Before you build your system, you should have a vision for it.  What will it do? This envisioning process kicks off the iterative software development process, with the phase known as strategy.

Many software development shops have different names for the different phases, and some may add or subtract a phase or two, but for the most part you can think of software development in 5 phases:

For those of you looking for a career in software development, think about the phase that you would enjoy the most, and when you are applying for a job, look for roles that focus on that page. You definitely don’t have to write code in order to have a career in IT!

Most software development occurs in cycles, and the phases will repeat themselves to produce software in “versions” or “releases”.  Let’s use that model to design our system. 

First let’s identify of what we’d like this system to do. We can think of the system as having two parts – inventory management and sales management. Let’s focus on the former for the time being.

A few bullets on what an inventory management sub-system should do include:

• add, remove and display items . For example, we’d like to have specifics on each individual charm (color, age, description  etc).
• add and remove items so that they can be grouped into collections. For example, we’d like our add our charms to be listed as part of a particular bracelet – such as the Little Mermaid charm on the Scandinavian bracelet you see in the picture.

Think of other items that you’d like this system to do and write them down. Next, we’ll explore how we turn those into business requirements and user cases.

Be sure to read the Living Dustjacket for information about this series.

Yes, curating is a made up word, but it’s the best way to describe the process of managing of collection of items past and present. Many of us have collections – whether it’s books, stamps, coins, shells, boxes, wine, handbags – anything that comes in multiples can be collected. What do you do when your collection becomes more than a hobby, and becomes almost a museum that tells a story?  How do you manage the data about your collection?

In this series, we will walk through the process of deciding when to upgrade your personal collection into a full inventory management. We’ll focus more on the “Why Do I” rather than the “How Do I'”. Microsoft has a rich array of webcasts, videos and podcasts out there to show you the “How” and we’ll be sure to point you to those resources as they are appropriate.  The goals of this series is to show you can started with programming from scratch! Even if you are new to .NET or to programming altogether!  This series is geared towards the beginning developer who wants to be empowered with technology, and if you are a woman, even better! We certainly need more women in this industry.

Throughout the series, you will see the benefits of using the newest technologies to invent, create and manage your personal pet database and system. Ideally, this book presents technology in a way that’s easily digestible for a non-developer.  The sheer amount of information around software development can be overwhelming. The best way to approach software development is to wade in, and create something that is useful for you to use every day.  Almost everyone has used eBay at one point or another. How would you like to build a system where you could create your own customized system that stores not only information about your personal collection, but also enables you to sell it online?  Visual Studio 2010 and SQL Server 2010 makes this very possible. But let’s start slowly, and first explore the Why behind the technology.

Options for Storing Your Collection

Every collection has an inventory management process.  Your collection of items is your inventory.  Now you need to decide where to store it. Consider an oenophile,a connoisseur of fine wines.  What are ways to document your knowledge?

What kind of curator are you?

Learning how to build your own system will give you the freedom you to shape, share and socialize your knowledge and your precious items in any way you see fit. You will see how you can combine the reach of the Internet with the power of software, particular in the .NET platform.  Then, you can share your data globally and become a the type of curator that makes sense for you. For example, you could be:

• a curator librarian - as an expert to share knowledge and help people with their questions, and manage a library
• a curator designer - showing off of your collection over the web, and manage a gallery
• a curator auctioneer – to match people with items that are for sale in a collection, and manage a store

You will learn how to be any or all of these in this series.

Your homework

Plato was the inventor of most every word that ends in –ize.  He was the father of categorization. Most collectors love to categorize and this skill will serve you well when you design a database or a software system.

Your homework is to think of a subject matter in which you are a cognoscente and collector. Every collection begins with an item.  Think of an item that means something to you, that you would like to curator.

For me this project will start with a charm. Charms are typically collected individually as a souvenir of something special – such as a a beloved travel spot, a favorite hobby, or simply as a symbol of love. :

Each charm is an item, a member of a specific grouping, or collection. They can then be categorized into bracelets – a bracelet for travel spots, a bracelet for lucky charms, a bracelet just specific composed of three-dimensional cameras (by the way, you’ll see all of these in this series. more on that later)*.

As you are deciding on what item you want to choose, think of it terms of a larger collection. Can your item be organized into various groups? For example, you could be collecting seaglass. Seaglass could be arranged by color, by shape, by original source. Your item should be something you love and something that you can categorize:

When you come back for the next chapter, have your item in hand. We will then teach you the principles of object oriented programming and help you design a system that’s tailored a la .NET a porter, specifically to your exact needs.  Once we have the system in place, we will then show you how you can extend it to the web.

Chapter by chapter, we will walk through the process of how you can boost your knowledge and share the special information that you know using the power of technology.  

~ end chapter one ~

* note: whenever you see “more on that later” without being associated to a hyperlink, it means that I will go back later and make “more on that later” on something that I will write in the future.