Eight years

Just like that, without my noticing, this blog has turned eight, or 2 to the power of 3, for fans of binary math.

That is quite a while, and not common. There are few of us persistent bloggers left. It is true that lately I have been writing less often, but we are still here, and what matters is that many of you, my reader friends, are still here too, keeping me company. Thank you very much for your patience.

This blog started on August 1, 2005 with a very simple post that began like this:

Developing software is like making a movie

Art+Technique+Logistics

Just as in the making of a film, when we build software we have a Pre-Production stage, where we write the script. This is equivalent to the requirements analysis and design stage.

Then comes the production stage, when the whole crew, under the director’s guidance, works on shooting the film’s scenes and sequences. In software development we do the same: the project manager coordinates the team of programmers.

In film, Post-Production comes next: editing, selecting or discarding scenes, finishing special effects, adding the music, etc. In software we have to test, approve, fix, polish, run the tests, integrate, test in production environments, prepare the operations manuals, define contingencies, etc.

Although there are similarities, the film industry has many more lessons for us, and in a way they do a much more professional job than many software developers.

Eight years have gone by and many of those ideas are still present in this space. What’s more, last year I met a friend who told me he found this blog precisely through that post. This blog has let me meet many fellow computing people, and also people involved in technology and entrepreneurship.

This blog is my space for personal reflection. It is my way of learning new things and presenting them to you. I have had a lot of fun doing it, and I hope you have enjoyed some of the articles.

As always on these occasions, a toast is in order: cheers to you and to La Naturaleza del Software.