services, tools & practices for a software house

Services, tools & practices for a software

house

or...how to make your development team effective and happy

Paris Apostolopoulos

About me ...

● 'Met' Java back in 1999..fell in love!Java career started 2001 (intern)

● 2003 co-founding JHUG / Administrator● Focus on J2EE and BPM-N (lately)● I enjoy team work, envy developers, dislike

incompetent management :P ● I love effective procedures and keeping things in

order!● @javapapo (twitter)● javapapo.blogspot.com (blog)● www.linkedin.com/in/javaneze● javapapo@mac.com

Agenda● Why?● Let's talk about us - the developers● The software development house

○ Code repository versioning system○ Issue / Bug Tracker○ Wiki / Knowledge base○ Build Server / Continuous Integration○ Testing○ Code Quality○ Training developers

● Other important things○ Project structure and build tools○ The issue of security

Why? (I am doing this presentation)

Why? ..2

● Why companies still ignore basic tools and practises of moden software development methodologies?

● Is it rocket science or difficult to implement?○ I dont think so...

● Why developers do not push things towards improvement? (lazy?dissapointed?)

● Why developers get used of an inefficient software development cycle? They embrace it at the end of the day.

Why? ..3

● Don't we have enough books about modern software development?

● Is it software developers the case or IT managers? Is there a disconnect?

● We want faster, safer, robust and flexible software but..do we really work towards this goal?

● Who to blame? Do we need to blame anyone?

Do we fit into this category?

"One category of profession is driven by the mediocre, the average, and the middle-of-the-road. In it, the mediocre is collectively consequential." Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan

What I really want from you today

● It is not only about a listing several tools and techniques, that I am sure many of you know.

● It is not about blaming managers, developers or anyone else.

● Ask yourself, I am really working in the most effective and proper way?

● Can I introduce change? Have I tried?● Do I want to change? Use proper tools, become

more effective?● Is there any check list of things? (yes follow up)

Code repository / Versioning System

● Do you have one? ....(hope so)● Select the appropriate type depending on

your needs○ VSS, CVS, SVN, Git, Merculiar

● $$ - Some of them are completely free! ● It's 2011, do we still need to talk about why

we need one??

Code repository / Versioning System

● Do you Back up?○ A code repository with no proper

backup is just like a skydiver with no back up parachute! #fact

● Consider remote access? ● Have you invested enough time to learn

about your versioning system?○ no matter if you have the most

advanced tool if you dont how to proplery use it you will not make much out of it. #fact

Issue / Bug Tracker● How dissapointing ...not to

have one.● People still use their heads,

emails or their log books to note, remember and handle issues.○ A tracker does it better! #fact

● How many times you have heard the following.. ○ 'Send me an email about that'

Issue / Bug Tracker● Which one? ($)

○ Many choices, free and commercial○ JIRA, Trac, Bugzzilla,YouTrack, Redmine etc.

● Back up○ Yes, you need to have a proper back up too.

● Invest some time or even force your people to use it - there great managerial advantages over that!

● Try to reduce the amount of project related information floating through emails!

Issue / Bug Tracker● Developers & Managers get a system where they

can track the past ,monitor the present and plan effectively for the future.

● Metrics regarding work allocation and performance can be derived.

● Increase flexibility and dynamics of the development team to address sudden changes or problems.

● Learn from your...tracked mistakes ;) #fact● We usually forget issues resolved a week ago. #fact

Wiki - Knowledge Base● We assume that there is some sort of analysis +

documentation about your software (?)..is it?○ Saying ' we are agile and we dont waste our time with such

stuff' IS NOT cool! #fact● Where do you store, develop and maintain this

information?● Unfortunately many companies/teams still use

emails/ oral communication or Word documents.● We live in the internet + collaboration era - wake up!!

Wiki - Knowledge Base● There are many free or paid products or event

services plain wiki installations, MediaWiki, Confluence

● Make them available and open to your team.● Dont reside on closed standards or systems.● Keep it simple.● Try to capture all related documentation and

information regarding a project.● Inter connect your Issue Tracker with your wiki● Remote access : )

Wiki - Knowledge Base● + You dont need so many licenses for word editing

software.● You can still share information with outsiders.● You can 'bring in' your customers to their specific

island on your knowledge base.● Try to apply it on a company level- not only on

software development teams.

Build Server - Continuous Integration

Code Repository

Builder Server

Watch/Pull/Monitor Code

geeks

Build.Identify Build Errors

TestRun Tests

ReleaseProvide Updates

Customers

Build Server - Continuous Integration'In essense, Continuous Integration is about reducing risk, providing faster feedback.It is designed to help identify and fix integration and regression issues faster, resulting in smoother, quicker delivery and fewer bugs.' Jenkins,The Definite Guide,Chapter 1J.Ferguson Smart,Oreilly

Build Server - Continuous Integration

● Potential solutions○ Hudson/Jenkins,CruiseControl,Contunuum,○ TeamCity, Bamboo

● Eventually a build server does things behind the curtains - you just have to make sure it works and configure it properly.

● It is the real implementation of Cont.Integration as a practise.

● Beware of hardware requirements.● Potential services in the cloud-internet.

