Reading the posts of Darrell, Brendan, et al, I was starting to catch the TDD bug. I read with great interest Sandy's post Software Socialism, which hit the mark. I am opportunistic. I am a scientist turned programmer. One CS class in my life--intro to OOP using c++ in '97. Then, Jim Newkirk's TDD webcast today (no on-demand link yet). I need to improve. I need to get better. And I'm excited to do so, realizing it will be a lot of work. Looking up the hill to climb, it's almost overwhelming. Where do I start?
This isn't going to be an overnight transformation. I don't have too much spare time right now, with one full time contract and two freelance projects going on, plus two site upgrades later this year. Full time contract includes learning Win2k3/IIS6 and SharePoint Portal Server.
So where to begin? Is it best to learn NUnit/NUnitASP (most of my work is web-based)? Start with NDoc immediately? FxCop? What's the best tool to start using? And incorporate others as I go on.
Books, too. Obviously Jim Newkirk's. Then what? Code Complete? Pragmatic Programmer?
This will be an interesting project--the conversion of one opportunistic to agile.
Dell, HP Think Green
source: http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=25867
Dell and HP are encouraging users of computers and other electronic devices to recycle, rather than discard, their unwanted equipment. Dell is launching a free home pick-up program, and HP is collaborating with Office Depot on an in-store recycling effort.
...
HP has hooked up with Office Depot on a nationwide, in-store electronics recycling effort, in which consumer and business customers can drop off any brand of unwanted electronics at any of Office Depot's 850 retail locations in the U.S. The program runs from July 18th through September 6th.
I have to give props to HP to launching a better campaign. I can finally clean out that closet in my old home! We need a new laptop, and it may very well be an HP simply because of this program.
<edit 2004-08-19>
Here is the direct link to Office Depot's page:
http://www.officedepot.com/promo.do?file=/promo/pages/recycle.jsp