Comparison of Agile Traditional Web Technologies The WritePass Journal

Comparison of Agile Traditional Web Technologies 1 Introduction Comparison of Agile Traditional Web Technologies 1 Introduction2 Contextual ReviewLiterature review3 Hypotheses:3.1 Aim of study3.2 Expectation4 Goals and Objectives5 Methodology and EvaluationBibliographyRelated 1 Introduction Nowadays, both pace and quality have undeniable role on phenomenon, and web development is not exception. That is why the concepts such as software engineering and afterward patterns were applied in recent decades. Although they have improved the quality of web development, non of them are perfect to guarantee matters like customer satisfaction, customer commitment and collaboration and flexibility [1]. Because of these matters software developers searched for a more productive approach. In early of twenty one century a group of software developers gathered to discuss on software engineering approaches, after that a manifesto was signed by them which is known as Agile now [2]. James Shore and Shane Warden have indicated to this manifesto:† Individuals and interactions over processes and tools, Working software over comprehensive documentation, Customer collaboration over contract negotiation, Responding to change over following a plan† [3]. As can be subsumed from this manifesto Agile is an emerging approach in software engineering which instead of process, documentation, contract and plan pays more attention to persons, software, customer and flexibility. These characteristics are more evident in principles which have been written by means of the establishers of Agile. James Shore and Shane Warden quote some of these principles:† Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software, welcome changing requirements even late in development†¦, deliver working software frequently†¦, business people and developers must work together†¦, build projects around motivated individuals†¦, working software is the primary measure of progress†¦, the most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation,†¦Ã¢â‚¬ [4]. From all the specification which was mentioned above it can be perceived that despite of other software engineering approaches and patterns that have specific steps to follow, Agile could be something like especial philosophy and ideology that developer always bear it in his/her mind. This ideology makes developer able to consider a large number of possibilities and opt the best one [6]. Despite of agile establishers’ claim, some software developer believe that traditional and agile methods work in same way or at least agile is not able to increase productivity as much as its advocates claim. For evaluation of these asserts there is not enough witness in particular when it comes to empirical studies and comparisons. [36] Because of this shortage a practical comparison will be conducted via implementation of two website. Agile methodologies would be applied in one of them and another one will be implemented by traditional approaches. In section 2 business background about agile has been discussed, hypotheses and aim of study have been explained in section 3, goals and objective have been discussed in section 4, methodology and evaluation has been described in section 5. 2 Contextual Review In the rapidly changing environment, the best phenomenon and services are those which adapt themselves easily with changes with lower costs, and programming and software development are not exception. In the other words applications are evaluated as a good production when they would be able to accept changes with lower costs and in shorter time. In other words, they should be more flexible. When it comes to software development, flexibility would be one of the most important aspects which agile attempts to improve it. For instance, at the early of twenty one century a great deal of money was spent just for changing date byte in applications in US [19]. In addition a large number of company’s money is spent for maintenance that has direct relation with productivity and flexibility. All of these issue show importance of agile in market and industry because all of these criteria can be improved by agile. That is why companies and firms are being more interested to agile gradually . Result of a survey shows agile was being applied by means of 14 percent of companies, and more than three times of this amount were keen on using agile in Europe and US in 2005 [20]. Indeed, this amount has been increased now. Also, annually, a great deal of money is wasted for implementation of projects which are not used in reality because they do not satisfy customers’ requirements. Customers claim that they have ordered another production, while they have received completely different ones. If claims of agile which were mentioned in last sections be implemental, it will be able to prevent the majority of these situations or at least reduce the costs dramatically. As it was said in previous sections, projects which are implemented by means of agile methodology would be more flexible therefore when it comes to changing they can adapt themselves with changes more easier and with lower costs. Because of this matter cost of maintenance will be reduced