Linux Journal: On the Xtreme in Open-Source Software Development

“Recently, software developers have been offered a plethora of
remedies that seek to address inherent inadequacies in and observed
problems with traditional software development methodologies. More
often than not, however, these come bundled with their own variants
of said inadequacies and problems. As a result, at least as far as
software developers are concerned, these remedies basically replace
an old devil with a new one.

“Not all of the remedies fall into this category, however. One
particular approach that has seen some well-deserved success is
Xtreme programming. Xtreme programming (XP), with due credit to its
founding fathers, bases its processes and practices on elements of
simple and sound common sense. XP focuses on the things that matter
in the development of software. Whole volumes are available on XP
that discuss what really matters in software development, and we
don’t dwell on it here because this article is not about XP. This
article is about open-source software development. Given the ideal
of better software that remains the guiding principle of the
open-source world, open source inevitably crosses paths with XP, in
philosophy and in practice. In the rest of this piece, we examine
some Xtreme influences on open-source software development–what
they are and what they can be…”

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