PragPub 2011-10: Issue #28

Table of Contents

Features

• Lightsabers, Time Machines, & Other Automation Heuristics
  by Adam Goucher
  Automation, like all of testing, is an inherently heuristic activity. Adam reveals some of the most powerful heuristics of automated testing.
• Open Source Community Values
  by Jeff Cohen
  When you get a new job, you often receive a handbook. Don’t open source communities also need a handbook of community values?
• Scala for the Intrigued
  by Venkat Subramaniam
  In this second installment of this series on the Scala programming language, Venkat shows how Scala’s static typing leads to low ceremony programming.
• But We Have These Distributed Folks
  by Tim Ottinger, Jeff Langr
  Is “distributed agile” an oxymoron? Tim and Jeff explain how to deal with the costs of going distributed.
• When Did That Happen?
  by Dan Wohlbruck
  On another journey into the history of technology, Dan shows that a lot can be done with string, rubber bands, and a macaroni box.

Departments

• Up Front
  by Michael Swaine
  What’s PragProWriMo? Do open source communities need a handbook? And other burning questions.
• Choice Bits
  For every question in twitterspace, somebody has tweeted an answer. Just not necessarily to that question.
• Meet the Team
  Meet Susannah Pfalzer, Pragmatic Bookshelf’s Managing Editor.
• Shady Illuminations
  by John Shade
  John shares his values, and they turn out to include pessimism, procrastination, and paranoia.
• Calendar
  Author sightings, upcoming conferences, and other events of note.
• But Wait, There’s More...
  Coming attractions and where to go from here.