of
design recovery.
SPEAKER
Paul Wells has 12 years experience as a software engineering
consultant, contributing to Java and C++ projects across a range of
industries. During the last two years he has devoted his attention to
the creation of a Java development tool for the Eclipse platform which
addresses the typical design recovery problems encountered on past
assignments. He has a BSC with Honours in Computing Studies from
Southbank University, and is a member of the BCS.
For more information contact: Alan White, tel. 0191 252 0488 or
email: A.J.W...@blueyonder.co.uk.
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Using and Extending Jaxen
An open-source Java engine for evaluating XPath expressions
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ABSTRACT
Jaxen is of interest not just because it makes it easy to add XPath
evaluation to Java applications but also because it's one of the most
elegant and extensible frameworks that I've come across. It took just
one day to create a custom adapter that allowed me to use it with a
highly specialized document object model.
The presentation will take about an hour; the topic will be
illustrated by a case study taken from a current Banking project.
SPEAKER
Romilly Cocking is an independent consultant and trainer in
Application Development best practices. He has been helping blue chip
companies to deploy IT effectively since 1970. He is one of the
pioneers of object technology in the UK.
His current interests include Customising Agile Development Processes,
Array Technology, Architectural Refactoring and the use of Topic Maps
in Knowledge Management.
For more information contact: Alan White, tel. 0191 252 0488 or
email: A.J.W...@blueyonder.co.uk.
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Less Code/Compilation, More Software/Practice
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ABSTRACT
Many programmers still see their job primarily in terms of writing
code they statically feed into a compiler. In contrast, anyone
employing a programmer sees their job primarily as creating timely
value for users of dynamically running software. As programming
matures both as an overall discipline and as an individual practice
this gap is slowly closing in both directions; programmers are
learning not to separate design from construction; they are learning
minute by minute and day by day practices to help them fight
complexity and plot paths away from project cancellation and towards
delivered software. The talk examines the differences between code and
software, programming as an individual versus a social activity,
failed and successful projects, simplicity and complexity, and the
elusive concept of quality.
SPEAKER
Jon Jagger of Jagger Software Ltd is an independent software
programmer/designer/analyst/consultant/trainer/mentor/reviewer/etc. He
and his wife Natalie live in rural Somerset with their three children.
His interests include people, process, software, simplicity, design,
and object orientation. He is a lapsed member of the UK C and C++
standards panel and has served as the ECMA convenor of TG2 the task
group responsible for C#.
For more information contact: Barry Cornelius, tel. 0191 334 2757
or email Barry.C...@durham.ac.uk.