Rumblings in Scala
Here are some thoughts I posted about Scala on Mastodon.
Posts by Year
2023
Hiring a programmer? Make some tea!
Whilst looking for my next job, I’m finding that the hiring process has become little more than an exercise in matching tags.
You want to use AI? Learn to program first!
Whilst using AI tools to help me write software, it struck me that these tools in their current form, are only safe in the hands of experienced developers.
Introducing the Ritronome
Ritronome is an experimental metronome that can change tempo.
Complexity Trap
There comes a point in complex domains where only developers have anything close to a complete understanding of the system behaviour. If you’re lucky.
2022
Monads
A non-mathematical introduction to Monads.
Functor
A non-mathematical introduction to functors.
2021
Make Building Blocks
How do we write software that is simple, extensible, composeable? This is a very difficult question to answer.
Playing the Piano with Ease
How hard can it be?
Evergreen Software Documentation
Software Documentation is hard to do, tedious to maintain, unsatisfactory, and always wrong.
2018
The Compassionate Programmer
Software is quite miraculous if you think about it. It starts as a random, incoherent set of ideas, and after some pondering, often too little, text is writt...
2017
Barclays Agile Awards 2017
We are excited and proud to announce that a project started with Underscore partners and associates has won the highest accolade in the Barclays Agility Conf...
2015
What are you going to do?
Its like a finger pointing away to the moon. Don’t concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory. — Bruce Lee in a movie.
2014
Lunatics Running the Asylum
IT departments — on issues ranging across the spectrum from Software Process to technology — seek to have decision-making discretion taken from those directl...
A Small (Real) Example of the Reader and Writer Monads
This is an example of using the Reader and Writer monads to solve a problem which cropped up on a project I am working on.
2012
Another Small Example of the Type Class Pattern
I recently came across another elegant use of the type class pattern, so I thought I’d share it with here.
A Small (Real) Example of Kleisli Arrows
This is a simple example of use of a mysterious beast called a Kleisli arrow.
A Small Example of Phantom Types
Here is an example of so-called phantom types and covariance in Scala to improve type safety and correctness. The example is a simplified version from a real...
A Small Example of the Typeclass Pattern
Typeclasses are most famously a language feature of Haskell that has gained interest in the Scala community. Here I describe the basic pattern with reference...
HSBC - A Successful Delivery
Over the last few months, we’ve been working on delivering HSBC’s Clearing Connectivity Layer and OTC Cleared Trade Acceptance System. We went live early Dec...
2009
Producing Systems That Do Not Rot
I was driven to write this article after reading Kirk Knoernschild’s blog about Rotting Design and felt I needed to say something.
TDD from a Control Theory POV
This is another way of looking at how Test Driven Development (TDD) helps to build better software.
Software Quality - Syntactics
“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them”. Henry David Thoreau
Software Quality - Pragmatics
This article continues my series on Software Quality, discussing Vignelli’s pragmatics.
Software Quality - Overview
Walk into a room of software developers and invariably the conversation will turn to the dreadful quality of code in their workplace or the industry.