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Would you want to see the most interesting software-engineering stuff that I came across each month? What do I mean by "stuff?" Books, articles, events, and anything related to software engineering that was worth my time. I'm going to try to do that in this category.

Interesting Reads - or Readings of the Month!

Reading About Design Patterns
By Allen Holub

Allen discusses two recent book about patterns: Refactoring to Patterns, and his own, Holub on Patterns. He goes on to say that a good programmer knows patterns. I agree. I have both books on my must-read list and I ordered Holub on Patterns.

Out of Site, Out of a Job
By Larry O'Brien

Do you want to make sure that your job is not outsourced? Read this article and follow his advice.

Best Essays of 2004

Joel Spolsky is coming up with a book composed of best essays that are listed on the forum he created. Take a look. Dive into some of them. I enjoyed reading some of the essays by Eric Sink. I commented on the ones I liked.

The Pitfalls of Outsourcing Programmers
by Michael Bean

There's been a lot of talk about outsourcing. Some are against it. Some are for it. In this article, Mike tells you when you should not outsource. This is one of the best articles about outsourcing I've read. I totally agree with this main point: If you outsource your core, you lose competitive advantage. See the discussion as well.

Java 5
by Andy Grant

I've read several introductory articles about the new features of Java 5.0. This one is the best. It is simple. It shows you examples. It is written well. Nice job, Andy.