Arguments
There are 3 entries for the tag
Arguments
One of the things that irks me when discussing certain technical topics is a tendency towards boosterism that can hinder, or even halt, deeper evaluation and discussion. Some topics, tools, or practices arrive with a divine imprimatur of authority that is hard to resist. Since I believe in being personally responsible for the software development I undertake, I sometimes find myself exploring murky territory that seems like it should be better mapped. The latest of these pre-hallowed principles is Test-driven Development.
What comes across as a casual assumption of superiority gets my hackles up. I’ll show what I mean using...
The discussion spawned from my TDD post has been interesting to me. I’ve enjoyed the comments by Phil on his post and by him and others on my own. I’m particularly flattered that one of the authors of the original study dropped by. I disagree with some of his points, but this isn’t where I want to address them. Instead, I want to examine the discussion itself because this is definitely something that we as a software development community could be better at. The Report First, I want to emphasize something that I could have made clearer...
There's a reason that my personal blog is named The Rabid Paladin—I form opinions easily and express them strongly, even as I attempt to maintain an even keel through my sense of integrity. What this means is that on those occasions when I enter an argument with the purpose of informing and/or convincing others, I try to remain open to valid points from other perspectives and the possibility that I might be wrong.
Letting Bias Show
Too often, people arguing their case will paint alternatives in as bad a light as possible—perhaps believing that their misrepresentations make their arguments stronger. The...