Spanish Verb Book Essays - Parts Of Speech, Spanish Verbs

Spanish Verb Book Present Tense The following section will be the present you are implying that the action is occurring at the present time. For example: Joseph reads the book. The reads in the sentence shows that Joseph is in the process of reading the book. Regular AR Infinitives acabar (de) to come after acompa?ar to accompany admirar to admire ayudar to help bailar to dance bajar to go down brillar to shine buscar to look for caminar to walk cantar to sing cenar to have supper chupar to suck cocinar to cook colabarar to collaborate coleccionar to collect comenzar to start comprar to buy conservar to conserve contestar to answer dar to give dejar to leave descansar to rest dibujar to draw doblar to turn ense?ar to teach entrar to enter escuchar to listen esquiar to ski estudiar to study evitar to avoid explicar to explain fascinar to fascinate formar to farm ganar to win gustar to like hablar to speak interesar to interest lavar to wash limpiar to clean llegar to arrive llevar to take mirar to look at neccisitar to need observar to observe olividar to forget pagar to pay for participar to participate pasar to spend time patinar to skate pesear to wish practicar to practice preguntar to ask preparar to prepare prestar to lend programar to program quedar to be located regresar to spend money renunciar to renounce respetar to respect sacar to take out tomar to take trabajar to work viajar to travel visitar to visit Canta muy bien. She sings very well. Hablo espa?ol, I speak Spansh. ?Poder ayundo tu? Can I help you? ?Te viajar? Do you travel? viajar - to travel cantar - to sing ayudar - to help hablar - to speak viajo viajamos canto cantamos ayudo ayudamos hablo hablamos viajas --- cantas --- ayudas --- hablas --- viaja viajan canta cantan ayuda ayudan habla habla hablan Regular AR's are the most common of all verbs, to use them, remove the ar ending and insert the appropriate ending on the chart: o for i ___, as for you ___, a for he/she ___, amos for we ___, an for they ___. You can also use the following chart for the respective endings. Singlar Plural o amos 1st Person as --- 2nd Person a an 3rd Person Irregular AR's dar to give estar to be Da el perro Mike. He gives the dog to Mike. Yo quiero a estar un abogado. I want to be a lawyer o for singular Ella est? mi amiga. She is my friend. Yo doy t? este carro. I give you this car. estar - to be dar - to give estoy estamos doy damos estas --- das --- esta estan da dan Irregular AR's truly have no rule, to use them you must learn the specific way each is conjugated. See the conjugations above. AR Stem-Changers (e - ie) cerrar to close empezar to begin nevar to show pensar to think (about) recomendar to reccomend Pieso el dinero. I am thinking about the money. Cierra el libro. He closes the book. Ellos empiezan a leer. They begin to read. Yo recomiendo el pollo. I recommend the chicken. pensar - to think cerrar - to close nevar - to show empezar - to begin pieso pensamos cierro cerramos nievo nevamos empiezo empezamos piesas --- cierras --- nievas --- empiezas --- piesa piensan cierra cierran nieva nievan empieza empiezan The AR stem-changers (e - ie) are a type of verb. To conjugate them you simply change the last e in the stem (which means all the parts of the verb but the ar ending) to an ie, then you remove the ar ending and add the appropriate ending. However there is one exception, in first person plural you do not change the e to an ie, you leave the stem as it is before changing. You can follow the rule below. Singlar Plural (e - ie) o (e - e) amos 1st Person (e - ie) as --- --- 2nd Person (e - ie) a (e - ie) an 3rd Person AR Stem-Changers (o - ue) almorzar to have lunch costar to cost encontrar to find recordar to remember volar to show jugar* to play * jugar is a unique verb, it is treated as the o - ue verbs are, but with a u - ue. Muestras mi tu trabajar. Show me your work. Cuesta muchos dinero. It costs much money. Juego el partido. I play the game. Encuentran un amigo. They find a friend. mostrar - to show costar - to cost volar - to show jugar* - to play muestro mostramos cuesto costamos vuelo volamos juego jugamos muestras --- cuestas --- vuelas --- juegas --- muestra muestran cuesta cuestan vuela vuelan juega juegan The AR stem-changers (o - ue) are a type of verb. To conjugate them you simply change the last o in the stem (which means all the

The healthcare reform debate

The healthcare reform debate The health care reform debate has continually heated up in the recent years among various interest groups, government officials, the House and the Senate and the media. This debate is of different interests to different interest groups as some look into the long term benefits where as others are profit-driven at the expense of the public.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The healthcare reform debate specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More HR 3962: The Affordable Health Care for Americans This bill was crafted by the House of Representatives in November 2009 but later on December, 2009 the Senate passed a substitute bill, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which was later abandoned for the Healthcare Reconciliation Act of 2010. List of recommendations by interest groups A group of health policy experts, health insurance executives, business leaders, economists, hospital administrators among other experts held several workshops to discuss health care reforms in a forum known as the Fresh-thinking Project and came up with the following recommendations; Change the existing fee-for-service payment to a system that promotes and rewards improvement in the well-organized provision of quality care and put in the expansion of outcome, procedures to direct payment. Payments ought to be allied to improving patient products, reducing racial and further inequalities in outcomes, mounting effectiveness, and restraining the growth in the cost of care. Consequently connecting payment to outcomes will necessitate constant investment in the regular growth of outcomes measures (Terry, 1). There is a need to pool a risk and therefore exchanges both regional and state to guarantee the Americans without access employer based insurance or any other type of insurance is enabled to obtain an average benefits package. Employers are also supposed to also be permitted to play a part in these exchanges designed for their e mployees coverage. Typically, underwriting individual and small group insurance firms do not perform well due to risk selection. Therefore in order to reduce poor selection there should be compulsory coverage for standard benefits and risk accustomed payments on the part of the exchanges. These mandates ought to be matched with mechanisms that ensure adequate participation of those qualified to avoid the buildup of just the high-risk people in the exchange. These mechanisms should include considerable subsidies, probably joint with enforceable directives. It is also important to recognize the efforts of the employers in their employees’ coverage. According to the