Engineering analysis software has been traditionally dominated by large commercial vendors such as MathWorks (MATLAB), MSC (NASTRAN/PATRAN), ANSYS (ANSYS and Fluent), Dassault Systemes (CATIA) and SIEMENS (NX and FEMAP). This is probably because these tools attract a comparatively small user base and therefore have not featured heavily within the Open Source community. However, that assumption [...]
The effectiveness of software application frameworks such as Ruby on Rails, automated build tools like Maven, and architectural design patterns like Model-View-Controller, demonstrate the value of a structured approach to development tasks. For me, the expression “convention over configuration” really sums it up. When I’m developing an application I’m far more interested in the business [...]
Agile software development methods evolved as a reaction to traditional project management methods that focused on documentation, change control and the linear execution of tasks. Agile methods recognize the complex and highly non-linear nature of software development and address the associated risks by encouraging a range of working practices. While these practices are well accepted [...]