Author: Jamie Flournoy

Regarding “Awaiting the Day When Everyone Writes Software”

To: pontin@nytimes.com

Regarding your article “Awaiting the Day When Everyone Writes Software”:

Your ignorance of the reality of software development would be excusable if not for the fact that your CV suggests that you should know better. Your defamatory description of programmers smears an entire industry of individuals with a single, pejorative stereotype.
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Rapid Application Development vs. Big Design Up Front

I’m working on a new project which I regard as medium-large in scope, and I’ve decided to use BDUF instead of RAD on it. This is of course heresy in light of the effect XP and Ruby on Rails have had on the web startup zeitgeist. (“Isn’t it all about RAD these days?”) But I still think I’m making the right call here.
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PostgreSQL looking good

I’ve been reading about PostgreSQL. I like what I see, a lot.

I’m a database weenie, which is unusual among application developers from what I’ve seen. I’ve found that almost universally, application developers don’t understand transactions, don’t understand basic data modeling rules, and generally regard RDBMSs as a pain in the butt, to be marginalized as much as possible.
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