Yesterday, we held another Schneide Dev Brunch, a regular brunch on the second sunday of every other (even) month, only that all attendees want to talk about software development and various other topics. If you bring a software-related topic along with your food, everyone has something to share. The brunch was well-attended but there was enough space for everyone. As usual, a lot of topics and chatter were exchanged. This recapitulation tries to highlight the main topics of the brunch, but cannot reiterate everything that was spoken. If you were there, you probably find this list inconclusive:
Thoughts on the new brunch mechanics
We changed our appointment-finding process for the dev brunch this year. It’s now fixed-date, an appreciated remedy for the long doodle sessions before. But the reminder mail on the brunch mailing list is appreciated nonetheless. I hope to not forget it.
Thoughts on secure software development
Sparked by a talk about secure software development at the Objektforum series in Stuttgart, hosted by andrena Objects, we discussed typical weak points of development environments. Habits like “not my concern” or “somebody surely has approved of this” lead to situations when intruders (malicious or not) gain access to sensitive resources. Secure development begins with a security audit of the development area itself. We also want to note that just hanging out at the cafeteria of big IT companies and listening often gains crucial information that can be used in social engineering scenarios. We call the counter-measure “context awareness”. And for the Softwareschneiderei itself, being situated right next to a funeral parlor often calls for “social context awareness” (aka no laughter, no loud jokes) on our way to lunch.
Internal developer days
Two participating companies regularly hold internal “developer days” when the developers can do whatever they like, as long as its connected to software development. Both companies experience very positive results from it. We want to expand the Dev Brunch to something called the “Dev Event”, where we moderate workshops for developers. To start with it, we plan to perform the “Mäxchen” game event in March. Details and a doodle for the date finding (yes, we try to maximize participants here) will follow on the brunch mailing list.
IT security strategies
Based on the earlier discussion about secure software development, we talked about different security strategies for IT products and IT environments. The “walled castle” doctrine was highlighted. We touched topics like the recent BMW hack, the Heartbleed debacle and ready-to-use “secure” home cloud servers. Another discussion point was the TOR router that actually weakens the TOR effect. An example of top-notch obfuscation in sourcecode was a little piece of code that was thorougly examined, but still contained a surprising side effect (citation needed).
Experiences with Docker
The Docker virtualization tool is steadily climbing the hype cycle. So it’s only natural that we talk about it and share some tricks and insights. One topic was the use of Docker for High Performance Computing and a comparison of performance loss. The rule of thumb result was that Docker is “nearly native speed” (95%) while full virtual machines range in the 70% area. If you put different container tools under stress, they break in different ways. Docker will show increased latency, others lag in terms of CPU cycles, etc. The first rule of High Performance Computing is: there will be a bottleneck and it won’t be where you expect it to be.
Another tool mentioned is Docker Fig (a rather unlucky name for german ears). It’s the sugar coating needed to be productive with Docker, just like Vagrant for Virtualbox.
Tools for managing and orchestrating Docker containers are still in their childhood. We can’t wait for second-generation tools to emerge.
One magic ingredience to get the most out of virtualization is a SSD drive on the host. The cloud hosting provider DigitalOcean has a nifty offer where you can setup a virtual machine in one minute and pay a few cents for an hour of use. We truly live in exciting times.
New doctrines
We also talked about changes in the way computers are viewed and treated. The “pet vs. cattle” metaphor was an interesting take on the hardware admin’s realm. The “precious snowflake” syndrome is a sure sign of (too) old habits. For software applications to become “containerizable”, the “Twelve-Factor App” rules are the way to think and act. Plenty food for thought!
New gadgets
The Softwareschneiderei is the first company in germany to get hold of a Myo armband. This wireless gesture controller is worn like an oversized fitness tracker bracelet and combines a gyroscope with electromyographic data (the electric current in your arm muscles). This makes for an intuitive pointing device and an not-as-intuitive-yet finger/hand gesture detector. We each played a round of our custom game “Myo Huhn” (think Moorhuhn programmed over the weekend) and reached impressive scores on the first try. Sadly, the Myo isn’t ready for serious applications yet. Let’s see what future versions of this cool little device will bring. The example usages of their official video aren’t viable at the moment.
Epilogue
As usual, the Dev Brunch contained a lot more chatter and talk than listed here. The number of attendees makes for an unique experience every time. We are looking forward to the next Dev Brunch at the Softwareschneiderei. And as always, we are open for guests and future regulars. Just drop us a notice and we’ll invite you over next time.
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