as well. In addition, since, customers are considered as a team member and they collaborate with developers tightly this possibility that the final production would not be acceptable is reduced significantly. Because of frequent software delivery in agile methodology it is crystal clear that customer notices the developers if he/she expects a production with different specification in weekly communications. [21] Another specification of ASD which was mentioned is learning within implementation. This matter can diminish cost of holding training course that are hold by companies annually. In conclusion, it seems obvious that the majority of developers and companies would opt agile as their methodology and agile will possess the software development market in future [22]. Literature review A number of key specifications of Agile approach can be concluded from these principles. Despite of   the other approaches Agile Does not have any problem with changes even it would be late. On the other words, application should be written that much flexible which altering does not waste time and resources a lot. This amount of flexibility needs expert and experienced developers, therefore another characteristic could be skillful developers. In addition these developers should work with constant pace that is why the principles emphasize motivated developers because motivation could be engine of team and persuades members to learn during the work. The high and constant pace makes Agile teams able to hand in executable software more frequently to customers. Therefore they can change customer requirements and interact with developers and finally would be more satisfy. As can be deduced form Agile definition, main emphasis is on individuals rather than plan, documents and other phenomenon. Therefore Agile approach mainly is applied in team based projects in particular self-organizing teams-teams in which members take managing responsibilities instead of external manager who controls the team [5]-. Also here executable software is a scale of progress evaluation. It can be concluded from manifesto and principles of Agile that if these principles are implemented project will be more successful obviously, while there is a controversial point that is it possible to apply these rules and principles in practice? The majority of resources which were reviewed emphasize that projects which use Agile could be more successful, while some of them like James Shore and Shane Warden believe that:† I do not recommend adopting agile development solely to increase productivity. Its benefits come from working differently, not from working faster. Your team will need time to learn agile development. While they learn, they will go slower, not faster.† [7] For a scientific judgment we should discuss on success in software development and have a precise definition first. Traditional definition of success emphasizes on cost, time and customer requirements as specification [8]. On the other words it believes that a project will be successful if it is finished before due time, costs do not proceed on budget and all the customer requirements are satisfied, while the modern ones are seemed totally different. They express a project which is evaluated as a failure one can be a successful project because it would be possible a large number of customers and addressers will be attracted to the project or it would create a unique characteristic and vice versa. On the other words, a project which satisfies all the traditional success criteria could be failure one from viewpoint of modern definitions. [9][10] It can be said that current definitions apart from the old criteria consider flexibility, business process and personal success as new success criteria, therefore a project would be more successful from viewpoint of   recent definitions that: Decreases delivery time Its costs would be less than estimates and enhances return on investment(ROI) Has more capability to satisfy customer requirements Has more flexibility to adapt itself with changes and customer new requirements Causes more personal success-technical and non technical- for contributors-developer, customer and manager- Develops business aspects[11][12] From reviewed resources can be concluded that different parameters can affect success in software development. A group of them can be observed here which have been mentioned by Indian Institute of Technology:†customer satisfaction, customer collaboration, customer commitment, decision time, team size, planning and control, people factors, competency, communication and negotiation, training and learning and so on †[13] Obviously, some of these factors can be found in agile manifesto and principles easily, but how agile would be able to implement them properly? There is another controversial issue, agile claims that could be able to manipulate all of these parameters properly! Here, the main hypothesizes and questions which shape the goal of this proposal are created which will be described more detailed in following chapters. When it comes to comparison between traditional software development methods and agile, different opinions can be found. The majority of them express that agile works in different way,  Ã‚   few number of them say there is not any especial difference between them and some ones tell they are in some aspects same and in another aspects different, but in total, It can be concluded from literature that there are radical differences between them that some of them would be mentioned in following. When it comes to design stage, traditional approaches are plan base. In the other words in these approaches, developer tries to predict everything in advance and spend a great deal of time for it. Plan and design are usually recorded formally, that is why these approaches do not welcome to changes, while ADS is not limited to a pre defined plan. Developer thinks about possible events during the implementation and tries to opt best solution.   