One of the recurring themes in programming language design is that of expressiveness. We like our programs to reflect the target problem and remain free of clutter or "syntactic noise."

But still, it's often difficult to find the true "business logic" that is hidden in thousands of lines of code. Should I model my domain using OO techniques and factor out cross-cutting concerns using aspects? Can I model stateful processes in BPEL and execute on a process engine? Or maybe I should use dynamically typed scripting languages to reduce syntax clutter and avoid checked exceptions? Or maybe I should wait for C# 3.0 and pass around lambda expressions for my business rules and queries?

In "Where Did All the Beautiful Code Go?" Gregor Hohpe makes sure that you're asking all the right questions and addressing all of your options.

Watch "Where Did All the Beautiful Code Go?"

Most of it is on my PC right now. It's sweet!

I watched the presentation. Good Stuff!! But I cant seem to find the slides. Being able to view the slides along with the speaker as well would have made this more useful for those of of who could not make it to Vagas.

That fellow could hardly make a coherent sentence. My question is where did all the beautiful speeches go?

You wascals you!

Some people, surprisingly, aren't native English speakers, but manage nonetheless. I attended as well, and I thought Gregor did a fine job.

Hey now! what is the context in which beauty should be expressed? English? Code (the keywords for most programming languages are English)? I can hardly separate the two! So the desire to have 'clear code' is laudible but a bit high-toned if you have to pull the 'aren't native English speaker' card out.

BTW - elmira ain't English'ist so let's not go there!

I'd agree with Elmira on this one. the topic "where's all the good code" is really nice, but he took the discussion a bit here and there... perhaps just to create the vibe... i don't know... but could have been more to the point...

That fellow could hardly make a coherent sentence. My question is where did all the beautiful speeches go?You wascals you!

This is indeed the beautiful speech you are looking for!

It may not sound as powerful and attracting, but it has REAL meat! It echoes the real experiences from a real software developer.

If you are looking for a grammatically correct and provcative speech, talk to a CEO, someone from marketing department, or a politician, or the eqivalents in the technical world, but don't be upset if you feel emptiness afterward.

If you are looking for a grammatically correct ... speech, talk to a CEO, someone from marketing department, or a politician...

So we should talk to W for a grammatically correct speech?

Sorry...couldn't resist...

Has beautiful ever existed? I thought all code was garbage. Some less garbage than others.

peter

Yes it did! But only fleetingly. I wrote it, but then some other crazy moron changed it %-)

Beautiful? What this mean? Specification? True "business logic"? Example code lines could be nice?

Should I model my domain using OO techniques and factor out cross-cutting concerns using aspects? Can I model stateful processes in BPEL and execute on a process engine? Or maybe I should use dynamically typed scripting languages to reduce syntax clutter and avoid checked exceptions? Or maybe I should wait for C# 3.0 and pass around lambda expressions for my business rules and queries?

There is nothing beautiful about this. Beautiful code went away about 10 years ago, not coincidentally with the blossom of open source software and all the C rate developers who learn Java on the job.