As the year draws to an end …

by Prof Barry Dwolatzky

Barry 2

When I embarked on this blog in April everyone who knows me reacted with a large dose of scepticism. People said “How will someone who is too busy to even answer his emails manage to post regularly on a blog?”

Well – up until 28th October I was proving them all wrong. Between 5th April and 28th October I posted 33 items. (That’s more than one a week). I recorded 8,134 visits from 3,343 visitors. Ten or more visits were recorded from 23 countries. There were 135 comments. The 3 most visited postings were:

  • The software engineers at Mahindra Satyam – the unsung heroes of the World Cup
  • Are you a good programmer? I’m not!
  • Does South Africa need professional software engineers?

I was doing so well as a blogger … and then life caught up with me – this is my first posting in 5 weeks.

As the year draws to a close, I’m determined to do as well – and even better – as a serious blogger in the year ahead. At the end of this week I’m setting off to the seaside for a much needed break. I will use some of the time in the Cape sunshine to put fingers to keyboard and contemplate Software Engineering in South Africa.

I hope that everyone who has shared “The Software Engineer” with me over the past 7 months has a fantastic end to 2010 and will join me again in 2011. Have a peaceful and happy New Year!!


3 Replies to “As the year draws to an end …”

  1. Adrian Schofield

    The very best of good wishes to you and your family, Barry. Here’s a question for you to contemplate as you watch the breakers on the shore: are (software) engineers responsible for the uses to which their creations are put? Should they be required to prevent misuse?

  2. Stefan

    @ Barry: Thank you very much for your Blog througout the year 2010!
    @ ALL: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2011 to everybody!
    @ Adrian: I would be happy if Barry’s Blog would become somewhat more research-oriented in the year 2011, for example with discussions of recent important publications (etc.), instead of mulling about “fuzzy” topics, such as responsibilities for product mis-use, which can only be answered correctly by the lawyers – but we are not lawyers. I prefer to discuss scientific issues rather than legal issues – though other readers of Barry’s blog may disagree…

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