Therefore, it can be said knowing and action happen concurrently. In ASD is emphasized on discovering new experience meanwhile the implementation. Projects which are implemented by means of ADS are progressed in terms of iterative actions, while ordinary methods just follow a sequence of stages. Traditional ways act in vicinity of optimization, while agile works based on flexibility and adaption. Developer tries to formulate everything in traditional ways, but the problems are solved via iteration and experiment in agile. In general it can be said, traditional methodologies keen on controlling and directing projects in one path. They do not welcome to conflicts and changes and managers have key role on controlling the developers. In these ways design surpasses other aspects and affects them, while agile emphasizes more on exploring instead of prediction. Interaction, communication and collaboration between all members even customers is one of the most important characteristics of this methodology. In ASD, iteration and changing are inseparable. In addition in agile, projects are managed by means of all members and manager just is a facilitator. [14] From all the specification which was mentioned above it can be perceived that despite of other software engineering approaches and patterns that have specific steps to follow, Agile could be something like especial philosophy and ideology that developer always bear it in his/her mind. This ideology makes developer able to consider a large number of possibilities and opt the best one [6]. Such as this ability just could be gained via experience, study and practice in long term, but there are some methods that agile and its advocates claim by means of them developer would be able to earn this philosophy. These methods are recognized as agile methodology and are introduced briefly in following. Crystal clear methodology: A group of methodologies which are suitable for small groups that work on not life-critical projects. These methodology instead of process, emphasize on people an communication between them. [24, 25] Dynamic software development method (DSDM): An iterative methodology that projects are completed gradually within the iterations. In this methodology projects are divided to three stages: pre-project, project life-cycle and post project that each stage has own principles. This methodology follows the same principles which form the concept of agile, in particular this methodology tries to involve customer as a team member in project. [26, 27] Feature-driven development: This methodology attempts to apply both plan-base (traditional ways) and agile approaches. In this methodology projects are divided to features that every feature has a plan that this plan and its implementation are completed during iteration. [28, 29] Lean software development: This methodology was used in Toyota production system for the first time. This method focuses on preventing the wastes. In terms of this approach each activity and process that does not add any worth to customers means waste. [30, 31] Scrum: Management aspects are emphasized more in this methodology. Regularly meetings are hold in which each member expresses his/her feedback and others adjust themselves with his/her feedback. During this meeting customer representative decides feedback is in harmony with requirement or not. After customer’s satisfaction development team continues working, otherwise they consider changes to persuade the customer. Usually there are not any external managers in these kinds of groups and supervising is done via members. [32, 33] Extreme programming: This methodology consists of a set of practices that makes developer able to choose best techniques and make the best decisions. [34, 35] 3 Hypotheses: As can be observed in previous chapters the majority of literature believe that agile works differently in both implementation and management. Also agile advocates claim that projects which are implemented by means of agile would be more successful. In addition it can be concluded from literature review section that agile in some aspects treats radically different. Here, the hypotheses which form motivation of this project are born. They have been expressed in terms of success criteria which presented in last chapters. The customers would be more satisfied when projects are implemented via agile, therefore project will be more successful. Customers are treated as members of development team, therefore commitment of the customers is higher