Roundup: software that writes software, psychological safety, microservices, and iOS privacy
Murray Steele
Oct. 20, 2017
Google's Learning Software Learns to Write Learning Software - Boris D
http://www.wired.com/story/googles-learning-software-learns-to-write-learning-software/
So, it's finally happened. Software writing software. I think this has profound implications for how we understand software and computers and raises questions bout the nature of our interactions with it. If software can replicate itself and it's smart, does that mean it's alive? Does this lead to ever smarter software and artificial superintelligence? Is superintelligence something that can be owned? We live in exciting times!
Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams - Carrie B
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2666999?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
Sometimes the old stuff is the good stuff. This is the original 1999 journal article on Psychological Safety in teams by Amy Edmondson. It matters because it creates an environment in which more learning takes place - or failing forward happens faster. A study of high and low performing medical teams revealed that high performing teams made more mistakes than low performing teams. Or as it turned out, they noted/shared more mistakes allowing them to address them. So here's the peer-reviewed data on what psychological safety is all about…
Advice on microservices - Murray S
https://therealadam.com/2017/10/19/you-must-be-this-tall-to-ride-the-micro-services/
If you work on a large "monolith" application chances are you'll have thought about breaking it up into microservices as the solution-du-jour for solving ongoing maintenance problems with it. This article explains some of the prerequisites you should meet before trying to do this. I think much of the advice would also apply if you were embarking on a brand new application and wanted to start with a microservices architecture.
iOS Privacy: Easily get a user's Apple ID password, just by asking - Elena T
https://krausefx.com/blog/ios-privacy-stealpassword-easily-get-the-users-apple-id-password-just-by-asking
Users are used to just entering their Apple ID and password whenever iOS prompts them to do so. A phishing app can easily abuse this and randomly ask for your credentials without you even having opened the app.
Track of the Week - Lawrence R
Last time I did a track of the week it was Spring, now with the weather getting frisky and having myself recovered from a cold this week… it's most definitely Autumn.