experts revenue source which includes a cap on the tax exemption which touches on employer-based insurance to support health care should be implemented to insure all Americans. There are tens of millions and budding numbers of Americans who are not insured and approximately 70% of these Americans cannot afford to pay for their insurance (Jost, 1). Consequently, more savings should be mobilized to insure all Americans like passing on accessible health income or levying tax on tobacco. President Obamas new health care reform and the recommendations The health care reforms recommended by Obama is meant to radically reform the insurance market by barring pre-existing stipulation, eradicating underwriting which is founded on gender, education, occupation or health status. It will also provide a guideline on the crucial benefits that the insurance plans must cover, to improve transparency and insurance disclosure. Therefore his reforms to some extend will concur with their recommendations because it is going to create a national health insurance exchange where every new non-group policies will be put up for sale and make insurance accessible for employees of small and possibly even the large employers. The exchanges should raise competition and reduce the rising administrative costs so as to reduce overall costs and enhance accountability. As a way of insuring all the Americans the Obama reforms if legislated would oblige employers with payrolls above $500,000 annually to grant health insurance to their insurers or forfeit a penalty (Jost, 1 and alternatively majority will be insured through House leadership. It will as well recognize small businesses who have covered their staff by granting them tax credits. However, this idea has not been welcomed by many business owners. Similarly, many people look at it as a means of making those who are well off to pay taxes for the poor.Advertising Looking for essay on health medicine? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More To raise money to cover such people, reforms are proposing taxation of medical device manufactures because this is likely to offer the government about $20 billion. The senate bill intents to reach or raise $40 billion from the device makers. However, this m ay be difficult because national lobbyists for the industry on the other hand are favoring reconciliation to the lower amount and therefore this could increase lobbying. The health care reforms proposed by president Obama’s administration have both losers and gainers and therefore everyone is pulling their side so that they will not be affected negatively (Terry,1). The insurers feel that the reforms do not favour them whereas other stakeholders and interest groups feel that this will affect delivery system as well as ensure almost all Americans have access to healthcare. Children’s hospitals on the other hand feel that they will have more to lose as a result of the reforms than full-service hospitals. I think in the long run all these reforms will work out to the advantage of all Americans if the end result actually moves America closer to sustainable healthcare system. Jost, Timothy. HR 3962: The Affordable Health Care for Americans; health affairs blog Act. 2009 â €“ July, 27, 2011 https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20091030.002649/full/ Terry, Ken. â€Å"Interest Groups Redouble Fight on Healthcare Reform† 2009 July, 27, 2011 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/interest-groups-redouble-fight-on-healthcare-reform/Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The healthcare reform debate specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More

Concert report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Concert report - Essay Example I think it is important for me to recognize what the limited amount of knowledge led to with my expectations with the concert as well as hesitations which were noted before going because of my misunderstandings of the concept of Celtic music and what the concert would entail. When I went to this concert, the only understanding was based on the ability to listen to cultural music which I had only limited introduction to in the past. Sound The sound of the concert was inclusive of four members which led the Celtic music. This included the flute and concertina, bouzouki, guitar and banjo, fiddle and finger style guitar. The four individuals changed the instruments, depending on the tune and the needed settings for both harmony and melody. This was followed by the interchanges which were heard with singing and rhythmic options that were used with some of the dance pieces. The sound and the interaction with the different instrumentation provided the basis for the experience and allowed th e expressions to be easily heard within the different pieces of music. I noticed that the banjo and finger style guitar were used for fast moving chords while the guitar was more often used for the chord structures. The banjo would also sometimes be used for melodic lines. The other instruments interchanged with melodies, specifically between the flute and the fiddle. The sound which was heard was not only based on the basics of the instrumentation, but also the complexities which were heard with some of the pieces. The songs which intrigued me most were the Celtic dances which were played. These were difficult in nature, not only with the individual lines but also with the entire group. My interest was set on the finger picking guitar because of the fast lines and movements made to keep the harmony and rhythm with the other players. I was also intrigued with the flute and violin which often played difficult passages at fast paces and in unison. This particular style is one which I believe would be difficult to play. However, the melodic line was never lost and the rhythmic pace continued with the dance style which allowed the sound of the Celtic music to be a main part of the tune. The other intriguing part of the sound which I was drawn to was the other side of the rhythm, harmony and melody. The folk tunes and ballads which moved at a slower pace were refreshing to listen to and provided a sense of relaxation. The words from the main melodic lines as well as the melodies held by the flute or violin were simplistic; however, they were also soothing and had a comforting effect when listening to the different sounds. The harmonies added into this, specifically with the guitars that held the chords or picked the different sounds as well as the background sounds which moved through the harmonies. While these weren’t complex in nature, the ability to capture the sound and to create an expression of the culture added a magical tone to the concert. The music ians made these ballads seem like there was a reminiscing over an older culture and expression which was often not a part of contemporary society. Setting The place for the Celtic music, at the UU Church, was one which at first didn’t seem comfortable for the Celtic music. The four instrumentalists were at the front stage, usually where the preacher is, and had an organ that was in back of them.