and project more successful. Customer as a member of team would have more collaboration, in result project will be more successful. Size of development team would be smaller therefore face to face communication will be simpler and success opportunity more Team members make a decision in shorter times periodically, therefore success opportunity will be more Development team members are selected more expert and competent, therefore the project could be more successful Progress would be evaluated by means of the team members which know project better instead of managers, so project could be more successful Designing is evolutionary and based on iteration, so the project will be more flexible   Implementation will be accompany with learning and this matter makes the developers more motivated Cultural and social issues will be considered in ASD [16] These are some hypotheses which form motivation to do this project and proposal and they would be considered within the implementation of project. On the other words, this project is done to check how much these hypotheses could be correct and if they are, which methodologies does agile apply to reach these goals? In addition, this project tends to check the differences which have been recognized between agile and traditional methodologies in literature review are actual or not? Some radical differences were recognized in that part which can make other hypotheses: Traditional methods work based on predefined plans while agile do not emphasize on plan Plans in ordinary methods are formal and resistance on changes while plans on agile are informal and welcome to changing Traditional ways follow s sequence of steps while agile is progressed iteratively. In traditional ways manager controls the progress of project while, in agile team members act as a manager Face to face and daily communication is one of the most important principles in agile while, it is not that much important in traditional ones Customers are considered as a team member in agile methodology while, in ordinary ones communication with customers is in vicinity of contract Agile emphasize on flexibility and traditional ones on optimizing [16][17][18] These hypotheses would be evaluated as well within development of project. 3.1 Aim of study As can be concluded from literature review, the quantity of valid empirical researches which have compared ASD with traditional methodologies and researches that consider agile claims, is rare. [23] It could be the most interesting motivation for designing a systematic and scientific way-has been described in methodology and evaluation section- for assessing the mentioned hypotheses. 3.2 Expectation Before conducting the project, there are some expectations which have been concluded from literature review and it is predicted that some of them would be resulted after accomplishing the project. These expectations could be same with hypotheses, but it is crystal clear that for scientific comparison all the conditions should be matched with the conditions in real world. Unfortunately, there are some conditions and situations which do not exist in this project-they will be mentioned in detailed in next chapter-and they will be simulated with simulated situations and maybe this issue affects the results, but with precise simulation it will be tried to reduce this influence as much as possible. 4 Goals and Objectives Doing a fair, empirical and scientific comparison between agile system development and traditional ways can be considered as goal of this project. Also scientific evaluation of this issue that agile is useful approach for software development or not can be another goal. As can be perceived these goals are general and intangible, therefore some objectives make them more clear and measurable. For first goal development of two websites that agile has been applied in one of them and comparison between them could be suitable. Therefore when it comes to comparison objectives can be: Select a suitable context which has this potential to be implemented as a website in agile   and traditional approach Choose a proper languages for development of these websites Opt systematic and scientific methods to compare action of these websites These objectives will be described in detailed in methodology and evaluation chapter. Also, when it comes to second goal these matters can be considered as objectives: Determine specification of a good application Determine success of   software development is assessed by means of which factors Decide what criteria affect web development success Determine these criteria are fulfilled more in agile or traditional approach via systematic and scientific way These objectives would be explained in methodology and evaluation chapter as well as previous ones. 5 Methodology and Evaluation For evaluating benefits which ASD claims have-mentioned in last chapters- and comparison between traditional software development methods and ASD, two website would be designed and their productivity, flexibility, readability and other specifications compared with each other. For a correct comparison context and title of these websites should be same, in other words they should be designed for same target. After discussing with supervisor it was determined that two websites should be implemented for a library which would be presented as online services. As It was mentioned the application and interface of these websites would be same while in one of them Agile methods will be applied and in another one traditional methods like plan base. In follow some details of these websites can be observed.   