Cool Code v Working Code
By Martin English | October 25, 2006
Developers and Administrators under the age of thirty have no idea why old farts like me are sceptical of the productivity claims, why we roll our eyes at the hype and buzzwords that sell books and consulting engagements, about the amzing new programming language / technique / methodology du jour. Occassionally, it’s because we’ve seen it all before. IBM systems running multiple operating system instances ? Sounds like good ole MVS to me….
For example, the current state of play is that Sun’s JRuby team (Sun hired key Ruby developers Thomas Enebo and Charles Nutter, back in September) has just released JRuby 0.9.1 for Java, with version 1.0 is expected in due course.
Apparently, going from JRuby 0.9.1 to 0.9.0 apparently brings a 50 to 60 per cent performance improvement (just how slow was it then ?), improves support for Ruby on Rails and for including Java classes in Ruby; delivers various design refactorings; and fixes some 86 Jira bugs. According to Thomas Enebo,
JRuby is going really well.
And Microsoft has just hired Ruby guru John Lam, to help it add dynamic scripting languages to the Common Language Runtime platform. Apparently, he created RubyCLR as an alternative to Microsoft’s C#, so this suggests that Microsoft could soon deliver Ruby as a complement to it’s release of IronPython (which is Python for .Net). There’s certainly a rich choice for dynamic programming enthusiasts these days.
The problem I have is that delivering systems fast is popular, until the business finds out:
- that what it gets doesn’t align with its requirements well,
- that the cost of development pales into insignificance besides the cost of support,
- there’s no traceability
Of course, better dynamic languages may help but they’re still not really the real issue, as far as I can see., For example, customers and employers are thinking about ITIL and IT governance).
The real issue is that there’s No Silver Bullet. It’s an important essay from way back in 1986, by Frederick P. Brooks (he of Mythical Man-Month) that has been repeatedly proven.
Programming consists of overcoming two things: accidental difficulties, things which are difficult because you happen to be using inadequate programming tools, and things which are difficult, which no programming tool or language is going to solve. An example of an accidental difficulty is manual memory management, e.g. “malloc” and “free,” or the singleton classes people create in Java because they don’t have top level functions. An example of something which is actually difficult is dealing with the subtle interactions between different parts of a program, for example, figuring out all the implications of a new feature that you just added.
Improvements in programming languages can eliminate accidental difficulties, but after you’ve done that, you’re left with the actual complexity of software development, so the No Silver Bullet theory basically warns us to expect diminishing returns from new technologies. I’m not really doing justice to Brooks’ argument, so if you haven’t read No Silver Bullet recently, I would highly recommend it.
Topics: Languages, People, Productivity, Work, blogs / podcasts | 2 Comments »
Cluetrain manifesto
By Martin English | October 24, 2006
The entire text of The Cluetrain Manifesto is now available online.
Topics: People, Productivity, blogs / podcasts | No Comments »
Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense
By Martin English | October 16, 2006
Heroic leaders are a disaster. Seventy per cent of mergers fail. In most organisations, financial incentives cause more problems than they solve. There is no connection between high executive pay and company performance (well, there is – the wider the pay differentials, the lower the commitment of the less well paid). The main result of many consultancy assignments is another consultancy assignment. All ’silver bullet’ or ‘big ideas’ on their own are wrong.
These are not theories, but facts. Yet companies trip over themselves to buy others, launch change initiatives, introduce pay for performance, flit from one big idea to the next – and pay their CEOs stratospherically. It’s hardly surprising so many go belly up. If doctors were as cavalier with the evidence, a lot of their patients would be dead and many medics would be behind bars.
Amazon link – no referrer code !!
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Set up a personal, home SSH server
By Martin English | October 11, 2006
How to set up a personal, home SSH server
Why SSH?
- Unlike a home web server, SSH is read/write, meaning you can get and put files on a server with it.
- Unlike a home FTP server, SSH is secure. All the transactions are encrypted and cannot be sniffed.
- Unlike a VNC server, SSH alone doesnt let you drive your computer remotely, and it is also secure and encrypted while VNC is not.
Topics: Code, Productivity, Technology | No Comments »
Opensource CMS blogs e-commerce groupware Forums etc
By Martin English | October 7, 2006
www.opensourcecms.com is designed to give you the opportunity to “try out” some of the best php/mysql based free and open source software systems in the world.
The site provides an administrator username and password for every system which allows you to to add and delete content, change the way things look, basically be the admin of any system here without fear of breaking anything. Each system is deleted and re-installed every two hours.
At the upper left hand side of your screen you will see a clock that is counting down. What it shows is how much time is left in this two hour demo window. Once the clock hits 00:00:00, opensourceCMS.com will shut down and the demos are completely refreshed.
