Dave Thomas talks with Dave Rael about new ways of thinking that shake things up, a history of delivery, balance in doing vs delegating, and escaping local maxima
Dave Thomas is recognized internationally as an expert who develops high-quality software–accurate and highly flexible systems. He helped write the now-famous Agile Manifesto, and regularly speaks on new ways of producing software. He is the author of many books, including the best selling The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master. He's probably responsible for bringing Ruby to attention of Western developers with the book Programming Ruby and was one of the first adopters of Rails. He's a programmer, trainer, author, speaker, and publisher.
Chapters:
- - Dave Rael introduces the show and DaveThomas
- - Timeshare of work on programming vs publishing, training, conferences, etc.
- - Dave's longevity in software and the types of machines and software over the decades
- - Change in software - more cycle than evolution
- - The reasons we do the things we do
- - Dave's infatuation with languages and early encounters with Ruby - the appeal of Ruby and dynamic typing
- - Dave and Andy and creating executable specifications
- - Turning from a book about executable specifications to a book about Ruby
- - Interaction with Matz and other early Rubyists
- - Becoming an accidental publisher and the tool chain
- - The story of shipping books from the garage - "How hard can this be?"
- - The balance in doing things on your own and delegating the things that aren't what you do best
- - How Dave stays current with the things he needs to know - "The Rule of Three"
- - Dave's experience of Elixir and finding new and interesting things
- - "We're doing it wrong right now, and I don't know what right means."
- - Trying to find better ways of doing things - breaking out of the local maximum - learning something truly new and assessing
- - The things about which Dave likes to geek about apart from software
- - Dave's prediction for the furture of software
- - "Moving from being the Dilbert people to being the people that are going to revolutionize the plant"
- - Dave's top 3 tips for delivering more value
- - Keeping up with Dave
- - Farewell
Resources:
- Dave's Blog
- The Pragmatic Bookshelf
- The Pragmatic Programmer
- Amazon's Dave Thomas Page
- Go To Statement Considered Harmful - Edgar Dijkstra
- Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto - creator of the Ruby Programming Language
- Addison-Wesley
- Admiral Ackbar - "It's a Trap!"
- Monty Python - Fish License
- Don't Confuse Dave's Rule of Three with the Sith Rule of Two
- Elixir
- Phoenix Framework
- .NET Rocks Automated Driving Geek Out
Dave's top 3 tips for delivering more value:
- Ask people
- Become the customer first
- Have courage