I watched the first few episodes of the award-winning HBO series “Angels in America” and hated it (but I still love NetFlix for making is so darn available to me).

However, while I didn’t identify with any of the characters (except, potentially, the hot nurse/angel), I did really resonate with one of the quotes, which went something like this (and feel free to correct me if you recognize the quote and I got it wrong):

“Don’t run your life by what you want. That changes with a whim. Run your life on what you believe.”

That really struck the Midwestern Eagle Scout idealist engineer in me.

Today Ralph Loizzo asked me what tool I use to outline my objects, to which I replied:

The tool I use most often to design my systems is a text editor. I write my client code first against the objects I wish I had to obtain the first order of functionality I’m after, then implement those classes and refactor ’til I’ve reached a state of happiness between the clients and the object model.

In this age of development methodology du jour, I assume my methodology already has a name, but today I dubbed it CDD (Client-Driven Development). Also, I don’t distinguish between client UI code and lower-level code, i.e. just as often as I write lower-level code against an imaginary OM, I design my UIs first, then implement an OM to enable the UI.

Over the years, I’ve become less and less of a fan of the idea of componentizing the functionality you think the higher levels are going to need, as it often results in over-engineering. Instead, I prefer just-in-time engineering, refactoring my design as I need new or different functionality, whether in the client during the initial development stage or during the maintenance stage.

Test Driven Development is very similar to Client-Driven Development:

• TDD: writing the tests first and writing your code ’til the test pass
• CDD: writing the client first and writing your code ’til the client has the functionality it needs

It may even be that CDD is a degenerate case of TDD where the “test” is “the client seems to work.”

I’m downloading this now, but anytime I get a chance to see Don Box or Doug Purdy speak, I want to do it. To see them both together?!? Oh la la!

And after watching them together on the latest .NET Show, I get to see them again next week at the Applied XML Developer’s Conference. How lucky am I? : )

Raymond Chen points out that not even potentially paying customers can be trusted to tell you what they’ll really buy if you build it.

Which begs the question that has plagued my entire software career: how the hell do you really know what to build?

Rory is giving away one seat to the Applied XML Developer’s Conference. He’s asking three questions before Friday and drawing from anyone that can answer all three. Question 1 and question 2 have already been posted.

There are still a hand full of seats left if you’re like to purchase one.

Here. If you’re going to be checking into the Skamania Lodge for the DevCon by 7pm on Tuesday, 10/19, please join us for the Anticipation Reception for all attendees and speakers. If you decide to hang with the Portland Nerd Dinner crowd instead that night, I’ll understand. : )

Here.

Don got a last minute bug to write on a completely different topic. I just got the slides this morning and they’re different than anything I’ve ever seen from Don (which is saying a lot). The new title of the talk is “ws-islands” and while I have no abstract as yet, I’m still very much looking forward to the talk for the psychedelic effects of the slides alone (I asked him to be careful not to cause seizures in the audience).

There are just a few seats left, so register now or be prepared to sit this one out.

Like pretty much everyone else I know, I’m a huge fan of Raymond Chen’s blog: The Old New Thing. He is constantly answering questions about things I’ve always wondered. This time, he answers the question ”What’s the heck the atom returned by RegisterClass useful for?″ [ed: “the heck” added for emphasis]