First library website which is supposed to have Agile methods would be implemented by means of C# language in ASP.Net framework. While the other one will be implemented via PHP language. C# has been opted because of its Object Oriented specification and also as a dynamic language it can be useful to apply ASD methods. In addition PHP has been selected because it was essential that one programming language should be out of the teaching materials of university. These two websites belong to a library which wants to let customers use online services. There would be different kind of books, papers and references which would be available in terms of their type. For instance, some books which have more appeal can be borrowed for shorter period in compare with the others and some recourses cannot be borrowed. Customers will be classified to different types which have distinguish priority. For example, when a book-there is just one available copy of this book- is demanded by two persons that one of them is postgraduate and another one undergraduate, it will borrowed by postgraduate student. There would be a waiting system that puts persons who has requested unavailable items in a queue in respect to their priority that mentioned above. Also, an Email delivery system will send an Email to remind the due time to customers automatically a day before it. After implementation of these websites they will be submitted to a number of expert web developers accompany with a questionnaire- that would be designed after consulting with supervisor- which asks them to determine which application is more productive, flexible and reliable. The developers will not be noticed that Agile methods has been used in which application. In addition it is possible a group of customers would be asked to use two websites and after that express which one is more user friendly and productive, but due to same interface and functionality it could be difficult to mention any differences. As it was mentioned one of the most important specifications which Agile advocates claim can be increased via applying it, is flexibility.   But one of the most vital characteristics of ASD which helps improvement of flexibility is interaction with customers and stockholders. Unfortunately, there is not any actual customer in this comparison therefore project supervisor and another person-who is familiar with web development and is determined after consulting with supervisor are assumed as customer and would be asked to change their requirements as a customer requirements every week regularly then consequent changes in coed are recorded as a documen t and attached to dissertation report. For a scientific comparison all the conditions should be close to reality therefore another minus can be detected and considered, is absence of a team as a development team ,because ASD is completely team based that these teams are usually self organization an cross functional teams. For compensation of this weakness the developer should study different contexts like finance and business and regularly consult with people who are expert in their fields to approach the comparison to reality. 6 Project plan Bibliography [1]ketabe art safeye 3 [2] http://agilemanifesto.org/history.html [3] In Art of Agile Development book [4] In Art of Agile Development book [5] futureworksconsulting.com/resources/TeamAgilityAgileTimesFeb04.pdf [6] In Art of Agile Development book safeye 3 va X||| [7] ketab safheye 3 [8] ketab safeye 4 [9] ketab safeye 4 [10] ketab safeye 4 pavaraghi [11]ketab bakhshe movafaghiyat [12]article success factores [13] article success factores [14] article, what we know about agile? [15]article success factores [16][17][18] [19]ye chiz peydaa kon vase Amrica [20] article, what we know about [21] http://agilemethodology.org/ [22] what we know safeheye aval [23] what we know safeheye aval va ye done dig eke save kardi rood esc top [24] article ke kheili khoobe va ziyaade va jadval dare [25]refrence 16 hamoon article [26] article ke kheili khoobe va ziyaade va jadval dare [27] refrence 60 hamoon article [28] article ke kheili khoobe va ziyaade va jadval dare [29] refrence 50 hamoon article [30] article ke kheili khoobe va ziyaade va jadval dare [31] refrence 52 hamoon article [32] article ke kheili khoobe va ziyaade va jadval dare [53] refrence 52 hamoon article [34] article ke kheili khoobe va ziyaade va jadval dare [35] refrence 9, 10 hamoon article [36] Empirical studies of agile software development: A systematic review/abstract

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The Lost Tribes of Israel Claims by Herbert Armstrong