Implementation and Modification IP 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Implementation and Modification IP 4 - Essay Example This report gives an account of the effectiveness of the Medicare program and provides a futuristic approach towards the program and systems of implementing the changes (Moon, 2006). The topic "Strengthening and Improving Medicare" elicited various views from both public and private entities and individuals. The congressional subcommittee of health held a forum for persons of concern to give their witness accounts on the topic. Some of the prime witnesses who stood before the subcommittee include among others, Robert Berenson, the senior consultant officer at Academy Health, Foster, Richard, Buddy Robert, a beneficiary of the Medicare + Choice health plan and Grealy, Mary, the President of Healthcare Leadership Council. All these witnesses gave individual accounts of the success of the current Medicare system and gave recommendations on ways of improving it. According to Berenson, the well-established and effective Medicare program is being replaced by the Medicare + Choice program, which shifts focus from the government provided healthcare to private health insurance. There is no evidence to prove that shifting to such a system will reduce the program’s expenditure or improve on its financial position. The only entities to benefit from the new program will be private health insurance institutions, which will only serve to segment adversely the insurance pool and increase costs of maintaining the traditional program. Through her statement, Grealy, advocates for the introduction of a prescription drug benefit to boost the financial as well as healthcare quality of the Medicare program. According to the Healthcare Leadership Council (HLC), the 50 percent increase from $6,200 to $9,500 in cost of Medicare for one beneficiary by the year 2013 will have no significant improvement in the program’s quality of an outpatient prescription drug coverage is not included in the program. The HLC advocates for the establishment of a Medicare delivery module that incorporates the aspects of competition, flexibility and invests in beneficiaries who have consumer choice power. Through such a measure, Medicare would be able to provide similar benefits to employer-sponsored programs, which offer benefits such as outpatient prescription drugs, the ability to choose a health program that best suits individual needs and reduce out-of-pocket costs and. The Medicare + Choice plan reduces the number of services offered to Medicare beneficiaries because it receives lower payments than the previous fee-for-service Medicare program. Through this, the Medicare + Choice plan has increased beneficiary cost sharing, which squashes the chance of fair competition in healthcare provision (CEC, 2003). Robert Buddy, a beneficiary of the Medicare + Choice health program gave his account of the benefits of the Medicare Program and the Medicare + Choice plan, which he joined after the privatization of the Medicare program. According to Robert, the Medicare program did not offer comprehensive benefits thus had to spend at least $2,000 on a Medicare Supplement policy to gain more healthcare benefits. Emphasis of the Medicare + Choice plan is early detection and treatment, which affords better healthcare to its beneficiaries. Robert recounted the case of his father, who was on the Medicare prog

Model Driven Development Vs Test Driven Development Computer Science Essay

Model Driven Development Vs Test Driven Development Computer Science Essay Model driven development is a top-down, traditional approach that has been around for a long time. Test Driven Development (TDD) is a bottom-up, new approach in the sense that it has picked up its value in the recent years. The focus of MDD as the name implies is on the models rather than on code that guides the development of software whereas focus of TDD is on the tests. There have been several changes to MDD since the beginning to deal with the changing environment and complexities raised by projects. TDD started as a part of extreme programming (XP) methodology and has gained popularity among many developers as a separate practice itself. Traditional, hard cored MDD developers are accustomed to developing software that seems more natural to them considering it to be an Engineering approach. TDD developers approach the problem in a totally different perspective concentrating on customer views of the system. There are advantages and disadvantages to both approaches. For a high qual ity software product that meets the goals of the organization, it is important to understand and apply the most suitable methodology while making certain trade-offs if necessary. The best approach to follow depends on several factors including the type of organization, type of project, and experience the developers have. This paper is aimed at explaining Model driven and Test Driven development along with case study and observations. 1. Model Driven Development or MDD. Model can be precisely defined as â€Å"a description of a system from a particular perspective, omitting irrelevant detail so that the characteristics of interest are seen more clearly†. (Source: Patterns: Model-Driven Development Using IBM Rational Software Architect) Consider an example in which there is a pressing business need such as automation of certain processes and understanding the data collected in the business. In this situation a Business exists and there are people who are performing certain business activities in certain way. These are the people who are thinking of having a tool or a software product to help them increase their productivity and their functionality. These people who are called Domain Experts or Subject Matter experts or Business Experts know what they want. However, they currently do not have any software product that will help them to meet their needs. In this situation Domain Experts are the driving force. They do things in a certain way and expect the software product developed for them meet their needs should also do things in that manner. However, they do not know how a new software product will look like and how it will help them to meet their needs. People who develop this software product understand the needs , but they may miss the intricacies of the desired end product. Building a MODEL will help alleviate this situation. A MODEL can be a diagram, an animation or a presentation. If the Software that has to be developed is very small or involves 1 or 2 people, then the process need not be so much structured, even though it helps. However, while developing a large product which will involve tens or hundreds of people having