dzone.com: tech links

A list of on demand (SaaS) Message Queuing (MQ) providers

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:56:47 -0700

Who are the on demand (SaaS) message queuing (MQ) providers ? What are the advantages of using one over the other ? Check out the article for answers to the above questions.

Learning On A Project

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:56:47 -0700

There has been a fair amount of activity in the blogsphere to Roy's original post about increasing TDD adoption. Roy updates some of the reaction here and here. Udi comments on my reaction that the most important thing is to being writing tests and then learn how to write them better. Udi questions whether it is right for us to expect customers to allow us to learn on their time. And Casey Charlton makes a similar point in comments on Tim's blog. There has been a fair amount of discussion as to how we teach TDD over at the TDD mailing list too.

More Languages on top of Erlang Virtual Machine

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:56:47 -0700

Erlang virtual machine – BEAM – hosts an increasing number of languages. Reia, a Python/Ruby like scripting language and Lisp Flavoured Erlang have recently been released. Debasish Ghosh reflects on this trend while other authors try to outline other possible language variants inspired by Ruby or Haskell.

RPC Server for Erlang, In Java

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:56:47 -0700

We are using Erlang to do some serious things, one of them is indeed part of a banking system. Erlang is a perfect language in concurrent and syntax (yes, I like its syntax), but lacks static typing (I hope new added -spec and -type attributes may be a bit helping), and, is not suitable for processing massive data (performance, memory etc). I tried parsing a 10M size XML file with xmerl, the lib for XML in OTP/Erlang, which causes terrible memory disk-swap and I can never get the parsed tree out.

Step-by-step Guide for Getting Ruby Apps to the Cloud

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:56:46 -0700

In this blog post, CohesiveFT's Yan Pritzker shows you how to quickly get your Rails app from your local repo, or from GitHub, up to Amazon EC2 in a few easy steps. CohesiveFT's Elastic Server platform is a web-based factory without all the noise and occasional grime. Inside the factory, you can create a server "blueprint" that is created from components in our library, or components you upload yourself. Your custom-assembled server can be deployed to a variety of virtualization and cloud environments. Did we mention the Community Edition is free?

Friday Java Quiz: It Can't Go Simpler Than This

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 11:57:29 -0700

Q: What will this program print? true? or false?

Suggest me a scripting language for blueMarine, Java compatible

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 10:47:13 -0700

I've said a lot of times that I don't like scripting languages, and in fact all of my work is currently done in Java. I see it as perfectly fitting my needs, from JME to JEE, through the Desktop. But I believe in Domain Specific Languages, and I could be near to use one.

What Google Engineers do for Fun: Computerized Lego Art Project

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 10:46:59 -0700

An example of what a bored Google engineer does during a slow weekend: He writes a Java application using an annealing algorithm that finds the most optimized layout and color to reproduce an image using nothing but Lego blocks.

ICONIX Process Rocks

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 10:46:47 -0700

This should probably give an answer to the few dinosaurs who like going around saying that AGILE is an excuse for not having a well-defined process

JSystem - Open source framework for writing and running automated system testing projects

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 10:46:17 -0700

JSystem is an open source framework for writing and running automated system testing projects. The JSystem framework is comprised of the following components: Services Java API - exposes JSystem services JSystem Drivers- Java modules used to interfaces with devices and applications in the system under test. JRunner - GUI application interface used for creating and running tests scenarios. JSystem Agent - Execution engine used to run scenarios on a distributed setup. JSystem Eclipse plug-in - accelerates the development environment setup and enforces JSystem conventions

OpenOffice.org 3.0 Releases Monday--Or Get It Early

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:37:38 -0700

The OpenOffice.org 3.0 suite of productivity applications arrives Monday, but, as noted at Download Squad, you can get it today. The OpenOffice team has posted it to a number of mirror sites. The list to check is here. As Download Squad notes: "Just pick one in your region, navigate to the folder marked 'stable' and grab the appropriate files for your operating system from the '3.0.0' folder." If you want the Windows version and not the Linux version, FileHippo has it available today. Here's more on what's under the hood.