The Lost Tribes of Israel Catholic. com Around 926 b. c. , the kingdom of Israel split in two. Up to that point, all twelve tribes of Israel (plus the priestly tribe of Levi) had been united under the monarchies of Saul, David, and Solomon. But when Solomon’s son Rehoboam ascended to the throne, the ten Northern tribes rebelled and seceded from the union. This left only two tribes—Judah and Benjamin (plus much of Levi)—under the control of the king in Jerusalem. From that time on, the tribes were divided into two nations, which came to be called the House of Israel (the Northern ten tribes) and the House of Judah (the Southern two tribes).This situation continued until around 723 B. C. , when the Assyrians conquered the Northern kingdom. To keep conquered nations in subjection, it was Assyrian policy to break them up by deporting their native populations to other areas and resettling the land with newcomers. When the House of Israel was conquered, most people bel onging to the ten Northern tribes were deported and settled elsewhere in the Assyrian kingdom, including places near Nineveh, Haran, and on what is now the Iran-Iraq border.They were replaced by settlers from locations in or near Babylon and Syria. These settlers intermarried, together with the remaining Israelites, and became the Samaritans mentioned in the New Testament (a few hundred of whom still survive today). The Israelites who had been deported also intermarried with the peoples of the places where they had been resettled. They eventually lost their distinct identity, disappeared, and their culture was lost to history. Some refer to them as â€Å"the lost tribes of Israel. â€Å"A movement called â€Å"British Israelism† claims to have found the ten â€Å"lost tribes,† however, and in some very unlikely places. For many years, one of the leaders in the British Israelism movement was Herbert W. Armstrong, founder of the self-proclaimed â€Å"Worldwide Church of God. † Especially for Americans, Armstrong was just about the only person they ever heard advocating British Israelism. With his own paid television program, Armstrong regularly advertised his book The United States and Britain in Prophecy, which advocated the view. British Israelism was not Armstrong’s only eccentric view.Among other things, he believed in Saturday rather than Sunday worship and, most seriously, he rejected the doctrine of the Trinity and claimed that individual humans could be added to the Godhead. After Armstrong’s death, the Worldwide Church of God did a serious review of the doctrines it had taught up to that point and moved to a more biblically and theologically orthodox position. Today, the organization is basically another Evangelical Protestant church (they have even been admitted to the National Association of Evangelicals), though with a few distinctive practices.Many of their congregations still worship on Saturdays, for example, b ut they no longer regard keeping the Jewish Sabbath and feasts as points of doctrine. They have embraced the doctrine of the Trinity, denied that created beings can become part of the Godhead, and acknowledged that other churches contain true Christians. They have also rejected the distinctive idea behind British Israelism—the claim that the lost tribes of Israel are to be specially identified with the Anglo-Saxons.Unfortunately, there are still advocates of British Israelism out there (including some groups that split off from the Worldwide Church of God when it underwent its doctrinal renewal), and, though the book is out of print, Herbert W. Armstrong’s The United States and Britain in Prophecy continues to circulate. The United States and Britain in Prophecy teaches the notion that the Lost Tribes of Israel are really the descendants of Anglo-Saxons, which is to say the British and Americans of British extraction. This exotic doctrine had been around for decades be fore Herbert W.Armstrong founded his church in 1933, and it appeals, naturally enough, to those of British heritage. After all, who wouldn’t want to be a member of the â€Å"chosen race† (assuming there is one)? And according to Armstrong, that’s precisely what the Anglo-Saxons are—God’s chosen race, where can be found the direct descendants of King David and, even today, the true â€Å"heirs† to King David’s throne. The United States and Britain in Prophecy opens with this epigraph: â€Å"The prophecies of the Bible have been grievously misunderstood. And no wonder!For the vital key, needed to unlock prophetic doors to understanding, had become lost. That key is a definite knowledge of the true identity of the American and British peoples in biblical prophecy. † Only the first sentence of this epigraph is strictly correct, and a good share of the â€Å"grievous misunderstanding† is by people who put faith in the writing s of Herbert W. Armstrong. The Argument Begins â€Å"We know Bible prophecies definitely refer to Russia, Italy, Ethiopia, Libya, and Egypt of today. Could they then ignore modern nations like Britain and America?Is it reasonable? † This is how the argument begins, and notice what kind of argument it is. If these â€Å"lesser† countries are mentioned in Scripture, would it be fair for God to ignore us, important as we are? (We won’t examine here the highly dubious premise that Russia is mentioned in Scripture. ) You might call this an â€Å"appeal to pride. † Never fear, says Armstrong. â€Å"The fact is, [the British and Americans] are mentioned more often than any other race [sic]. Yet their prophetic