different expertise, model will help them to accomplish this easily. A new product development building a Model is absolutely necessary. This is analogous to a civil Engineer creating a model of Building before it is actually built. Model Driven Development (MDD) is a methodology that focuses on designing models at an abstract level without considering the implementation details that guide the development process, focusing on one part of the system to manage complexity. Models help to analyze the problem and visualize the process. Most commonly used language for this purpose is Unified Modeling Language (UML). It establishes certain vocabulary and structure so as to understand and communicate between various developers. Artifacts are produced from the models, so the models are machine-readable, which is an important aspect of MDD. MDD is also called as â€Å"Model Driven Engineering†. An implementation of MDD is given by Object Management Group (OMG)s Model Driven Architecture (MDA). Focus of MDA is on forward engineering, i.e. creating code from modeling diagrams. Apart from MDA, there are also other views of MDD such as Domain Oriented Programming, Agile Model Driven Development, etc. MDA uses platform-independent model (PIM) to describe the system functionality as the first step. Platform Independent Model (PIM) is a generic way of representing the end view of the product without considering any technology or platforms going to be used. This model just transforms the Business requirements into a Model. This format does not contain any particular software code but shows the end state of the product in one of the Model development modes such as Diagrams, Flow Charts, and Animations etc. Based on the PIM and considering some economic conditions or availability, a proper platform is selected to develop the software. A model is then converted from PIM to platform specific model or PSM. . This contains software code at a higher level. Platform is a loose word in this context. This can be referred to type of hardware, software, operating system, programming language or combination of any of these put together. That is why choosing a platform is related to economic viability also. PSM can be thought of Developers model where as PIM can be thought of Domain Experts or End users model. UML representation using IBMs Rational Rose can be considered as PIM. Whereas, tools like IBM WebSphere Studio and Borland Together/J are used for developing PSM. In these, we have CODE VIEW and MODEL VIEW. These two views are synchronized together. When code is changed in Code View, it is reflected in the Model View and vice versa. The models may contain fixed and variable data, business requirements, presentation elements (forms, reports). If one of these elements changes, they can be incorporated into the model to see the changes that occur due to interdependencies. Based on the affects, all the other depending code can be changed accordingly to accommodate these changes. Models also describe what is called the Gap Analysis. Models are first built with an Ideal situation, but in reality the business processes and other aspects may be different. Therefore, the models will show the difference between the Real Life situation and the End State Ideal situations. This will help the Business units to define the changes in Business Practices or the Developers to meet the Business needs and bridge the gap. A well defined Structured System Analysis and Design (SSAD) is required to develop software based on Models. In this process, the design (Model) is taken as the basis to start with the development and as the development process is advanced, it is analyzed with the design and tested against the Model and re-visited to meet the requirements. Hence, software development using MDD approach requires Domain (Business) experts, software developers, Team leaders and Integration experts. Someone should also be able to play a Liaison role to understand both sides of the table Business side and Software side. This person will help each of the expert groups to understand the needs of other groups and will bridge the gap. Number of iterations in the project development process will be reduced drastically if this Liaison person has good knowledge and is an expert on both sides. MDD is used with many development processes such as waterfall model, iterative model, spiral model, etc. In MDD approach, a model plays an important role and forms the basis or driving mechanism to develop a software product. Test Driven Development: Test Driven Development (TDD) started its roots in Extreme Programming (XP) approach. Later on, it became a popular method by itself. TDD was originally called â€Å"Test First Programming†. TDD can best be described in three words as â€Å"Red-Green-Refactor† (source: Kent Beck). Simple essence of TDD is to write tests before the code is written. First, unit tests are written from the requirements. These tests will definitely fail because the code for it has not been written. In order to write the tests, it is necessary for the developer to understand the requirements well. Then, code that implements the test cases is written. The code that is written should be just enough so that the tests pass, no more, no less. This means that no prediction about the future story must be made. Test driven approach is â€Å"then there† approach. This means that code is written at that time from the user story requirements without making any assumptions or predictions about fu ture. After writing the code, the tests are run and seen if they succeed. If they do, then programmer can be assured that the requirements were met. After this, a process called refactoring is done. This refers to improving the quality of code and removing any duplication in the code. If the design is changed for the better, the developer can be sure he is not breaking any functionality by running the tests again. This process is repeated for the test cases that follow. This process is shown as a flowchart below: Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test-driven_development There are different issues to consider in this process. Test cases are written taking small steps at a time, such as implementation of one method. It is important to know the size of the test case and when the test case exceeds its limit of functionality to test. A test case contains the following: condition that specifies the systems state, an event that is to be tested, and finally systems state after the event has occurred. Almost every language has associated tools for writing these tests. In general, they are XUnit tests available for each language. For example, java has JUnit, C++ has cppUnit, .Net has NUnit, etc. The amount of