Topics: Code, Productivity, Technology, blogs / podcasts | No Comments »
Web-Developer Server Suite: WAMP [Windows, Apache, PHP, MySQL], ASP, JSP, Perl, SSL – DeveloperSide.NET
By Martin English | October 5, 2006
DeveloperSide have a comprehensive set of install packages for building WAMP [Windows, Apache, PHP/perl, MySQL] systems, including guides to making wordpress and phpBB work.
Topics: Productivity, Technology, blogs / podcasts | No Comments »
Include SOME Google Gadgets Into Any Page
By Martin English | October 5, 2006
Google has announced that some of the gadgets available for Google Personalized Homepage can be embedded into any web page. The list of the gadgets includes: Google Calendar Viewer, Google Calculator, US Traffic Information, Moon Phase, Picasa Album Viewer and more. This way, you can enrich your web page with live information.
Google gives an example of usage:
“For example, lets say you are in charge of your club soccer teams website, and you want to add a current weather forecast so your fans can plan for your games or you want to include a daily brainteaser on your site without having to come up with something new everyday. Google Gadgets lets you do this easily. Just visit the directory of “Google Gadgets for your webpage” to find gadgets that youd like to add to your own page and select your preferences for how the gadget will appear on your page. Then, copy and paste the HTML from the window into the HTML code for your own website. Its an easy way to get the content you need and want without spending hours writing code”
Previously, some gadgets could be included in Google Page Creator if you selected the experimental features.
Here’s an example (called babelfish):
Topics: Code, Productivity, Technology, Toys, blogs / podcasts | No Comments »
Top 10 Lies told to the Naive
By Martin English | October 5, 2006
For freelancers / contractors, in the end, working commercially, being a terrific artist, designer or technician is about half the task. The other half is “the business”, chasing work, chasing money, chasing client commitment, keeping up to date ….. Sure, you can outsource some of that to an agency, but then you have to manage the Agency – finding an agent you can work with, sending you to interviews you’re not suitable for, etc.
Along those lines, here’s a link to Top 10 Lies told to Naive Artists and Designers. It’s written from the perspective of a graphic designer, but can be applied to the people who post those threads about starting a hosting company, starting an at home IT service company, or even going contracting.
Topics: People, blogs / podcasts | No Comments »
Creating a Static Front Page in Word Press
By Martin English | October 4, 2006
For various reasons, you may want to present users with a static page, but still use your word press themes etc. Happily, there’s a WordPress plugin, Filosofo Home-Page Control, that does easily, without manipulating your code or editing.
- Install plugin.
- Choose which page to be the home page.
Thats the functionality I’m using at the moment.
I’m also experimenting with the appearance of a subdirectory – not really much use for me as this blog appears under the playpen directory anyway, but for the sake of science and to while away another SAP install…
- Install plugin.
- Choose which page to be the home page.
- Declare the directory you wish for your blog.
OK so that’s a tiny bit more complicated… It even double checks the structure for permalinks, and tells you how to create a home page template.
BTW, doing this without a plugin is covered in the wordpress documentation at Creating a Static Front Page.
EDIT: as it turned out, the virtual subdirectory link is usefull… It lets me put a link to ../playpen/blog over in the sidebar, so that every page can go straight back to the latest posts.
Topics: Code, Productivity, blogs / podcasts | No Comments »
Ten Business Myths
By Martin English | October 3, 2006
Venture capitalist Ron Garret has posted a list of eleven (despite the title) common mistakes entrepreneurs with a technology background make. A common theme is that good ideas sell; in reality, what a customer wants sells. By extension, having a Ph.D. and holding a patent are not particularly helpful if the intended end-user does not have the same level of understanding of the widget as the creator does.
Topics: People, Productivity, blogs / podcasts | No Comments »
incoming RSS feeds on wp
By Martin English | September 29, 2006
Shaolin Tiger’s “How to Use RSS Feeds on Your WordPress Site”
from Adding RSS Feeds to WordPress
One issue I did come up against is that although you can put Template Tags and PHP code into a Page Template, you cannot put these into the content of a Page and expect them to run. This meant I had to use a PHP evaluating Plugin (example: RunPHP) to enable the < ?php randomFeedList() ?> feature of the Feed List plugin.
EDIT: October 10
I’ve completely revamped how I use this plugin.
- I have a WordPress Page with it’s own template (page_rss_parent), that is an exact replica of my standard Page template except it incldues the Dynamic Ajax Content from www.dynamicdrive.com. As you select a link to a particular RSS feed, this Page loads it dynamically.
- The RSS feeds are each in their own page, using the FeedList plugin . These pages have their own template ( page_rss) that has no call to sidebar or footer. This is because these pages will be loaded into a DIV on already already existing page, with the header, sidebar footer etc already present.
