xml-dev - Re: Extreme Programming goes mainstream?

[David Megginson <david@megginson.com>]

Sam Hunting writes:

 > Just that several very experienced Markup Technologists, whose opinions
 > I have come to respect, use the XP method in their XML (and SGML) work.

Extreme Programming reminds me of Information Mapping in the tech
writing world, or Dogma in the film world -- there are a lot of very
good ideas, but the package as a whole may lead to fanaticism.

I personally use several extreme-programming principles in my work,
including starting with the minimum that can possibly work,
eliminating duplication, and constant refactoring.  These are, of
course, common-sense principles that most good coders have been using
for decades, but (as with design patterns) seeing them explicitly
written down help me to clarify my thinking and understand better what
I was doing and why I was doing it.

That said, I feel no sudden urge to do all my coding paired up with
another developer in front of the same terminal -- we have e-mail and
CVS, after all.  If I were a film-maker, I'd probably try to shoot in
available light, but would smuggle a couple of extra fill lights onto
my set if it were too dark.


All the best,


David

-- 
David Megginson                 david@megginson.com
           http://www.megginson.com/