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After discussing two of the most common types of software contracts—preconditions and postconditions—Dino this month introduces the third most important type of contract—the invariant—and proceeds to examine the behavior of contract-based classes when you apply inheritance.

If you’re a builder of software, take heart: You’re living in the greatest development era ever.

Writing software is hard, particularly when the schedule keeps a programmer’s “nose to the grindstone”; every so often, it’s important to take a breather and discover what there is to find—ironically, what you find can often help you write better software. If you’re new to the industry, trying to figure out what to study, much less what to study next, frequently turns into the “Paradox of Choice.”

It’s probably one of the most interesting moments to do a post mortem for a Silverlight project. The entire Microsoft ecosystem is boiling around the Silverlight OR HTML 5 debate fueled by the recent PDC and some statements from Microsoft officials. The interesting part about it is that it is a false debate, and like most false debates it will probably lead to nowhere. The simple truth is that Microsoft’s commitment to Silverlight has not changed a bit, and Silverlight is more healthy and strong than ever. And the fact that the same Microsoft places an important bet on HTML 5 too can only make me happy as an architect and a developer. Mostly because it assures me I’ll have my fair share of choices in the future without having to leave the development platform I like. The reality is that neither Silverlight/RIA nor HTML 5 will turn out to be the magic to fly us to the land of perfect web apps and, at least for the foreseeable future, there will always be a need for alternatives. That’s why I think the debate on Silverlight or HTML 5 is nonsense in the Microsoft ecosystem. But I digress… Let me tell you about the latest software project I participated in.

As in medicine, certain events in software development should never happen. Not ever.

An important part of software testing -- or coding -- effort is the ability to measure the progress. One technique for doing this is a technique called Earned Value Management, and we'll show you how easy it is to apply EVM to your own projects.

Learn firsthand from members of one of Microsoft’s expert “Ranger” teams how best to handle software development branching with Visual Studio Team Foundation Server.

Procedural programming is often seen as “old school,” outdated and useless in modern software design, but the design paradigm still shows up in a surprising number of places—including the compiler and MSBuild.

This article explores software architectural improvements for creating a library of controls deployed in Windows Forms, Wonderware InTouch, and WinCC.

Instead of being at odds, developers and designers should work together from the beginning. Better software will result.