Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with software and development

What's the best agile project management tool?

bshort — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:24:47 -0800

What's your favorite agile project management tool? I'm looking for something that allows tracking of backlog, user tasks, developer time for tasks, and provides reporting for sprints, projects, and user stories on a daily, weekly, and sprint-level basis.

I've looked at AgileBuddy, which is pretty great, but the reporting isn't very good. I need to be able to see who did what 6 weeks ago, and I need to be able to do it without referring to the "activity view", which shows every action by every team member.

Is there another tool out there that I should be looking at?

Oh, and it needs to be web-based.

What version are we on now?

Drasher — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:04:25 -0800

How do software authors determine the version numbers of the releases? I am writing software for a specific electronic device. I am not using version control on it yet. (Yeah, shame! Truth is, I am intimidated.) I am working on this project alone. (Details: Front-end GUI in VB.NET back-end work done in a DLL in C++. The other part is embedded in the controller card using a PIC P24FJ256GB110.)
I expect that the software will go through some gyrations when the user figures out what he really wants. I will need to get versions for the GUI and the DLL and check for compatibility between them.
If you have suggestions about version control (for one) I'll take those too. I installed Subversion and TortoiseSVN, but I don't know how to use it effectively. I am confused as to when to do a commit. And don't even ask me about branches... I just don't get it.

Need money now thankyou.

drjimmy11 — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:50:15 -0800

What are some good tech-centric temp agencies in L.A.? Hi! Yet another in my long series of job-trauma questions.

I'm currently between jobs- I'm a web/software developer, specializing in flex/AS3 but with years and years of doing html/js/ajax/php type stuff too. I have a pretty strong resume, I like to think, going back about 10 years.

I'm currently getting contacted by a lot of recruiters and going on a lot of interviews, but it's a very drawn-out process. Basically I need a gig to bring in some money now- cutting up PSDs or whatever is fine, I'm not proud at this point. I'm curious if anyone knows any decently reputable agencies who could get me something like this soon. Specific names of agencies are appreciated, referrals to specific people are even more appreciated. (meMail me if you like).

(I'd also be interested in where I can advertise myself as a flex freelancer, but I'm more inclined towards W2 right now for a few reasons.)

Thanks!

Pros & Cons of bringing web development in-house?

MeatLightning — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:33:22 -0800

Pros & Cons of bringing web development in-house? Hi all -
I manage a mid-size e-commerce website. We currently work with an agency to build and maintain our site. We are considering hiring a dev (C# / .NET, SQL) and taking over development... or at least much of it (still may go out of house for UX, front-end dev).

Anyone have any advice, experiences, warnings, etc they can share?

Have you gone down this road? How did it go? What should we watch out for?

thanks in advance!

Show Me the Money

micklaw — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:29:18 -0800

SellingSoftwareFilter: How do we make money from software that a colleague has developed from scratch (in Australia)? A friend has developed a great piece of software that would be very useful to most mid-large businesses to assist in document management. There is only one other player in this specific field (a big player).

But, he is stumped as what to do next.

My question is how do we go about taking this great piece of software and making money out of it? Any suggestions would be appreciated and we are based in Australia so ideas specific to our market would be great.

Thanks in advance!

"Proactive? Paradigm? Aren't those just words dumb people use to sound smart?"

drjimmy11 — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 08:49:10 -0800

Where does one proactively look for software (specifically Flex) jobs these days? So I'm on the market. I have about ten years web/software development experience overall, with the last 3 focused in Flex. I'm in Los Angeles and not keen to move.

In the past I would just put my resume up on Dice and get bombarded by recruiters. This time though, the response has been a little more sparse, and I'd like to find something sooner than later.

So:

Are the major search sites (Monster, Careerbuilder) as useless as I remember them for tech jobs?

Is there anywhere tech-specific besides Dice I should post my resume, or search for jobs? This would include job sites or message boards or whatever.

Are there any other strategies I'm missing, or should I just browse the websites of specific employers who i think I might like?