identity has remained hidden to the many. Why is that? you ask. Because the Bible doesn’t refer to them by their modern names, but by an ancient name. And what is that name? None other than Israel. â€Å"Hold it! † you say. The people who ca me from Israel are Jews. Britons and Americans, for the most part, aren’t Jewish. How can one claim otherwise? Easily. Armstrong assures us that, â€Å"The house of Israel is not Jewish! Those who constitute it are not Jews, and never were! That fact we shall now see conclusively, beyond refute. † Actually, there is something of a point here.The term â€Å"Jew† originated as a way of referring to the people of the southern kingdom of Judah, whether their own tribe was Judah, Benjamin, or Levi. The term appears late in Israel’s history—after the division into northern and southern kingdoms—and it can be fairly claimed that the term does not apply to the members of the ten northern tribes, who are properly known as â€Å"Israelites† since they belonged to the House of Israel rather than the House of Judah. Armstrong asserted: â€Å"Certainly this proves that the Jews are a different nation altogether from the House of Israel,† cl aims Armstrong. The Jews of today are Judah! They call their nation ‘Israel’ today because they, too, descend from the patriarch Israel or Jacob. But remember that the ‘House of Israel’—the ten tribes that separated from Judah—does not mean Jew! Whoever the lost ten tribes of Israel are today, they are not Jews! † â€Å"By the year 721 B. C. , the House of Israel was conquered and its people were soon driven out of their own land—out of their homes and cities—and carried captives to Assyria, near the southern shores of the Caspian Sea! † So it was in 721 B.C. that the Lost Tribes got â€Å"lost. † The Year Nothing Happened Had the tribes remained faithful to God, all would have been well, Armstrong explains. â€Å"But, if they refused and rebelled, they were to be punished seven times—a duration of 2,520 years—in slavery, servitude, and want. † They did rebel, and Armstrong theorizes that their punishment extended from 721 B. C. to A. D. 1800. And what remarkable thing happened in 1800? Well, if we don’t count the election of Thomas Jefferson to the presidency of the United States, not a whole lot.In fact, 1800 was a pretty dull year for history. But Armstrong disagrees, saying that from that date, Britain and America became world powers; the former (at that time) politically, and the latter economically (and later, also politically). According to Armstrong’s scheme, the figure of â€Å"2,520 years of punishment† is arrived at by multiplying the â€Å"seven years of punishment† by 360—the number of days in the year as it was reckoned by the ancients—on the principle that each â€Å"day† of punishment really stood for a whole year of punishment.If you think this is convoluted reasoning, just wait until you read the remainder of the argument in The United States and Britain in Prophecy. It’s enough to note here th at Armstrong determines from Scripture that the Lost Tribes ended up on islands in the sea, and these islands are northwest of Palestine. We’re told, for example, that the forty-ninth chapter of Isaiah begins with, â€Å"Listen, O isles, unto me. † Do you see how this suggests the British Isles? Armstrong says, â€Å"Take a map of Europe.Lay a line due northwest of Jerusalem across the continent of Europe, until you come to the sea, and then to the islands in the sea! This line takes you direct to the British Isles! † The skeptic might note that the line first comes to the Aegean islands, which are also in the sea—the Mediterranean Sea—but this would mean the Greeks are the Lost Tribes, therefore, the theory would not play into the desires of some British or Americans to identify themselves with the lost tribes. Linguistic Legerdemain You want more proof? Armstrong has it. The House of Israel,† he explains, â€Å"is the ‘covenant peopl e. ’ The Hebrew word for ‘covenant’ is brit [b’rith]. And the word for ‘covenant man,’ or ‘covenant people,’ would therefore sound, in English word order, Brit-ish (the word ish means ‘man’ in Hebrew, and it is also an English suffix on nouns and adjectives). And so, is it mere coincidence that the true covenant people today are called the ‘British’? And they reside in the ‘British Isles’! † This reasoning may impress some, but no linguist would take this seriously.The word â€Å"British† is not derived from Hebrew but from the Celtic word Brettas. It’s significant that the Celtic Brettas referred to the Britons, who were inhabitants of England before the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons that Armstrong claims were Israelites. One possible reason for Armstrong’s linguistic confusions may be that in Webster’s Diction-ary (for example, in the 3,200-page unabridged ed ition published in 1932—an edition Armstrong may have had access to) the entry for b’rith (Hebrew: covenant) appears sandwiched between the entries for â€Å"Britannic† and â€Å"Briticism. Perhaps he simply didn’t read carefully enough and assumed, wrongly, that b’rith must somehow be etymologically connected with the other the words before and after pertaining to things British. Neither does the common English suffix -ish derive