Nigel Bakker and Chris Nel, two specialists in object-oriented (OO) software development from CCH Software Development, have been invited to present tutorials at OOPSLA 2000, the annual gathering of international object gurus, in October.
The development specialists will present tutorials on designing, testing and developing OO software solutions. This year the conference is being held in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This is the second year in a row that Bakker and Nel have been invited to present tutorials at OOPSLA. Attendees range from some of the world`s foremost experts in object development, through to programmers with an intermediate level of OO experience and beginners in the field.
OOPSLA is the world`s leading annual gathering of object experts. Each year several thousand people rally at the vendor-neutral conference to discuss the latest advancements in the world of object and component technology.
Many ideas first presented at OOPSLA have gone on to become industry standards.
"OOPSLA is a significant event on OO developers` calendars. Our attendance there raises the international profile of South African software developers. The warm reception given to our tutorials last year shows that South African software skills are up there with the best in the world," says Bakker.
Bakker and Nel will present tutorials on the importance of automated unit testing in developing quality software and on the art of OO design.
Nel says: "The tutorial on software testing will be targeted at an audience consisting of both technical management and code-warriors. Through this tutorial, we will demonstrate to attendees how designing and building tests into the development process from an early stage can help to improve the quality, cost-effectiveness and speed of software development."
Bakker adds: "Most developers only start the testing process late in the development cycle. By that time, a number of bugs have been coded into the software, and it proves expensive to rectify this. Often, the few weeks allocated for integration and testing at the end of a development project turns into two or three months of integration work."
Bakker and Nel have developed a framework in Java that allows developers to build XML-based tests before they have even started to write a line of code.
"The Art of Object-Oriented Design" is a tutorial that takes the form of an interactive workshop that will give developers inexperienced OO design a wealth of relevant and practical design knowledge. It is a compressed learning experience in which attendees actually practice what they are being taught. This workshop takes the form of short theory briefings, followed by team-oriented exercises, which show delegates in a very practical way how to identify and solve problems as part of a development team. Bakker and Nel will take delegates through a process that begins by giving them the knowledge they need to start an OO design. It then presents them with the opportunity to apply this knowledge to practical examples, followed by reflection on what they have just learnt. Delegates are provided with resources that enables them to continue the learning experience and apply it in their own environments.
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