Remember Smalltalk?

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:37:38 -0700

I’ve often referred to Smalltalk as the ‘Latin’ of modern OO languages. Most owe a tremendous debt to Smalltalk but the language itself has been relegated to a small niche of technology elites for several years now.

Cheat Sheet: patterns & practices Catalog at a Glance Posted to CodePlex

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:37:37 -0700

As part of our patterns & practices Application Architecture Guide 2.0 project, we've been hunting and gathering our patterns & practices solution assets. Here's our initial draft of our catalog at a glance.

Scream Free Project Management

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 08:38:23 -0700

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to read a book by Hal Edward Runkel called Scream Free Parenting. The title is a little misleading because the book is not really about screaming and the lessons Hal teaches go beyond just parenting. The book is about controlling your anxiety so you can build healthy relationships. The key idea of the book is that anxiety is at the root of much our conflict. Think about it… we want better behavior from our kids, we are not getting it, and not getting that desired behavior stresses us out. When we yell at our children, we are really saying "I want to be calm, you are not allowing me to be calm, I demand you change your behavior so I can be calm".

Debunking Productivity Myths

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 08:38:23 -0700

There are so many available tools and resources on productivity that it’s bound to make one crazy. I confess that I was one of those productivity addicts who subscribed to all the GTD and lifehacking blogs out there, downloaded all the tools I could find, and signed up for every new Web 2.0 service. I lived almost a year of my life doing that, and it’s a wonder that I didn’t get a heart attack.

How to get rid of curly quotes in your WordPress blog

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 08:38:23 -0700

Ah, curly quotes. They look nice, but they’re also such a pain if you display code on your blog, or copy/paste it from another blog. Here’s a very simple recipe that I urge you to use if you display code on your blog. Your readers will say thanks you!

ASP.NET AJAX 4.0: New AJAX Support For Data-Driven Web Apps

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 08:38:22 -0700

A Postback-Based Master-Details Page The UpdatePanel Version The Pure AJAX Version The AJAX Version Templates Event Bubbling Managing the Back Button The Finished Product AJAX is an exciting Web platform for many reasons. Using AJAX, many tasks that were traditionally performed on the server happen in the browser instead, resulting in fewer round-trips to the server, lower bandwidth consumption, and faster, more responsive Web UIs. While these outcomes are the result of offloading a good deal of work to the client, the browser still isn't the environment of choice for many developers who would rather have the full power and flexibility of server apps at their disposal.

20 Places to Find Your Next Web Development Job

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 08:38:20 -0700

As the world economy continues to look shakier by the day, and major corporations have begun to trim work forces, it might not be such a bad idea to start looking for a new job. Sites like Craigslist, Monster, and HotJobs have a lot of listings, but they’re not well filtered. Searching for jobs on those sites can be a crap shoot, and many of the best job offers aren’t posted on those mega sites.

More is Better

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 07:37:35 -0700

Now that we've gotten Rails integration working with GlassFish, you'd think that we'd be done, and we could move on to making AIs to make toast for us, or something like that. Well, you probably wouldn't since most people don't think that the next thing to do after adding something to an application server is to use AI to make toast, but, if you did think that, you'd be wrong.

Microsoft details Oslo's modeling language, tools

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 07:37:35 -0700

SD Times goes into detail about Microsoft's 'M" modeling language and how declarative models will provide for downstream tools, and possibly the Midori operating system, to manage applications. Microsoft intends for "M" to be an open platform so that DSLs can be translated into lower level code that can be executed by any run time.

Send Files via FTP Using PHP

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 07:37:34 -0700

Sending files to a server via FTP is an essential ability of any web developer or designer. Of course, we all use glossy email clients like WS_FTP and FireFTP, but what about FTP automation? You can use PHP to FTP files from one server to another. Let me show you how.