The people at sourcemaking.com have come up with 40 Reasons why Software Projects Die. Actually, there are 41 reasons since they started at 0, but who am I to complain about a freebie! An interesting read with reasons I’m sure we all have run across at one time or another (I, myself, have seen the Irrational Management reason kill, destroy, or otherwise maim many fine projects)

Daniel Spiewak at Code Commit has posted the third part of a series [Part 1, Part 2, Part 3] entitled “Scala for Java Refugees”. This series gives a good in-depth overview of Scala and points out where it differs from Java.

Michael Kimsal has just posted the second part of a series [Part 1, Part 2] entitled “Grails for PHP developers”. They are a bit basic, but highlight where a PHP developer could get hung up writing a Grails application. For a more in-depth introduction to Grails, check out “Mastering Grails: Build your first Grails application” by Scott Davis.

Marijn Haverbeke has published a free JavaScript book, entitled “Eloquent JavaScript”, online at http://eloquentjavascript.net. I can’t speak to the content myself since I haven’t read any of it yet, but the example code scattered throughout the book has a really cool interface. Click the buttons in the upper right-hand corner of the code boxes to load an interactive panel where you can change the code around and play with it.

Registration for PyCon is now open. The 2008 Python Conference will be held in Chicago during the middle of March. Register now for an early bird discount.