designing that has to be done in TDD depends on developer. In Extreme Programming, no designing is done, directly jumping to test cases. However, some developers prefer to spend some time on design. Too much time should not be spent on the designs and deciding on that right amount of time to spend on it comes with experience. As suggested by Dave Chaplin, it takes almost a year for a good developer to learn most of the techniques in TDD. He divides the learning process in three stages. First stage would take three months to master writing the tests correctly. TDD is a totally different approach to take in developing software and most developers believe that hardest part about it is getting used to it and thinking in that direction. It takes another six months to learn about Mock objects. Last would be to be able to draw UML diagrams in a TDD perspective. This takes about three months. Those that become familiar with TDD find many advantages in it. These advantages are explained later in the paper. Pair programming is considered one of the best ways to develop a program using TDD. This is because another person can make sure you are going in right path. It is hard to make developers believe that this approach works. Also, management believes that it is a waste of money to make two people work on one feature while they can work on different features. Through test driven development, the focus is on customers requirements. TDD is now part of many other methodologies, such as Scrum, Agile Unified Process (AUP), and Rational Unified Process (AUP). TDD gives confidence to the developer and produces enthusiasm as they can see parts of the program coming together when they run the tests and see them pass. Case Study: Results of TDD and MDD are seen more effective by example. Therefore, I consider a case in which a Software Engineering class was given a choice of either doing MDD or TDD project. The projects were done for the same problem using different approaches. It was a calendar program that consisted of certain functionalities to fulfill. For TDD people, six user stories were given one after another without knowing what the next user story is. MDD people were given a problem definition and they were to submit GUI, design, code, tests at regular intervals. The functionalities that had to be implemented included finding the following: next date, previous date, zodiac sign, day of the week, next Friday the 13th, number of shopping days left until Christmas. These were each given as a user stories to TDD people. From the results of these, the following statistics were made: Model Driven Development approach results Criteria MDD User 1 User 2 User 3 User 4 User 5 User 6 Time To Code (hrs) 8 52 89 8.67 11 17 Time to Test (hrs) 2 15 13 3 3.3 2 NCSS (non comment source statements) 275 600 692 499 280 Number of Test Cases 109 142 51 Technology Used VBA Java Java (using Eclipse) C#.NET VS2008 C# VS Express C# Decision Complexity 79 59 Referential Complexity 26 52 Cyclomatic Complexity 105 111 83 GUI yes yes yes yes yes yes Test Driven Development approach results Criteria TDD User 7 User 8 User 9 User 10 User 11 User 12 User 13 User 14 User 15 User 16 User 17 User 18 Time to code 16.5 22 17 33 28 13.5 33 19.5 33 15 28 12.75 NCSS(non comment source Statements) 349 397 276 654 240 233 1095 279 196 298 328 277 Test cases 150 84 124 70 107 247 112 88 262 56 889 128 Technology C#.NET VS2008 Java Java Java VB.Net Express C VB .Net VBA Java Java VB.NET Java Decisional Complexity 106 66 76 76 97 115 62 57 77 145 81 Referential Complexity 12 43 40 24 24 34 19 102 9 160 29 Cyclomatic Complexity 118 109 117 100 65 121 149 81 159 86 115 110 GUI no no no no yes no no no no no No no Number of Times Refactored none 1 2 none 5 none 5 4 6 1 1 3 Observations: Even though there were almost twice as many people who did TDD as MDD, certain trends can be seen from the statistics. Since majority of the projects were developed using object oriented technology such as Java and C#, most of the observations are made based on these languages only. First and major difference that can be seen is creation of GUI. Only 1 out of 12 TDD people developed GUI while all of the six people who did through MDD developed it. One of the reasons for this is that in MDD, designing of GUI was first part of the task. In TDD, although there are tools that test a user interface, it is hard to obtain them and so user has to manually test them. Since it wasnt part of the requirement also, many had chosen to omit it. I noticed that neatest and well designed code came from most of MDD people. Even though there is refactoring in TDD, many had chosen not to do it. This can be seen by the statistics that 6 out of 12 people have either not done refactoring at all or did it only once. As research suggests, TDD is supposed to lead to high quality code. However, most of TDD projects code was of less quality. This comes to the point that in order to successfully carry out TDD, experience is needed. The lack of experience that most people had in doing a TDD might have been a factor for such quality. Many of TDD people had no experience in TDD methodology including me. As suggested by Dave Chaplin, in order to carry out TDD effectively, minimum one year of learning the techniques involved in the approach is needed for a good developer. Even though the quality and design is neater in MDD, number of lines of code was much less in TDD than MDD projects. In object oriented languages such as Java and C#, MDD projects had lines of code as 518 on an average while TDD projects had 350. This is partly due to refactoring eliminating unnecessary conditions and mostly due to the reason that since code was developed based on test cases, just about enough code that was necessary was written. Since the whole point of TDD is to start out with test cases, TDD projects have more test cases compared to MDD projects. For object oriented languages, TDD tests were 124 on average while MDD was 100. Although theory says that TDD results in highly cohesive and loosely coupled, but in practice, it is seldom like that. This point can be seen in this study. Most of the MDD projects were more cohesive and loosely coupled resulting in more reusable code compared to TDD. In TDD projects, it was seen that most of them had 2 or 3 classes at a maximum reducing cohesive nature and reusability. I observed that this is due to unpredictability of future user stories. MDD people can carefully plan the code such that it results in certain functions that can be used by other functions. In object oriented languages, correct amount of responsibilities and collaboration among objects in my opinion can be done more effectively if more designing is done. This is