James Simmonds

...is thinking more about how to write less code to solve a problem rather than trying to "code their way out/round/through" a problem. In a recent design meeting two view points were evident - one was essentially creating more and more code to deal with a complex business problem, the other was to understand the business function from first principles to offer alternatives to just churning out more code. I'm still pondering this one...I find that agile development naturally leads a "coder" into becoming an all round "problem solver", using code and technology among other tools to deliver the solution. Remaining a "coder" isn't what drives me, delivering solutions does and that can be as simple as being part of the problem analysis and changing a process to provide a solution rather than coding a solution for it. As I see it more code you have the bigger the breeding ground for bugs and maintenance headaches..so should "Less Is More...

Read this post - if you need a reason to subscribe to this amazing feed this is it. Just another example of the calibre of the guys contributing. It's got a great variety of topics and posts and some very thought provoking stuff too. Great job guys - best developer blog by a mile IMHO!

Join, June '05 It's not all roses, Dec '05 Leave, March '06 This is the consultancy career of Windows Mobile MVP, Daniel Moth. I've never met the guy but have followed his blog from way back when I was developing WM applications. I was with the London based consultancy Conchango for 6 years but I think being a consultant requires a particular set of attributes and personal circumstances that don't fit well with other "life" qualities. I still work long hours but I have a good journey, good office and some assurance of what and where I will be - the "diversity" of consultancy is a double edged sword and make no mistake about it. To sum it up I would say "it's a young mans/womans game". Don't get me wrong, I'm not old (well 32 so debatable) and I'm sure Daniel isn't over the hill either - its just that being young free and single with a penchant for hotels and travel is an advantage. The problem that consultancies...

The other day I had to fish out of an email a password to an application I rarely use. It took me a while finding it even with Google desktop doing the donkey work. What I wanted was quick access to a set of standard things I copy & paste, what I wanted was to be able to paste in preset text. Step forward HyperClipper XL for Windows 2000/2003/XP It allows you to store preset text and call it up using either the Shift or Ctrl hotkey - pretty neat! You can cycle through the clipboard contents in a preview mode and it holds 200 items :) It even has a developer "profile" - not read the docs too much on what exactly this does but I've set! Its on a 15 day evaluation after which its $25. I think that that's a bit steep to be honest for the use it gets but we'll see...10 days remaining and at the moment its a close call. Update I ordered a Microsoft USB Fingerprint Scanner - after reading this I'm not going to secure bank/sensitive information with it (as per ...

(via Jon Gallants Blog ) With all the automation and workflow tools and applications available there is often a need to get a human involved to complete the process - step in Amazon's Mechanical Turk . This allows you to create an interaction with a human via an Amazon WebService API! You pay upon completion of the task, Amazon cream off 10% of the task fee and your workflow resumes after some human intelligence has been applied - simple! I particularly liked the tag they came up with "Artificial Artificial Intelligence" What is it? Found out more here Still in beta but I think this is an excellent service - we have already thought about how this sort of model fits our business processes and have identified a fit already! Looks like US residents only (as you need a US bank account) - does anyone know about using this service or availability in other countries?

HowStuffWorks.com is one of those great sites for dipping into if you have a few minutes to kill. I subscribe to its RSS feed in desktopsidebar and this morning after the feed update I noticed this unusual topic (circled below)!

Encyclo pod ia (see what they did there?!) puts the entire Wikipedia on your iPod, v.cool! Downloading now... (via Larkware )

Hurrah! At last someone has cracked it, men on the moon, finding the Titanic and now twin DVB-T freeview tuners on a single PCI Express card! Two versions, one MCE compatible (sweet!) and the other bundled with remote, PVR software etc (identical hardware it appears, just different bundle content). Get the full scoop from The Register here