from the Hebrew word for man. Instead, it derives from the Greek diminutive suffix -iskos It was bad enough to suggest that the word â€Å"British† is Hebrew, but he also made another claim: If you take the name â€Å"Isaac,† you see it’s easy for someone to drop the â€Å"I† when speaking quickly and to end up with â€Å"Saac† as the name of the patriarch.He had descendants, of course, and these may be called â€Å"Saac’s sons,† from which we get the word â€Å"Saxons. à ¢â‚¬  â€Å"Is it only coincidence,† asks Armstrong, â€Å"that ‘Saxons’ sounds the same as ‘Saac’s sons’—sons of Isaac? † This doesn’t even qualify as a coincidence, since Armstrong had to make up the nickname of â€Å"Saac† in order for the â€Å"coincidence† to exist. In reality, the term â€Å"Saxon† is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word â€Å"seax,† which means knife or dagger, not the Hebrew word â€Å"Isaac† (Yitskhaq), which means â€Å"laughter† (cf.Gen. 17:15–19, 18:9–15). Another Remarkable Coincidence? Armstrong found other coincidences. When the Lost Tribes were scattered, he says, they â€Å"brought with them certain remarkable things, including a harp and a wonderful stone called lia-fail, or stone of destiny. A peculiar coincidence is that Hebrew reads from right to left, while English reads from left to right. Read this name either way—and it still is lia-fail. Another strange coincidence—or is it just coincidence? is that many kings in the history of Ireland, Scotland, and England have been coronated sitting over a remarkable stone—including the present queen [sic]. The stone rests today in Westminster Abbey in London, and the coronation chair is built over and around it. A sign once beside it labeled it ‘Jacob’s pillar-stone. ’† Here Armstrong’s argument becomes even weaker. After all, one could note that Hebrew and English are not the only languages which, when contrasted, are read in different directions. For example, Arabic is read right to left, while Gaelic is read left to right.What does that prove? Nothing! Just as Armstrong’s muddled reasoning proves nothing at all about a connection between Hebrew and English. If it did, one could just as easily â€Å"prove† that the Lost Tribes were also responsible for bringing the Blarney Stone with them. And that ’s just plain blarney. Armstrongism’s Appeal What makes Armstrong’s notion so attractive to some folks? First, it appeals to their nationalistic vanity: â€Å"I’m of English descent, and now I see that I’m right in the thick of things, biblically speaking.Having English blood in my veins makes me special. It puts me above the rest of the crowd. † It also perpetuates ethnic prejudice: â€Å"Thank God I’m not Italian! I never liked Italians anyway, and now I see they aren’t descended from the Lost Tribes and so are only secondary players in the divine drama—something I always suspected. † At first glance, Armstrong’s argument seems to be based on a sophisticated understanding of Scripture: â€Å"Armstrong provides lots of citations, and I can’t find fault with his argument. It’s so convoluted and technical it

Literature Review of Cambridge by Caryl Phillips - 1667 Words

For my Internal Assessment I have chosen to do a review of Caryl Phillips’ post-colonial work of fiction, â€Å"Cambridge†. This novel published in the year 1991, explores the interlocking of a variety of forms of marginalization, displacement and dispossession that emerge from the experience of cross-cultural encounters. It persistently raises questions of home, identity and belonging. Philips’ novel is set in an unnamed small Caribbean island during a transitional period, sometime between the abolition of the slave trade in 1807 and the emancipation of slaves in 1834. Phillips raises the consciousness of the readers by highlighting the brutality and horrors of slavery through perfected use of narrative techniques such as imagery, irony,†¦show more content†¦Brown. Furthermore, Emily’s marginality in planter society is reinforced as much by her relative innocence as newcomer as by her own vague and unspecified liberal beliefs. In the early days, she sees herself as ‘set apart† from planter society; she sides with the abolitionist campaigns and is disapproving of her father’s cavalier ignorance of the â€Å"pains and pleasures†¦.endured by those whose labour enables him to indulge himself in the heavy-pocketed manner to which he has become accustomed†. She sees herself as on a moral crusade of sorts and hopes to convert her father to the abolitionist cause through her first-hand knowledge and account of the â€Å"inquiry of slavery.† Yet her condemnation of her compatriots’ abstract support for the abolitionists and convert real support of â€Å"old prejudices,† will increasingly apply to her. Emily’s account of her initial encounters with â€Å"negroes† on the island is testament to the strength and depth of European racial prejudices. She finds it difficult to disguise her revulsion at the appearance, dress, manners and language of the black peoples of the island. She repeatedly associates them with the animal kingdom, mistaking slave children for monkeys, describing slave homes as â€Å"lairs and nests† and the noises of the slave village as a distant â€Å"braying.† Emily objects to her black slave