because it is much easier to see visually through the models. The reusability of the code in TDD also depends on the order of the user stories given. Most people reused day of the week code in shopping days till Christmas user story or Friday the 13th user story. Suppose that the user stories are given in a different order, then different approaches might be taken that might not result in the efficient piece of code. Refactoring tells you to remove duplications and keep the code clean, but the logic of the code will not change. In our case, if suppose number of shopping days left before Christmas was given before day of the week user story, then different approach might have been taken and the reusability of the day of the week code wouldnt have existed. It is easier to see collaborations and responsibilities of objects when the whole picture of the problem is present. Even the small amount of reusability that existed in TDD was due to the logical order in which the user stories were given. The time spent on the whole project for TDD is much less than MDD. Considering object oriented languages, TDD average time spent was 21 hours while MDD was 42 hours (almost double!!). TDD is proven to be faster and easier technique than MDD. In TDD, concentration is on current user story and it is faster to write test cases and code directly from user requirements. The time spent on test cases is paid off since no debugging has to be done at the end. Time and effort can be distributed and planned in advance in MDD. However, in TDD, since the amount of time and effort for the next user stories is hard to predict, it is difficult to plan. Some user stories take less amount of time while others consume lot of time. This can be seen in the case study. Most people said that finding zodiac sign took very less time and effort compared to finding the number of shopping days till Christmas . Pros and Cons of Using MDD approach From research and experience, these are some of the observations that were made on the MDD approach in general. A model in projects has following advantages It helps to break down the project into smaller code development pieces or modules which can be assigned to different teams. It helps each team to understand their role and how their part of the development is integrated into the whole product development The project managers and team leaders will understand on how to integrate all the modules and do testing. The end user will be able to visualize the integrated end product. If enough of time is spent in building a model properly, even though it takes time and effort, it will greatly reduce the time to build the product. A properly built model will also help in reducing the iterations of testing process, thus creating the integrations much quicker. There is also an economic advantage of building the models. A model will help to present a product to the investors easily and attract investments to fund the projects. Some disadvantages of using MDD approach The disadvantages of using MDD approach are not related to the approach itself, but rather it is related to the application of this approach. If MDD is not used properly, there will be extended delays in the product developments. Some of these possible setbacks are Building a Model will take lot of time and resources. MDD is not always â€Å"fit for all approach†. The project and product has to be analyzed before this approach is taken. Some people visualize a Model as an abstraction layer hiding all the complications of the product development process. Too much of abstraction may be good to certain audience in the project, but it over all defeats the purpose of building a model in the first place. So, care should be taken as not to ABSTRACT too much. If proper resources, such as, proper Domain experts are not involved while building a model, then the model as well as end product will be disastrous failure. MDD should not always be thought of the end point. Always underlying approach for each module should be associated with proper testing. Failure to consider the real life situations also causes the MDD unusable. The key to the whole process of Product development using MDD approach is having a proper liaison between Business group and IT group. Pros and Cons of Using TDD approach Some of the advantages of using TDD are: Since test cases are developed first, developer understands the requirements thoroughly in order to write them. The focus is on the functionality perspective of the client. TDD involves taking small steps at a time and focusing on one task at a time. Even though it consumes lot of time to write many unit test cases covering all possibilities, this makes it an advantage as it avoids debugging at later stages in the project. Finding bugs as early as possible is always beneficiary in terms of time and cost. Fixing bugs at a later stage is difficult because it is hard to determine what caused the bug. Since just enough code to pass the test is written, TDD will result in thorough testing covering all possible paths. If tests are written well, then it will produce stable code. Code is developed faster and there is working piece of code at every level, which inspires confidence and encourages the developer. Developer is aware of the progress made and can set goals to achieve a particular goal. TDD results in good design because of many factors. With experience, TDD can be a very effective method as it lets the developer think in small units of code leading to modularity and good design. This is also the result of looking at the problem from customers perspective to understand how it will be implemented. Refactoring also leads to producing good designs. Mocking and faking is beneficial in the sense that it will define the boundaries of the classes. This is because through mocking, you will find out what your classes should and should not know about the other class. This is the basic essence of encapsulation in any object oriented language. The test cases provide support for faster regression testing. On next iteration or anytime in future, when you add more tests, you can run all the tests to make sure that it works and if it doesnt, it is easy to see what part of the code broke. Some disadvantages with TDD approach are: TDD requires commitment and supporting management. Developers should be committed and write proper tests. If the tests are deleted or changed accidentally or purposefully, it will give false impression that the code is bugs-free. Support from management is important and they have to believe that this methodology works. If either of them does not exist, then TDD approach fails. Functional tests need to be done for programs that use a database or for creating user