Joel Spolsky maintains a fascinating, well written, informative,
opinionated and amusing web site at http://www.joelonsoftware.com/index.html.
Your assignment is to visit it, surf around, and write the usual few
paragraphs about what you find. (Some of you may want to try
to read the Chinese version - simple or traditional.) I don't want
just a plot summary - I've criticized some of you for some of that in
the past. (The site is much too big to summarize in any
case.) I'd like you to find two or three or four specific articles or
discussions that you found interesting. Then respond to them. Do you
agree or disagree (why)? How do
they connect to other things we have read or studied? What will or
won't be useful in your current projects? Some of the links are to
forums - feel free to contribute.
Start with The Joel
Test. That used to be the entry point for the page; it's hard to
find now.
Then explore. The archive
may be a help.
There's so much here that part of your task should be to find the
stuff that interests you most. Recommend parts to your classmates,
too.
In class I will ask each of you to make a five to ten minute
presentation on some aspect of this web site. You should think about
what you want to say, and organize it loosely. Don't talk only about
the two particular places I've sent you to.
Don't prepare power
point slides! You should be prepared to modify your presentation based
on what happens in the presentations that precede yours.