- I have another page that is the parent of the pages with the RSS feeds. This means I can exclude this page (and therefore the underlying RSS Feed pages) when using wp_list_pages in my header.
- I don’t need the runPHP plugin.
Next step is to write it up as a plugin. The big issue is where to store the RSS feeds:
- If I store them in WordPress as Pages, you’ll need to do the wp_list_pages hack described above.
- If I store them in another table, it raises issues of tidiness and compatibility with later versions
- If I store them as a text file in the plugin directory, there’s issues around the read/write permissions
from http://arstechnica.com – arstechnica.
- Week in Apple: new Macs, Magic Trackpad, and a possible Intel clash -
How long have you been waiting for new iMacs or Mac Pros? What about the Cinema Display? How about free iPhone 4 cases? For Apple to acknowledge the sad, sad performance of iOS 4 on the iPhone 3G? We covered all of that and more this last week. Read on for the roundup.
Magic Trackpad or tragic Mac pad? A review: External trackpads have come a long way over the years, and Apple's Magic Trackpad aims to bring its portable line's multitouch gestures to the desktop. We took a look to find out whether it's worth the $70.
iMacs with i7, SSD, and Magic Trackpad make their debut: The rumors about new iMacs were true! The updated machines now sport faster processors and newer graphics cards, as well as the Magic Trackpad—that is, if you want to add $70 onto your bill.
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- Week in tech: jailbreaks ahoy, mechamice, comedians, and copyright -
We're approaching the dog days of summer in the northern hemisphere, and tech news shows no signs of cooling down.
Apple loses big in DRM ruling: jailbreaks are "fair use": Every three years, the Library of Congress approves a handful of exemptions to the DMCA, allowing consumers to break or bypass DRM in particular instances. On the list this time: jailbreaking an iPhone, ripping clips from a DVD, and investigating SecuROM on computer games.
Overkill as art: Ars reviews the Cyborg R.A.T. 7: It's not easy to justify a $100 price tag for a gaming mouse, but the R.A.T. 7 is adjustable in both size and shape, features multiple levels of DPI control, and offers more options than anything else on the market.
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- Anti-P2P lawyers accused of copyright hypocrisy -
Have the copyright enforcers been caught with their hands in the cookie jar? The blog TorrentFreak today published its claim that the US Copyright Group, which has filed more than 14,000 lawsuits against anonymous P2P movie sharers, ripped off another copyright settlement group in crafting its own settlement website.
The site was tipped off by a reader, who claimed that US Copyright Group had jacked code and visual elements from Copyright Settlements, which is in a similar business: sue P2P users, then send them letters demanding a settlement to avoid trial.
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- Ballmer (and Microsoft) still doesn't get the iPad -
"The operating system is called Windows," claimed Steve Ballmer when asked about Microsoft's plans for the tablet/slate/pad form factor at the company's annual Financial Analyst Meeting on Thursday. He expressed dismay at the iPad's strong sales figures, "[Apple has] sold certainly more than I'd like them to have sold," he said. Ballmer then promised that Windows-powered devices will be shipping "as soon as they are ready," going on to explain that they would get a boost from Intel's low-power Oak Trail platform next year.
The message was clear: Microsoft still doesn't understand why its Tablet PC concept has repeatedly bombed over the best part of a decade. Apple sold more iPads in its first three months of availability than PC vendors sold Tablet PCs in the whole of last year; in fact, the number of iPads sold in that period is likely to eclipse the number of Tablet PCs sold both last year and this. But still the company is persevering: stick a regular PC operating system on a laptop, give it a touchscreen, and then take away the keyboard and pixel-perfect pointing device. Ballmer even reiterated the company's position: slates are just another PC form factor.
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- RIM set to join the tablet fray this fall with "Blackpad" -
Corroborating a rumor from The Wall Street Journal earlier this summer, a new Bloomberg report cited "two people familiar with the company's plans" to build an iPad-like touchscreen device and release it this fall. Dubbed the "Blackpad," the device will ostensibly run the as-yet-unreleased BlackBerry OS 6, and help RIM deflect further encroachment from Apple into its declining mobile market share.
Bloomberg's sources note that the device will rely on BlackBerry's usual enterprise e-mail advantage, but it will also include features that Apple's iPad lacks. In particular, it will have both rear and front-facing cameras for video conferencing and image capture, as well as the ability to pair with a BlackBerry phone over Bluetooth to share its 3G connection.
But jumping into the current tablet market—already dominated by Apple's iPad and with Windows 7 and Android-based products expected soon—might be easier said than done. "With the success of the iPad, RIM faces an uphill battle," William Power, an analyst at Robert W Baird & Co, told Bloomberg. "RIM really has yet to demonstrate that it can roll out touchscreen technology to match the leaders in the space, most noticeably Apple."