Thanks!

Resources for creating a good, extensible file format

SilentSalamander — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 22:35:32 -0800

My team and I are writing a computer application for which aspects of the file format are very likely to change in future releases. The format is in XML. Does anyone know any resources on the web that lays down general principles about how to make a file format that is as extensible as possible for the future (and minimizes the possibility of cross-version breakage)?

Pay for Flex?

drjimmy11 — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:58:42 -0800

What, anecdotally speaking, are Flex developers getting paid right now in Los Angeles or a similar city? I have been to the salary calculators and such, they tend to come back with a number up around $120k or so- but I'm not sure how "real world" that is. I'm a Flex developer with about 2 years experience in Flex, and 10 years programming overall. I consider myself an expert in Flex/AS3 (have written my own framework, used all the major ones, can explain their strengths and weaknesses, and stuff like that).

I'm interested in knowing, if I put myself on the market tomorrow, what salary could I expect to find in Los Angeles for full-time? How about as a consultant? How high is the demand, really? Mostly just looking for anecdotes, but hard data is welcome if it's more specific than those generic salary calculators.

Thanks!

Can I use the Time Management Matrix in my software?

Anonymous — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:07:18 -0800

Can I use the "Time Management Matrix" in a commercial software product without any legal repercussions? (If you're not familiar with the Time Management Matrix, you can find a good primer here.)

My understanding is that the Matrix was popularized by Stephen Covey's book First Things First, and was later featured in some of his other books. Since then it has been widely used in motivational and leadership books and seminars. There are dozens of articles and pages about it online. It very likely existed in other forms, at least in concept, before Covey wrote about it.

I am interested in including a visual representation, description, and interactive version of this Matrix in a piece of commercial software I am writing. Without giving away too much of the application's functionality, essentially a user will be able to click one of the quadrants of the Matrix to assign a task to it, view a list of tasks sorted by quadrant, etc. The software would also include a brief description of the Matrix and its quadrants, with no direct quotations from Covey's book or any other sources. In fact, I don't plan on mentioning Covey at all (unless I must for attribution) in order to avoid any implications of endorsement.

Would I run into any legal issues if I do this? I can't find any solid evidence on whether Covey invented the concept or the term, so that's the first thing I need to find out. After that, I need to know what I can do if he does have some claim of ownership to it.

Don't Know Much About Mainframes, So I'm Intrigued...

mhh5 — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:54:09 -0800

What is a modern mainframe computer? IANAP So I randomly overheard some discussions about modern mainframe computing... and with all the "cloud computing" hype.. I'm sorta wondering what people mean nowadays when they say they work on a "mainframe" and what the most common work on mainframes is currently? Am I mistaken in thinking that mainframes mostly run nearly-obsolete COBOL programs for ancient financial systems? I assume so... so where can I brush up on what the "latest" is in mainframe software? Is there a vibrant mainframe developer community out there...? I assume it's all IBM -- but are there other developers for mainframe software?

Which forums do the best web programmers hang out at?

jackson5 — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:15:45 -0800

Which forums do the best web programmers hang out at? Long story short: I've got a web site that already does over 1 million pageviews per month. I've got a great idea to take it to the next level, but I'm looking for someone who can handle the coding and technical aspects in exchange for an equity stake.

I'm wanting to bring aboard a great programmer who doesn't necessarily need the work but will be motivated by the equity.

Which forums would you recommend I post on to find this person?

Also, if there's anyone interested here, let me know.

So I wanna develop my own ERP software...

dfreire — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:11:37 -0800

I'm a freelance software developer and I have a customer contract for building a software product that supports their manufacturing business. After digging for ERP open source solutions I couldn't find a clear match for my project. It seems to me that existent solutions are overcomplicated for my costumer needs, and my end users are not at all accustomed to ERP complexity.

So my approach is to start a small software package, with a clear focus on real customer requirements, and eventually improve the product into an ERP-like solution for small manufacturing businesses.

