Sunday, October 29, 2006

Inertia Xenon

I released the first alpha version of Inertia Xenon - my lightweight .NET grid framework - this afternoon. Now that it's out, I need to focus my attention on the parts that require it the most. Initially, I feel that the proxy between the client and service broker could be made a lot better if I baked in a whole lot of multi-threading goodness. Next, I bet my job will be focused on improving the administrator API. Anyway, that's all just speculation. Try it out today and let me know what you think..

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Defining Architecture

I'm recently attended one of a series of sessions aimed at developers who are aspiring technical architects. From previous experience, I'd decided that the IEEE definition of architecture (presented below) is spot on; now I just wish that others would subscribe to the same idea.
Architecture is the fundamental organization of a system embodied in its components, their relationships to each other, and to the environment, and the principles guiding its design and evolution. [IEEE 1471]
It bothers me when junior developers use the word to buff up their resumes. It bothers me more when experienced developers are called Technical Architects by their consultancy; they should know better. Architects, by my definition, are those people who specialize in architecture as a profession. They are not the people who can recite a few patterns and have skimmed through a couple of Martin Fowler's books (although both of these traits might be present in a real architect). Hmmm. Let's see if the next session is any better.