The Blackpad is expected to be launched in November, not long after RIM launches a long-rumored BlackBerry Bold 9800. That device will be a touchscreen-only device and the first to be offered with the more consumer-oriented BlackBerry OS 6.
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- Microsoft to release fix for Windows Shortcut flaw on Monday -
Microsoft has announced plans to release of an out-of-band update on Monday to address the Windows Shortcut flaw revealed less than two weeks ago. The software giant has been keeping a close watch on the use of .LNK files exploiting the vulnerability and has concluded that it needs to act faster than usual.
Microsoft typically releases security patches on the second Tuesday of each month, with the next slated for August 10. Redmond is releasing this fix eight days early, at approximately 1PM EDT Monday. All currently supported versions of Windows are vulnerable, including Windows 7, so the majority of Windows users should be receiving this patch.
There have been multiple malware families that have picked up the .LNK attack vector, including a highly virulent strain named Sality.AT. Not only is Sality a very large family, but it is known to infect other files (making full removal after infection challenging), copy itself to removable media, disable security, and then download other malware. Microsoft has seen an increase in attack attempts as well as a change in the geolocation of the attack attempts across the systems it protects. In short, this new attack vector is becoming more widespread. The security team at the company believes more families will continue to pick up the technique, leading it to get the patch out as soon as possible.
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- Students finally wake up to Facebook privacy issues -
Students care about Facebook privacy more than the world thinks, and their use of privacy controls has skyrocketed recently, according to two researchers. Eszter Hargittai, Associate Professor of Northwestern University, and Danah Boyd, Research Associate at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society published their findings in the online peer-reviewed journal First Monday, noting that young people are very engaged with the privacy settings on Facebook, contrary to the popular belief that their age group is reckless with what they post publicly.
The researchers surveyed first-year writing students at the University of Illinois-Chicago during the 2008-2009 academic year, and then followed up with them again in 2010. The large majority—87 percent—said they used Facebook in 2009, which went up to 90 percent in 2010. Among frequent and occasional users, more than half posted their own status updates in addition to checking up (and leaving comments) on those of friends.
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- iPhone 4 antenna woes "significantly worse" than competition -
Apple launched the iPhone 4 in 17 additional countries today, causing another round of debate over whether or not the iPhone 4's external antenna design is flawed or not. A UK consulting firm says its tests show the "death grip" problem is real, and "significantly" worse for the iPhone 4 than other smartphones. A review from Norway is less critical, suggesting the iPhone 4 gets better signal than competing phones and may be victim to AT&T's less "robust" wireless network.
Shortly after the iPhone 4 began shipping in the US last month, users started to notice a problem: gripping the device in a certain way led to signal attenuation and, in some cases, dropped calls or poor data connections. While Apple CEO Steve Jobs was somewhat dismissive of the issue early on, testing conclusively demonstrated that the iPhone 4 had a higher signal attenuation than other smartphones when bridging a small gap on the lower left side of the device's stainless steel bezel.
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- Sulfates plus black carbon a nasty combo for warming -
Fossil fuels may be doing an even more efficient job of warming the planet than we thought. A new study shows that black carbon generated by fossil fuels seems to warm the planet more than other sources, and sulfates generated by burning cheaper fuels help the black carbon absorb even more energy. The scientists who authored the paper note that policies will likely need to tamp down on both substances in order to make a dent in the rate of global warming.
Researchers have long considered black carbon a culprit behind the increasingly warm atmosphere, as it holds incoming heat rather than reflecting it. They haven't been able to decisively point fingers, though, because it's difficult to pinpoint how much warming the black carbon causes. The source of the carbon seemed to play an important role, as did the ambient amount of other substances, like sulfates.
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- Australia begs residents to accept free fiber connection -
If your government had decided to install a national, open-access fiber-to-the-home network to 93 percent of all residents, if the installation was free, and if the fiber hookup had no effect on your existing phone or cable service and committed you to nothing... wouldn't you take it?
Not if you live in Tasmania, where the Australian government's ambitious new National Broadband Network is getting underway with its first fiber deployments. The government-created NBN Co. has the right to dig up streets and trench along rights-of-way, but to install that "last-mile" connection to a home or apartment it needs permission—and Tasmanians have been slow to offer it.
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Topics: Code, Productivity, Technology, blogs / podcasts | 1 Comment »
Use Excel to make a timeline
By Martin English | September 20, 2006
The Microsoft Education Center has a good step by step tutorial on how to make a timeline in Excel.
Whether you’re looking to make a somewhat involved chronological timeline, or just a simple from Point A to Point B kind of deal, this tutorial’s got you covered. Create a Timeline in Excel [Microsoft Education Center]
Topics: Productivity, Technology | No Comments »