I know there are already common data models for ERP systems and the common business processes are already defined. But I don't know where to learn about this stuff. I don't have any experience. So where can I find information to get me on the right track and build this software package the way it should be build. (I do not want to re-invent the wheel.)

Another way to put this question is: What would you do if you decided to develop your own ERP software package? How would you do it?

Coop TLD Registrars?

thebigdeadwaltz — Mon, 11 May 2009 06:12:09 -0800

I'd really like to get a Coop TLD, but I'm having a hard time finding an affordable and easy-to-use registrar. Any recomendations for companies that do a good job with this TLD? Any experiences? I'd really like to be paying sub-$20/year.

Finding an open-source programmer?

liquado — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:52:54 -0800

I'm involved in a group of small/nonprofit organizations that would like to financially support the starting of an open-source software application. While I am technically-minded, I'm not a programmer -- and I don't really know what to look for in one (hopefully to be found on MeFi jobs!). Help greatly appreciated. I'm the co-chair of a nonprofit community fishing tournament. We've been using a software package to run our tournament that, bluntly, was never very good to start, and is showing its age.

Its function is basically to facilitate the entering of weights as anglers weigh in at the scale, calculation of current standings as the tournament runs, display on a fancy screen for spectators to see, display sponsor ads, angler photos, etc., etc.

We have a group of local tournament organizers (mostly nonprofit) that would like help developing something that would be useful to all of us, but that is cross platform and open source, so that other (fishing or otherwise, possibly) tournaments can benefit from it, as well. We're not interested in developing it as any kind of revenue stream; we just want a useful product for our own tournaments.

We likely can raise a reasonable amount of money to start the project, and are forming a committee to try and develop a spec sheet for it, but I don't know how to proceed from there. Other than the obvious usual HR baseline, what do I need to know/ask/require/expect in finding someone to start an open source project for us?

Alternately, is there a protocol wrt to looking for programmers who just want to start a new open source project (i.e., are not looking for financial recompense)? As I said, we will likely have some financial ability to make this happen, but someone wanting to do it on their own time would be okay, too.

Thanks for any advice!

Stock data for use in black box trading application?

Hypocrites — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 13:12:55 -0800

Stock data for use in black box trading application? I just need raw data, the current tick and the technical analysis for each tick and I need the data to be real-time. I would prefer an API with it, but if not that's fine. All I need is data, no other analysis or "features" of any kind. (e.g. no Bloomberg Terminal, Fidessa, CQG, any variation therof) This data needs to be easily manipulated in my own application that I'll be developing in C#. Thanks in advance!

iPhone SDK: ApplicationVerificationFailed

remi — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:55:07 -0800

How do you get rid of the "ApplicationVerificationFailed" error when trying to test an application on the iPhone? I am using Xcode 3.1.2 with the iPhone SDK 2.2.1 on Mac OS X 10.5.6. I am trying to develop my first application for the iPod and iPhone. For testing, I have an iPod Touch 2nd gen with software version 2.2.1. I have also paid $99 USD for an iPhone single developer package with Apple.

When I'm trying to install an application for testing on my iPod using Xcode, I always get the following error message:

Your mobile device has encountered an unexpected error (0xE800003A)
ApplicationVerificationFailed

I do have all the necessary certificates installed in my Keychain and provisioning profiles installed on my iPod. The provisioning profile is for development (not deployment), and is correctly associated with my developer's certificate, application ID, and device (iPod) profile. For here, I'll say my App ID is "9876543210.*".

Here is what I tried so far:

- I restarted my iPod and Xcode several times already.
- I restored my iPod.
- For the application's "Target" listed in the Project's window (not the Organiser), I brought up its "Info" window and under the "Properties" tab, I tried the following "Identifiers": blank, 9876543210.${PRODUCT_NAME:identifier}, 9876543210.*, *, ${PRODUCT_NAME:identifier}.

Can anyone help me with this? It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Questions about creating websites for small businesses.

