I recently conducted a small experiment with an object-oriented database, db4o, and I’m quite impressed.

Initially, the concept is a bit challenging to grasp since there are no tables, no SQL, and no mapping involved. Instead, you directly store your objects.

The real challenge lies in querying these objects, but the db4o team has made strides in this area. For example, the current release includes full support for LINQ, providing an excellent programming experience.

Although I’m still a newbie and have some unanswered questions about data and class definitions evolution, it looks promising—very promising.

Just imagine it: “No more SQL. No more mapping.” It’s appealing, isn’t it?

Here is a very funny duo from New Zealand. This song is a great introduction. Come on – take a 7.10 break.

Flight of the Concords

And then take 3 minutes more:

Flight of the Concords

I’ve been quite harsh on the Conchango Scrum template for Team Foundation Server in the past, and I didn’t enjoy using it the last time (about 8 months ago).

My main issue was the need to use the standard, heavy-weight forms in Visual Studio to edit Backlog Items and Actions. This made it impractical for daily scrums, so someone (usually me) had to take notes during the meeting and then update TFS afterward. In lean terms, this was pure WASTE added to our project. I hated that, so we stopped using it quickly.

But now, Conchango has created a tool that I think fills the gap—a Task Board application that mimics the physical task board you typically use during sprints, planning, and daily scrums.

You can read more about it here and check out these videos to learn how it works. I can’t...

I haven’t practiced TDD for a very long time, and I’m still waiting for my first BDD project in real life. Sometimes, I struggle to articulate the benefits of these methodologies.

However, Gregg Pollack has traversed this same path and has delivered a great presentation on the value of TDD and how to effectively use it. Unfortunately, the video is no longer available, which is a shame because it was an excellent presentation.

Gregg’s presentation highlights several key points about TDD and BDD, which he describes as the “pathway to developer enlightenment.” Here are the key points:

1. Testing breeds confidence
2. Writing tests before code results in better code
3. Well-written tests serve as effective documentation
4. TDD isn’t just about writing tests; it’s about defining behavior

Seeing these points articulated was like having my own thoughts validated. Thank you, Gregg.

Also, I might need to explore...

I’ve been diving deeper into BDD, and the more I explore it, the more I like it. Today, working from home, I’ve been frequently exclaiming “Yes!” or enthusiastically explaining the benefits of BDD to Elin, who’s starting to get a bit annoyed.

What stands out for me is that BDD provides a way to derive requirements iteratively and exploratively, using the experts’ language (the ubiquitous language).

I also appreciate the structured approach to stories and scenarios described by Dan North in this article. This structure offers clear guidance on what to tackle next in the system. Mike Cohn outlines other advantages of using the “As a user, I want…” user story template.

The strict and formal nature of BDD also makes it well-suited for automation, as demonstrated by these guys.

I have been introduced to a new concept called The Pomodoro Technique. It’s a way to work in a very focused and lean way, on the individual level (it can also be used for groups).

From what I’ve learned so far it seems very powerful and is something that I sure will be reading more about, and try to use for myself. I often have trouble to keep my focus on the task at hand and the Pomodoro Technique seems like a great way of handling that.

Here are some resources that I found on the subject:

• Pomodoro Technique in 5 minutes
• Book from the inventor of Pomodoro, Francesco Cirillo
• Pomodoro Technique Illustrated

And finally a great lightning talk by Staffan Nöteberg on the problems that Pomodoro sets out to solve. In Swedish I am afraid…

Here is a longer (50 min)...

I am preparing a talk on SOA. That always scares me since it’s such a big topic. Who among us would want to answer the question, “What is SOA?”

OK – in my preparations I found some great resources:

• My new house-god, Dan North, has made this fun and easy-to-follow introduction.
• A lot of different stuff on Wikipedia is a good starter. Here are some articles on SOA, Enterprise service bus, and SOA Governance that I found useful as an introduction.
• Here is a really good discussion on why a common domain model is no good idea.

OK – I have been playing around for a while with my Windows 7 and up to now I love it! It even got my old Dell Precision M70 (4 years old and as many kilos) to look good again.

I am also trying to set up a lab environment for Visual Studio 2010 and TFS Server 2010 and found this great video and introduction on how to do that.

However, since my system is slow and low on memory, it doesn’t play too well with running the whole thing (Windows 2008 Server, SQL Server 2008, TFS Server 2010, and Visual Studio 2010) in Virtual PC.

So I was very happy when I found this post from Scott Hanselman. Here is an excellent video that shows you how it’s done.

In short, there is now support to boot from a VHD (Virtual Hard...

So - the parental leave is now over. I have spent six months “not-working” and together with my son, Albert. It has been great but when looking back it seem like the time has passed very fast.

OK - so now I am officially back in business. Well, by the way, let’s see if there is anything for me to do first. Otherwise I’ll be “free” for a little while longer. We’ll see.

What I have done so far is just updated my CV. That’s always rewarding since it seems like you have done a lot of important work…

And now I have put way to much time into installing Windows 7. I have had a real hard time to do it from a USB-stick. But here is a great a description on how to install Windows 7 from USB-stick.

From that I’ll try to install Visual...

I am slowly but certainly coming to the end of my parental leave. Six months without working! The time has disappeared so quickly… it’s a bit sad.

But I also feel “hungry” for work, especially to put my newly acquired skills and knowledge into practice (like TDD, ASP.NET MVC, BDD, DDD, etc.)

During my leave, I’ve done some reading. I’m proud of reaching many of the goals I set for myself on the last day of working. Here’s a short review of the books I read:

Clean Code by Robert “Uncle Bob” Martin

Clean Code was both really good and a bit annoying. It’s a classic with loads of great tips on how to identify bad code (“smells,” as Uncle Bob calls them) and what to do about it. There are also some excellent examples.

However, by the end, the tips stack up...