Testing....a sad story

Testing..unit testing

● There are many types of testing, unit, functional, cross cutting, integration.

● We will focus on unit tests.● It is not the holy grail. A pragmatic approach.● We can't ignore it!● For the managers: Learn to properly add testing on

project estimates.● For Developers: We get lazy sometimes, lets face it.

Testing..unit testing

● Tools / Frameworks○ JUnit○ TestNG○ JMock○ Mockito (#win)○ Ejb3Unit○ XMLUnit○ HTMLUnit

Testing..unit testing

● Tools / Frameworks - Functional Testing○ Selenium○ Sahi○ JMeter (Perfomance & Testing)

● Code Coverage○ Meaning: how much of our code is 'covered' by

tests.○ EMMA, Coberatura, Clover etc

Code Quality

Code Quality

● Another sad story... (#fail)● It is still considered as a nice to have/ nice to check

practise by many managers and even developers.● There are tools that can help you tackle time, effort

and estimate problems in order to monitor and preserve the quality of the code.

● Tools that scan your code base and identify many basic or advanced problems, sometimes perfomance problems or potential concurrency bugs.

Code Quality..for Java Developers

● FindBugs● PMD● CheckStyle● JDepend● Sonar● Prevent● EclEmmaMost of them can be easily integrated to your IDE. It is just a click away!

Training

● Training should be encouraged in an personal level + promoted company wise.

● Skills need to be updated.● Companies need to leverage the benefits of training

their development teams¨○ Internal ○ Conferences○ Support local communities

Training

● Introduce a company library○ Buy at least one or two books every month and add

them to the library.○ Encourage people to read.

● Engage developers internally with coding sessions and presentations.

● Give space to those that are willing to experiment with something new, let them bring back their experience.

● Promote the do-ers.● Teach young developers...the power of the force ;)

Some extra things to consider...

Project structure / Building tools

● Please stop - creating and building projects using your IDE as a building tool!

● You introduce a technical dependency - increase maintenance effort and your build 'system' may be become obsolete at any time.

Project structure / Building tools

● Java developers are lucky enough to have a variety of tools that handle buidling, structure and library dependencies.

● We have some sort of 'standards'● The main goals for your project must be

○ to be complete IDE un-aware○ can be built in any platform easily○ building activitity to be easily maintained or

changed● Keep it simple

Project structure / Building tools

● Tools and frameworks to consider○ Apache Ant○ Apache Maven○ Apache Ivy○ Gradle○ Gant○ Buildr

Project structure / Building tools

● Java developers are lucky enough to have a variety of tools that handle build, structure and library dependencies.

● We have some sort of 'standards'.● The main goals for your project must be

○ to be complete IDE un-aware○ can be built in any platform easily○ building activitity to be easily maintained or

changed● Keep it simple

Secure...coding

● Unfortunately it is one of our lowest priorities.● It is obvious, since security threats appear in all sorts

of software- all the time.We still suffer from them.● We need to embrace the principles of security in our

architecture and actual software development activity.

Secure...coding

● Content provided by Dimitris Stergiou○ http://www.linkedin.com/in/dimitriosstergiou○ @dstergiou

Secure...coding

● OWASP (owasp.org)○ free and open application security community

● Think and introduce security requirements for your project - before implementation.

● Resources for Security testing○ OWASP Top 10 Wev Application Security Issues○ OWASP Testing Guide v3.v4

Secure...coding

● Tools (static)○ Peer review: Check each other's code.○ Static Code Analysis (http://en.wikipedia.

org/wiki/List_of_tools_for_static_code_analysis)○ Commercial Static code analysis

■ IBM (Ounce Labs)■ HP (Fortify) - in the cloud as well■ Veracode

Secure...coding

● Tools (dynamic testing)○ Manual Penetration testing○ MITM Proxies ( paros, burp, owasp zap, charles)○ Web Application scanners

■ Nikto■ w3af■ Arachni■ Skipfish■ Websecurify■ sqlamp (sql injections

Secure...coding

● People and all that Jazz○ Awareness○ Training○ Development○ Testing○ Goto Awareness ;)

To conclude

● Do your own check list - and see on how many of the above apply to your working enviroment

● Ask yourself what would you like to change or improve?

Try to change it● Spread the word

Thanks, any questions?

References

● This talk was based on the following posts○ Part 1:http://javapapo.blogspot.com/2011/06/services-practises-and-tools-that.html

○ Part 2:http://javapapo.blogspot.com/2011/06/services-practices-and-tools-that.html

○ Part 3:http://javapapo.blogspot.com/2011/06/services-practices-and-tools-that_27.html

○ Part 4:http://javapapo.blogspot.com/2011/06/services-practises-and-tools-that_27.htm

References - books

● Jenkins, The Definite Guide, J.Ferguson Smart, Oreilly

● Agile ALM, Leighweight tools, Agile strategies, M.Huttermann, Manning

● Git (Communit Book) -book.git-scm.com● Version Control with Subversion, svnbook.red-bean.com● Continuous Integration,Improving software quality and reducing risk,

Martin Fowler.● Ant in Action, Manning● Maven the Complete reference,

○ http://www.sonatype.com/books/mvnref-book/reference/● JUnit in Action, Manning● Maven -the definite guide, Oreilly