JeffL — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 10:33:48 -0800

I have a few questions about creating websites for small businesses. A couple of small businesses have approached me about creating websites for them. I am experienced in software development, but only as a full-time employee at large corporations. I have a few questions for people who have done/are doing this sort of small-scale work:

1. I assume that I would include the price of the domain registration and the hosting (using a shared hosting company) as part of my price, right? However, would there be issues with me being listed as the owner/contact for the domain registration? I'm imagining that a concern of the client would be what would happen if I got hit by the proverbial bus - how would they get the domain registered in their name, etc.? Is there a standard approach for handling this type of thing?

2. Is it standard practice to charge the client for the initial work, and then have a monthly charge for support/maintenance/enhancements? (If so, I suppose it would make sense to roll the cost of the hosting into that monthly charge).

3. I understand that this is something I will mostly need to figure out myself, BUT: Is there any sort of standard charge (hourly or fixed bid) for doing this sort of work? The sites will probably be Microsoft ASP (active server page) based, driven by SQL Server databases. The sites are for retail businesses that have a physical presence (sales lots) that sell big-ticket items (similar to car dealerships). The businesses want prospective customers to be able to browse through photos and "plans" of the items, and search for items by perhaps a half dozen criteria. Because the businesses want the ability to maintain the information themselves, I will also need to create maintenance pages for them to use, as well.

Thanks!

Could I get in trouble with my former employer if I develop similar software for their competitor(s)?

Anonymous — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 18:34:47 -0800

Could I get in trouble with my former employer if I develop similar software for their competitor(s)? Several years ago I was employed (full-time) by an industrial manufacturing company as a computer programmer. During the 10+ years I worked there, I became something of an expert in writing software that was used by the company's customers (via software distributed on diskettes, then cd-roms, then eventually the internet), to configure the company's products. A few of the company's larger competitors had similar software, but lots of smaller ones didn't. I was the primary designer and developer of the company's software, but upon leaving, I documented everything thoroughly, and gave a full month's notice so that I could train my replacements. I even occasionally answered questions (for free) after I left. I left on good terms.

Flash-forward several years, and after a stint in a completely different field, I'm interested in getting back into software development. I don't want to go back to my former employer - and I hear they are sending most of the development work offshore anyway - but I believe there IS an opportunity to do contract work for some of my former employer's smaller competitors. What I have in mind is writing software similar to that which I did for my old company. I believe that, due to my experience in the field, I could do it much more efficiently than any other random contractor/consultant these other company(s) could find.

My question is this: Could I get into trouble with my former employer if I do this? I wouldn't be reusing ANY source code from my days with them - but of course, I WOULD be using a lot of my own ideas that I had when I worked for them. I remember signing something 18+ years ago, when I first started there, that stated that any "inventions" I created there would be the company's property. (This was, as I recall, supposedly applicable to product engineers who would sometimes get their names on patents for the company's industrial products).

Is that agreement (which I don't have a copy of, and don't want to ask for), enforceable anyway? I'm 100% sure they do not have a patent on the techniques used in the software that I wrote for them. All of the formulas, calculations, etc. that any new software would depend on is in the public domain (i.e., in textbooks). What was unique (or almost unique) was some of the clever techniques in the software to make it efficient.

Thanks!

What IRC bot do developers use?

butterstick — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 07:26:23 -0800

What is a good IRC bot to run on an internal IRC server used by programmers in a software development company? I've been in a number of IRC channels for open source projects where the IRC bot provides some really neat functionality. I'd like it to integrate with our CVS system, and possibly our bug tracking (JIRA) platform. An ability to index our Wiki would be pretty rad as well.

What is the current state of IRC based integration with software management systems?

Decent software development podcasts?

chill — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 02:54:02 -0800

I'm looking for podcast recommendations that relate to software development, particularly regarding topics such as Software Configuration Management, Team Foundation System, ASP.NET, SQL Server... I've decided that my 35 minute walk to work each day would be a good opportunity to listen to some podcasts that will expand my knowledge in the areas of software development that interest me and that I currently feel I'm falling behind in. I've started listening to "RadioTFS" and wondered whether there's more out there.
Many thanks in advance.

