Dr. Dobb's Journal - February 2008 - (Page 16)

D02LEAD_p4ds.qxp 12/10/07 10:31 AM Page 16 Strategic Vision by Michael Swaine South American A Climate of Creativity Software Development programmers, but that there definitely were important differences in how programmers approached their work, differences reflected in choices such as C versus Modula-2 (this was 1984), freedom versus discipline, the lone coder versus programming teams—“Cultural” differences that are still with us today in arguments over the merits of different languages, frameworks, methodologies, and business models. And while it’s easy to dismiss religious debates over the merits of different languages, when it comes to proprietary versus open source or different FOSS licenses, which side you take can have $erious consequences. Such cultural issues are crucial to understanding and working with South American software developers. In the individual case, it makes no more sense to speak of North American versus South American programmers than of East Coast versus West Coast programmers, but factors like relative isolation, economics, and government policy actually have created a distinct climate for software development in Brazil and every other South American country. Since Brazil is the largest South American country, it makes sense to focus there, acknowledging that its neighbors’ software climates are in some ways different. Six years ago, Jon “maddog” Hall, writing in Linux Journal, summarized the influence that free software had on the Brazilian development climate back then: Who ultimately forced Sun to open-source Java? Was it external pressure, either from Java developers or the opensource community? Or was it internal, perhaps a mandate from CEO Jonathan Schwartz? Answer: None of the above. According to Jonathan himself, it was Brazil. Maybe it’s not surprising that Brazil would have this kind of clout. Brazil is the B of BRIC, the common acronym for the huge and influential emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India, and China. Brazil is the sixth or seventh largest market for software worldwide, and IT spending there is growing at a double-digit rate. As an exporter of software, South America generally is a player and is growing at a double-digit rate. Outsourcing relationships with South American companies are already big business, and often a smart decision for North American companies. IDC identifies Latin America, which also includes Mexico and Central America, as having a pool of software developers essentially equal to Central and Eastern Europe, a region that many consider a hotbed of software talent. But the fact that Brazil would use its clout in the furtherance of open-source software says something about the culture or climate for software development in Brazil and, to varying degrees, other countries of South America. Internal Wink to the Reader of These Pages Back in 1984, DDJ quizzed seven software designers on a question of software development culture. The conclusion was that there probably wasn’t really a cultural difference between East Coast and West Coast 16 Dr. Dobb’s Journal l www.ddj.com l February 2008 http://www.ddj.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Dr. Dobb's Journal - February 2008

Dr. Dobb's Journal - February 2008 Contents Hmmmm Alia Vox Developer Diaries Developer’s Notebook South American Software Development Conversations Inside Visual Studio 2008 BibPort: Creating Bibliographic References Continuous LINQ The ZK Framework Static Testing C++ Code The Agile Edge Effective Concurrency Swaine’s Flames

Dr. Dobb's Journal - February 2008

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