Papers, pub, pigeons and Piter

I've had my first research paper published! The peer-reviewed journal called Software Quality Professional published my paper "Tick-the-Code Inspection: Theory and Practice" in their June 2007 issue of volume 9. Unfortunately you have to be a member in order to read it, though. I can tell you that it is an interesting paper and it describes Tick-the-Code in detail.

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The last few weeks I've spent writing a conference paper. Wish me luck that it will get through and I get to present my findings in the conference in October. The paper is called "Tick-the-Code Inspection: Empirical Evidence" and in it I present all the results of ticking I've collected over the past two years in training sessions areound the world. I also started a project in May and selected at random ten Open Source modules to tick.
At first I was ticking one module each day, but in the end I noticed that I wouldn't be able to cover all of them so I had to tick two modules each day in the end. I'd tick one in the morning (it always took more or less around an hour) and another in the evening. I always made sure I didn't have to tick the same file twice in a row.
In the end I had spent almost 29 hours ticking away. The results are interesting, though.

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We are putting the show on the road! Qualiteers are offering an info session in Copenhagen next week Wednesday on 20-Jun-07. See the invitation and forward it to your friends in Copenhagen. Tick-the-Code needs friends.

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For some time now we've been startled by loud pigeon noises on the balcony. I'd go outside to practice my guitar playing and suddenly there'd be a ruckus and a big bird flying away. Well, today I made a discovery. Pigeons have built a nest on the edge of the roof. There's a gutter that they are blocking. A tree branch covers the nest very well, which explains how we could have missed such a large construction this long. It will be interesting to watch how pigeon young (squabs) really look like...
Pigeon nest on the balcony.



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In July, Qualiteers is taking its first steps on the Russian market in Saint Petersburg! This is great, because I've never been to Russia and I still remember making and holding a presentation on Peter the Great, the founder of the city. That was probably twenty years ago.

Ruling classes

The C# modifications to the Tick-the-Code rule cards are done. The cards are being printed as we speak in Finland. The nice thing about the modifications was that it was an adjustment of the rules to fit all object-oriented programming languages than just C#. Most of the rules were anyway usable as such (20/24) and even two pointer rules could be modified so as to fit to C# and Java better.

The new cards are missing a few rules, namely CONST 1ST, PLOCAL and FAR. In addition, the rule NULL is now called CLOSURE and deals also with other resources besides dynamic memory. Rule ARRAY is now called INDEX, and applies to tables, loops, strings and not just arrays. NEVERNULL was modified, but the name kept.

This kind of evolution is normal, and the rules must change from time to time. When you learn to follow a rule unconsciously, you don't need a card to tell you that. As long as following a rule isn't completely autonomous, there's always a risk that under pressure you'll inadvertently break the rule and possibly cause more complexity than necessary.

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The spring is here. Temperatures of way over 20 degrees in the sun allow one to sit with a T-shirt on the restaurant terraces that thiw winter never really closed. I've been inline skating three times already, each time I've went three times around the Kemnader See and everytime it is getting easier.

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Finally, I'm continuing to write. It was bothering me that during the dark winter I didn't really get much of anything done. I have a lot of ideas noted down, but it seemed that finishing them is impossible. Now I went through Chapter 3 of my Tick-the-Code book and found it almost totally written. I added some conclusions, had an idea for a quality comic, which probably should be called "The Quality Comic", and was generally happy with the way the chapter turned out. I sent it out for review and hope to get feedback in May. There's two more chapters to finish. I could be done by June...

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If you know of software producing companies in Denmark, especially in Copenhagen, let us know. We intend to drive in June through Denmark and Sweden and we thought we could introduce Tick-the-Code on the way. We're grateful for any tips.

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Suomeksi: Kevättä ilmassa, aurinko paistaa, mehiläiset pörrää kukkivissa puissa, Virpi aivastelee ja linnut laulaa. Näinhän ne päivät kuluu.