How do I learn the Visual Studio way of thinking about software development?

majick — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 13:45:19 -0800

Visual Studio for the confused: I've inherited a C#/ASPX Net 1.1 application from what appears to have been some fairly low-skill software developers. The language, systems environment, and cleaning up the software itself aren't problems, but what the hell am I supposed to do with all this IDE stuff? I need learning resources. My previous software development experience has been with fundamental tools: Makefiles, gcc, Ant, javac, and scripted build processes. I've used IDEs before, but entirely for the purposes of coding and analysis, not build processes and SCM. The situation I find myself in now requires I come up to speed on the Visual Studio 2003 build system, and I'm finding it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever due to my lack of grounding in graphical build tools. It's further complicated by the way the tool seems to be conceptually tied to a web server for the purpose of development.

There seems to be a tremendous amount of magic hidden in things like "solution files" and "project files" and zillions of little "properties" windows that own metadata about dependencies and the source tree, and it's all very confusing for someone coming from a more traditional and modular software tools environment. Reverse engineering this stuff is sapping a tremendous amount of my time and productivity, especially since it seems like the previous folks on the project made assumptions about the build environment that are no longer true.

So what should I be reading that will give me a background on this Microsoft-flavored build environment so that I can get to the work at hand? I want to get this code into Subversion and make it buildable by anyone who can check it out, but that is looking more and more like I'm going to have to rejigger what happens when the Build button is pushed to remove hardcoded UNC pathnames of servers that don't exist, an almost arbitrary scattering of build prerequisites, and dependencies on having a web server at hand just to produce object code and a MSI installer.

Right now I'm coming up against something that seems like an alien artifact from a world where the definition of what a codebase is and how you build it happens to completely differ from my own. It seems completely ass-backwards every time I look at it and adds a layer of complexity that I'm unaccustomed to in my tools. Overcoming that barrier is going to be key to my short term success. What should I be reading to learn best practices about Microsoft-flavored development tools and fundamentals of the Visual Studio way of thinking about a software "solution" in order to put this codebase on track to be properly maintained? Where I come from, a couple of hours with a text editor, a fresh build script, and svn ci would have given me build automation, SCM, and code drop portability. Instead I'm in a maze of twisty little properties pages, all alike, and eliminating my ignorance is an important first step.

Please note that I'm not asking about tool choice. I can make tool decisions on my own. I'm looking for ways to educate myself on how what I have works as is, so I can make intelligent decisions about how to restructure and retool the project for maintainability and save a lot of pain for the next person who has to tend to this application. I work with that next person, and want to be nice to them by giving them a software project, toolchain and development process that Just Works.

Need some tips on how to be a freelance developer

captainawesome — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:11:17 -0800

Now that I'm starting to do more part-time freelance software development, what kinds of things should I be considering? A few months ago, a friend of mine was approached to do some custom software development, but at the time he was unable to take on any more projects. He referred the guy to me instead and I did the job, which was well received. That led to another job, which in turn has led to a few more in the pipeline and a few other clients showing interest in hiring me. This is all good: I'm a full-time grad student, with piles of student loans, so any spare cash I can make on the side is great.

So far I've made relatively little money doing this, but if I'm going to be making any supplemental income from freelancing, I'd like to figure out what hoops I have to jump through (legalities, taxes, etc) to be legit. Googling has found me advice that all seems geared towards people trying to do small business as a career, but that's NOT what I'm shooting for right now - just doing the occasional bit on the side. Before I go spending tons of cash (which is in short supply right now) talking to a lawyer and/or CPA for an income stream that might be pretty small, I'd like to be sure that it's worth it.

