Newsletter: July 2010

Discuss the feature articles on the Tech Home Page.
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McDanielCA
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Newsletter: July 2010

#1

Post by McDanielCA »

Gospel Library for BlackBerry (Beta) Now Available

A beta version of the Gospel Library application for BlackBerry is now available. If you have a BlackBerry device that uses OS 4.2.1 or higher, this app will allow you to read the scriptures on the go!

Visit the Mobile Applications page for links and download instructions.

Please download it, tell your friends and family, and let us know what you think by e-mailing us at gospellibrary-blackberry@ldschurch.org.


<hr width="100%"> LDSTech Talent Profile Coming Soon

Did you know that you can easily share your technical talents with the Church by filling in your Talent Profile? The Talent Pool allows community members to indicate what skills, and skill levels, they possess. People with all types of skills can share what their level of experience is in a particular field. Some of the different skills categories include technical writing, programming languages, operating systems, program management, security, and design. There are currently 22 categories with over 300 skills. For each skill, you can select your expertise level—from none to expert. If a skill is not included, you can easily add it. If a skill category is not included, please contact us at LDS-TECH@ldschurch.org and we will add it.

In the near future the Talent Pool will also show you which community projects your skills may align with. You will also be able to quickly sign up for projects and easily communicate with the community team. You may opt out of the Talent Pool at any time. Those interested in participating should first fill out the Individual Contributor's License Agreement.

The power of the LDSTech Talent Profile lies with you. By keeping your skills profile up to date, the Church will have the ability to quickly assemble teams to assist on various technology projects.

Please watch for this new feature and keep your Talent Profile updated!


<hr width="100%"> JIRA Upgrade


Please be aware that this weekend, Friday, July 30th, JIRA will be down at 5:00 p.m. for an upgrade. It will be available again no later than Monday morning at 8:00 a.m.

This upgrade will not require any action on your part. However, version 4.1.x has a new look. We believe that you will quickly be able to familiarize yourself with the new interface.

Visit the LDSTech Wiki JIRA Upgrade page for more details.


<hr width="100%"> From the Archives

The Cost of Bugs
by Christian Hargraves

Two things contribute to unhappy customers: bugs and late delivery. A bug is generally referred to as a feature in the application that does not work according to the customer’s expectations. This can be due to an unspecified or misunderstood requirement or just a mistake in the development of the software. Either way, bugs not only frustrate the customer, they considerably expand the project’s cost and timeline.

Making an effort to catch bugs at the earliest point in the life cycle will result in a higher return on investment (ROI). The cost of fixing a bug differs depending on the stage of development it is caught in.


  • Requirements Stage: Bugs caught in the requirements writing stage simply cost the time to rewrite the requirement. Time spent in this stage is usually constant.
  • Coding Stage: Bugs caught here require developer hours. Time varies but is considerably less than fixing a bug found by someone else. When a bug is found during this stage, the developer discovers it, already understands the problem, and often knows how to fix it.
  • Integration Stage: Bugs caught here require developer and other system engineer hours. Time is usual ly at least twice as much, since the problem occurs at a higher level and there is a need to figure out which exact code or configuration is wrong.
  • Testing Stage: Bugs caught here require developer, system engineer, PM, and QA hours. The process is much larger than before. Now things need to be tracked and prioritized. This now requires finding reproduction steps, submitting a bug, prioritizing the bug, meeting with developers, fixing the bug, pushing the fix to the test environment, verifying the fix, and tracking the changes of the bug in the system.
  • Production Stage: Bugs caught here require developer, support, system engineer, PM, customer, and QA hours. This process always involves all of the roles. It requires more planning and more prioritizing than in the testing stage. Usually a phone call comes to support, and they decide if it's a bug or if it’s working as designed. The customer is notified, the PM is contacted, and then the process in the testing stage is followed.

Read full article.


<hr width="100%"> Community Spotlight

This month we are honored to spotlight Shane Walters, a principal contributor on many of the community projects, including applications for Windows Mobile.

LDSTech: What is your experience in programming??

Shane: I've been programming since 2000. I started professionally in Visual Basic, and have since moved to C# .NET. I have worked on projects for both public and private sectors, in various industries.

LDSTech: What is your educational background?

Shane: I have an A.A.S. in Computer Information Technology.

LDSTech: How do you feel about volunteering on a Church development project?

Shane: Absolutely love it. I feel this is an awesome medium to express my talents for the benefit of the Church. I really hope to see this continue.

LDSTech: What is the most challenging aspect of doing volunteer development work for the Church?

Shane: Making time to do the work and organizing the resources available to me. I work 11 hours each day of the week. I'm married, have four children, and serve in my calling. This combination, while I'm sure is not unique, makes it difficult to carve out the needed time to do this work; however, the benefits are clearly visible and well worth the time investment. Also, as a team lead, it is challenging to organize and coordinate with other volunteers. I recognize they have the same time constraints I do, and appreciate all they do.
LDSTech: What could the Church do to help the community members contribute more easily to Church projects?

Shane: First, I would like to see a .NET development stack created, similar to the effort recently done for the Java development stack. There are some technical and licensing issues to address, but I think this would be beneficial. Second, I would like to see more .NET developers recruited for the various .NET projects. Perhaps this effort is already underway or has been, and if so, then I'll add my personal invitation to every .NET developer reading this to help however possible.

LDSTech: Who or what has been an inspiration to you in your work?

Shane: There are two people I would like to recognize, Tom Welch and John Melville. Both are an excellent example of sacrifice and hard work, and it is truly a privilege to work with them. When I see their examples of sacrifice, I know I can do better.
russellhltn
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#2

Post by russellhltn »

McDanielCA wrote:Did you know that you can easily share your technical talents with the Church by filling in your Talent Profile?
Wow. I had no idea I was incompetent in so many areas. :rolleyes:
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
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mfmohlma
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Location: Hillsboro, OR

#3

Post by mfmohlma »

RussellHltn wrote:Wow. I had no idea I was incompetent in so many areas. :rolleyes:
You're not the only one. I was tempted to add System Verilog as a "programming language", but I don't see how that skill would be particularly helpful for the church. :p
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brado426
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#4

Post by brado426 »

McDanielCA wrote: Shane: There are two people I would like to recognize, Tom Welch and John Melville. Both are an excellent example of sacrifice and hard work, and it is truly a privilege to work with them. When I see their examples of sacrifice, I know I can do better.

Very well said.

Brad O.
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#5

Post by volkmare »

It would be nice if there was a zoom function, or a text size function.
Also, a full screen option for the storm would also be nice.
Mark
Always seek the truth.
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