interfaces. For such things, using TDD approach is difficult. Tests and code are written by the same person most of the time and if the developer overlooks certain things, then it will affect the code as well and may not result in what is supposed to happen. If he interprets the requirements wrong, then the tests he writes and the code that implements them will turn out to be wrong and will lead to code that will not be as efficient as it should be. Another example would be if the developer doesnt check for certain specific inputs, then the code that needs to implement that will never be implemented. Having large number of working unit tests may build up over confidence that will lead to less concentrations on additional activities such as quality assurance evaluations. Unit tests only tell if the piece of code you wrote works. Other tests such as domain testing, integration testing, etc have to be done. Amount of coverage and details of testing that is done in TDD development cannot be reproduced at a later stage. So, these tests become an important aspect and it is necessary that they are well-written. There is no way to predict the type of user stories and it is not possible to gain a complete understanding of the system from the user stories. This leads to extensive code rewriting and refactoring. WHEN to use WHAT? This leads to the question of when is it appropriate to use TDD and when is it appropriate to use MDD. Software development is a process of developing a product to meet a certain business need. In a well defined environment and in large houses Software Development is done using the techniques described in Software Engineering and experience gained over the years. Many factors have to be taken into consideration when deciding on the methodology to use. These include things such as type of organization, management, type of project, experience of the developers, and availability of effective tools. Type of Project: Software development is done under two major circumstances 1. To develop altogether a new product a. A product that never existed before, but there is a need in the minds of people. A great example of this in recent years is ‘Youtube. There was no such product before, however, people had thought about having some kind of sharing videos. So, there is direc

Critique: the Scottsboro Boys – an American Tragedy

The Scottsboro Boys: An American Tragedy The author or producer of this documentary film was smart in setting the scene for the viewer. He showed scenes of the area and described the sounds of the train, gravel, and attempted to give the viewer a snapshot of the attitude of the inhabitants of Northern Alabama. This takes you from the comfy surroundings of your home, the accessibility to transportation to the hardships of the 1930’s and the dismal state of life for blacks, especially poor blacks. The theme of Scottsboro: An American Tragedy was that blacks were so hated that one well-placed lie destroyed the lives of nine young men.Only one of these boys lived long enough to have a family and to fight for a pardon. The judicial system of that time was so terribly flawed (not that it isn’t now) with racism and bigotry that when facts were presented they were not heard because they wanted the boys to be guilty. Clearing the Scottsboro Boys were not in the plan! The key pla yers were the Scottsboro Boys but historians, relatives of Judge Horton, citizens of the area, photos, video clips, and newspaper articles all came together to tell the historical story which spanned from the 1931 to 1976.This may have been the best way to tell the story since none of the Scottsboro Boys were still alive when this was filmed. Several men of Scottsboro were interviewed and it was interesting that they wished the incident had happened 30 miles away (Huntsville) so the stigma that is associated with their little town would belong to another town. Jokingly, they said then they would have been called the Huntsville Boys and that would have been fine with us.So from those statements, I believe that many of the town’s citizens are embarrassed of the notoriety this incident has placed upon their little town. One aspect, I found missing and would have liked to known more of the effect that the trials and imprisonment had on their families, especially their siblings an d mothers. I, however, was most intrigued with Judge Horton and the stand he finally took regarding the boys and the political fallout for him. The Scottsboro Boys case, how it began, handled, and ended is really scary to me.Now that I know more of the details, it reminds me of the recent execution of Troy Davis of Georgia. In several ways, the two cases are similar. The tragedy in the Davis case is that he did serve around 17 years and he did die for a crime that he may not have committed while the Scottsboro boys served time and were eventually freed and/or broke parole. Due to support given them by northerners, they were allowed to remain free as long as they stayed in the North. Ruby Bates recanted her accusations of rape and later helped the mothers fight for the sons’ release.Seven of the nine that testified against Troy Davis recanted but he exhausted all his appeals and was executed anyways against the number of organizations that protested against it. We can also go back a few months, to where a black woman was charged more time for jaywalking than the man that was driving drunk that hit her, her daughter, and killed her son. He was black but it since it was black on black crime, the young mother was treated as an example. In general, the judicial system is not a friend to the black American. This is 2011, isn’t it?Has anything really changed? Are we going backwards? This is supposed to be a different day. We have a black president which, in my opinion, has only given certain groups in our country to more openly exhibit their racism and bigotry. Since they cannot get to him, any black that runs afoul of the law become enemy number one just as the Scottsboro Boys were the enemy of the time back in 1931. This film was not entertaining to me at all but it was educational and eye-opening in that no matter how much we like to think that times have changed so much is still the same.I can see in many ways how far we have come but once you liste n to the news and see just what is going on around you, you can almost see the 1930’s again. That is why I used the word â€Å"scary† earlier in my critique to describe the Scottsboro Boys story. Concern about the future for the black community, myself, and more importantly, our children, has increased and we must become better informed about the world in which we live, the judicial system we must work within, and the consequences of it all.