Specifically,
1. Am I supposed to be starting a company for this, or can I just do business under my own name?
2. What am I supposed to be doing about taxes and the like?
3. Anybody have any idea what custom software development is worth these days? I'm a few years shy of a PhD in computer science, with 15+ years of independent and corporate software development experience, and the work I've been doing (iPhone app development) is still fairly niche, so it's got to be worth something - but I'm having a very hard time finding information on what I'm supposed to be charging people.
4. Are there things I haven't even thought of yet?

Some vague questions, I know, but if anybody's got any pointers I'd love to hear them.

How much do PHP developers in NYC get paid?

defreckled — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 14:26:43 -0800

What's the going rate for a PHP developer in NYC? I'm not actually defreckled but am borrowing this account.

I work as a PHP developer in NYC with a couple of years experience. A contract agency wants to pay me $50/hour on a contract (1099) basis and my friends think I'm being ripped off. What is the going rate for developers in this area? How much do people get paid full time?

Web based collaboration software

london302 — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:46:25 -0800

Recommendations for programmable web based collaboration software for team in multiple cities (such as basecamp or google docs) [I am not a software expert so my request is based on what I (a user) need]:

- The software could be called a project management software as the team (consisting of about 10 members).

- The work involves analysing a number of project leads (10 to 20 max at any given time). The object of the analysis is to identify the best lead (one or more) and kill the ones that do not meet our internal criteria (the criteria are not codefied as a check list but are subjective criteria).

- During the process of analysis the analyst collects data from the project owner (word, excel and pdf format usually) and from other sources such as the web (urls, pdf) and it there was a way to have all this information to be centralised that would be excellent.

-Optional Extras:

1. Ability for project founders (outside the organisation) to upload data directly into the project space without having the ability to read what we have entered

(maybe ablity to email data into the project)

2. Ability for analysts to generate automated emails to founders requesting for information or to update other analysts on the status of a project.

- My understanding is that we will need to pick a platform such as Basecamp or Google sites and have someone programme and customise this for us. Any reliable suppliers?

- Our budget is not huge and we are very inexperienced with software projects and we have heard horror stories of them going out of control which we will not be able to afford. It seems to me that if we picked a platform that had the basic functionality of what we want then there are probably fewer things that can go wrong.

- Would eLance or such sites be good to identify a programmer once we have identified the platform.

Thanks very much for your attention.

3 guys, fresh out of college, looking for some financial advice on obtaining a developer for our startup

drkrdglo — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:25:54 -0800

Two college friends and myself are looking to put together a mobile application start-up. We have the business end of the startup covered, but we need to find a developer to help us out. We need some financial guidance on what to do and what not to do. Should we pay a freelance developer, or bring someone on board with us as a partner? My friends and I have finished college, have great full-time jobs, but we are still looking for something more. We share a passion for technology and innovation. In the current climate, mobile technology seems to be a huge growth area, and a huge area of opportunity for a new startup.

At the current time, we're looking at this startup as more of a serious project than anything. We're keeping our day jobs (in advertising and ecommerce) not only to continue being able to pay our student loans, but to continue learning how the industry works. Business wise -- we're set. Financially -- we can get by. We have a few thousand dollars to invest at the time being. We want to make sure we're making the right investment.

Our current dilemma is that we need a developer. We need to find out whether it's better to hire a freelance developer (which I've seen ads on Craigslist ranging from ~$60-$75/hr), or garner the interest of a fourth partner to join our team. Under the assumption of gaining a fourth partner, he/she would receive compensation, as the rest of us would --- after the applications are launched and sold.

Since this is more of a very serious project as opposed to a full blown business -- I would be more comfortable with a fourth partner, but hey, I could be totally off base about this whole thing.

In the end, we're doing this because 1) we love the industry/would love to be a part of a technological revolution 2) there's huge potential for future opportunities. In order to make our dreams a reality, we need to find a developer -- our missing link. Hopefully you guys have some insight how we can go about doing so in a financially responsible way.

(Side note: if there's a developer out there interested in this sort of endeavor -- send me a message!)