Thomas Jefferson’s Vision of a Free Holding Yeoman Society

Thomas Jefferson is considered as one of the most influential personalities in the history of the US. Jefferson who was the third President of the United States is regarded as one of the most prominent figures in the US, is characteristically known for his ideological promotions of republicanism in his stint as the president. Some of the famous events that are associated with his presidency include the 1803 Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition during the period between 1804 and 1806. Thomas Jefferson is also accredited for authoring the Declaration of Independence and since he was a philosophical thinker and politician, he idealized the concept of a free holding yeoman society which was a series of complex ideologies which emphasized various virtues. It was during the 18th century that a number of influential â€Å"poets, politicians and economists created in America a complex of ideas which has been called the Jeffersonian myth† (Hess, 1992). This concept generally emphasized various virtues with simplicity and purity leading and the principal dictated a variety of social choices. The Yeoman term generally refers to farmers who usually cultivate their own land. The yeoman thus can be considered as a small farmer who holds a piece of land. Since Jefferson hailed from this type of yeoman society, he had first class experience of the issues and challenges they faced and therefore in his presidency he decided to make amends so as to ensure that this class in the society was prosperous. This philosophy was coined in a time that could be considered appropriate for a country that was settled by â€Å"land hungry men† (Hess, 1992). Most English men were used to a social system in which the ownership of land was a symbol of a man’s stand in the society and the political power that he yielded. Thomas Jefferson and J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur came up with a philosophy that dictated the natural rights of any man to own land and that the ownership of land by any man obviously gives him a social status and dignity. The philosophy goes further to describe how mans interaction with nature â€Å"makes him virtuous and happy†. This philosophical thinking as Jefferson and his colleague tend to challenge the government is that it â€Å"should be dedicated to the interests of the freehold farmer† (Hess, 1992). This policies and principles held a lot of significance for Jefferson who is considered as the brains behind the western land policy. In Jefferson’s own words he described the small and self sufficient as â€Å"the chosen people of God† and thus asserted their importance if the new republic would have any chance to survive. Jefferson described the â€Å"virtuous yeoman† as the moral backbone that would lead the nation to greater heights and thus prosperity would be easily achievable (Hess, 1992). The issue of land was embedded deep in Jefferson’s heart and he believed that it was the core of an envisioned republic. Thomas Jefferson had a landscape vision that mainly depended on the unlimited expansion of most of the wilderness in the country and thus make it the peoples will to settle and subdue it for settlement and cultivation purposes. This vision was just a vision and its applicability mainly depended on the prudence of the government of that period in applying the â€Å"public land policies fairly and justly†. Jefferson held the belief in his heart that â€Å"land was the clay from which a free society would be molded and preserved† (Hess, 1992). However, one of the issues that he had to deal with was those of religion. Although religion was a predominant force during his government, it had failed to provide what Jefferson’s landscape vision promised to produce. Land in this era was considered to offer the much needed cohesion and was therefore viewed as an â€Å"icon of secular religion† (Hess, 1992). The success of Jefferson‘s policies and philosophical thinking are still evident today and the western range is the product of his landscape vision. The landscape vision which was envisioned in the â€Å"Jeffersonian agrarianism† was built on a firm foundation (Hess, 1992). This had the obvious effects of spilling its advantages in the years that were to follow and most of its effects are still visible today. The western range which was a harsh testament of nature in the state of a wilderness became a land that would become exceedingly abundant. However, the alteration of nature and its overuse can be considered as one of the negative aspects of his landscape vision. Various factors one of them being drought led to the overstocking of the ranges in a way that nature was almost strained beyond its holding capacity and thus became unforgiving with adverse effects. Collisions among farmers with diverse wants is also a major shortcomings but the experience that was gained from the harsh reactions of nature served to teach the inhabitants valuable lessons and thus take some measures into considerations during when setting future plans.