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.

Bosses in love with claptrap and blinded by ideologies Bosses in love with claptrap and blinded by ideologies

Amazon link – no referrer code !!

Topics: People, Productivity, blogs / podcasts | No Comments »

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.

1. Install plugin.
2. 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…

1. Install plugin.
2. Choose which page to be the home page.
3. 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.

1. P2P investigations now illegal in Switzerland -

   Switzerland, a longtime haven for all kinds of financial shenanigans, has just expanded its reputation for "discretion" to cover file-sharing as well. That's the conclusion of Logistep AG, anyway, as a Swiss court has just gutted its P2P surveillance business with a ruling that says gathering even publicly-available information is illegal.

   Logistep has operated in Switzerland since 2004, doing what all of these firms do: trolling BitTorrent sites for movies, music, or software, then connecting to swarms and logging the information of everyone offering the file. Bits of the file are downloaded as proof that these aren't simply "mistitled" files, and information like IP address, file hash value, and time of day are recorded in a giant spreadsheet. Content providers who rely on Logistep can take this information and submit it to local courts, seeking to identify and then sue individual file-swappers.

   

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2. Android usage to surpass BlackBerry, iOS by year end -

   Android is on its way to taking the silver medal in mobile market share worldwide, and gold in North America—as long as the platform maintains its currently strong growth numbers. According to market research firm Gartner, the mobile world will be dominated by Symbian and Android devices by 2014, with RIM's BlackBerry and Apple's iOS projected to come in third and fourth place, respectively.

   Symbian will maintain its market dominance thanks to Nokia's sheer sales volume, while Android will outpace the rest of the competition because of the impending launch of "many new budget Android devices" by the end of 2010 that will help the OS get into the mass market. "Other players, such as Sony Ericsson, LG and Motorola, will follow a similar strategy. This trend should help Android become the top OS in North America by the end of 2010," wrote Gartner.

   

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3. Feature: Ars reviews the 6th-generation iPod nano: all screen, all the time -

   The sixth-generation iPod nano's design marks the largest divergence from the nano line since the device was introduced in 2005. The new device is also the first iPod nano to have a touchscreen interface, and the last iPod with a screen to get a touchscreen interface (not counting the languishing iPod classic, as that would just turn it into an iPod touch). As of now, the nano no longer has the telltale circular click wheel that helped to make the iPod so iconic.

   However, the new iPod nano differs from its touchscreen iDevice brethren in that it doesn't run iOS, or at least not a version of iOS that any of us are familiar with so far. In reality, the sixth-generation nano is kind of a mutant—a cross between the old iPod and the new, where you can move things around with your finger but can still only play music and perform a few other functions. What to make of this electronic chimera?

   

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4. Hands on with VLC Movie-Player for iPad -

   

   

   We know that the iPad is (mostly) great for video playback, as long as you can be bothered to convert it to the right format or buy your movies and TV shows from Apple. But what if there were a way to play not just H.264 MP4 files with AAC audio (yes, the Apple spec is pretty specific), but to play any file? Thanks to VLC for the iPad, there is.

   VLC is a port of the popular and excellent desktop application. The open-source project is famous for playing video files that will kill lesser applications, and it is set to make its iPad debut early next week. Romain Goyet, the CTO of the developer behind the app—Applidium—was kind enough to send the final version to me for testing.

   

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5. God of War: Ghost of Sparta demo is more of the same, wonderful -

   As the demo for God of War: Ghost of Sparta on the PSP begins, you're on a ship sailing toward Atlantis. You fight on the boat, you land, and you fight on the land. It gives you a feel for the new weapons—a spear and a shield—as well as the new attack, a charging move that lets you pick up and throw down an enemy to punish him on the ground. It looks stunning on the PSP, with water effects and a steady frame rate. The problem is... well, haven't we seen all this before?

   Yes, you fight an epic boss across a series of confrontations, and at one point you drag a stone to a pressure-sensitive switch to open the way forward. There are quick-time events, some enemies are more powerful than others, and you can of course kill those in very violent ways. There are also hidden red orbs to find, if you don't mind doing a little exploring.

   

   The demo only lasted about 20 minutes or so, and you can play it now if you're a PlayStation Plus subscriber, but you honestly already know what you'll find. That's not a terrible thing—if the game was on store shelves this afternoon I'd head to the store and pick it up. The God of War games have a very specific formula to them, and this does very little to break out of it, at least in the section shown here.

   We need to get rid of the usual demo and video dog-and-pony show of showing a boss, having  the character and the boss run at each other, and then the demo is over and we're told to buy or wait for the full game. Seriously.

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6. Nyko's Wand+ Wiimote brings the Motion+ without the + -

   Nyko's Wand+ controller isn't reinventing the wheel, it's simply doing what the wheel does for a little less money and without two pieces. In fact... let's get away from this metaphor before I hurt myself.

   The Wand+ is Nyko's take on the Wiimote, albeit with the Motion Plus technology built-in. There is no dongle, there is no extension on the controller—it's just one standard-sized Wiimote that does everything the Motion Plus does. We tested the controller by playing Wii Sports Resort and it worked flawlessly, just as well as the official controllers. Isn't that the mark of greatness when it comes to third-party accessories? Even after switching back and forth between the Wand+ and the first-party controller we couldn't feel a difference in accuracy or responsiveness.

   

   It does feature a few design eccentricities: the power button is now on the right hand side of the controller, the A-button is square and a little larger, and the plastic has a smoother feel than the standard controller. To my hand all these things are actually advantages over the official controller, but that's more preference than fact. This is simply a comfortable, attractive Wiimote.

   At $39.99 MSRP it's even $10 cheaper than the standard Wiimote with a Motion Plus dongle at most retailers. If you're tired of losing your Motion Plus attachment, or you don't like the added length of the dongle, this is a good alternative. It's neither flashy nor an amazing leap forward. It simply does everything as advertised. There's nothing wrong with that.

   Verdict: Buy

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7. Meet your next 'Net? Academics rethink the Internet's guts -

   Judging by the National Science Foundation's latest grants for Internet development, our universities are packed with scientists who think that the 'Net is woefully unprepared for the future, and are anxious to tackle the problem. In fact, these people can't wait to untether cyberspace from its current rules and architectures.

   Take, for example, Professor Lixia Zhang of the University of California at Los Angeles. She started out driving a tractor on a farm in Northern China, then got to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the early 1980s. Now she studies the Internet Protocol at UCLA, where she questions whether IP will carry the Internet to where it needs to go in the coming years.

   "Users and applications operate in terms of content, making it increasingly limiting and difficult to conform to IP's requirement to communicate by discovering and specifying location," Dr. Zhang's NSF award statement explains. It's time to get past IP's host/location based assumptions with a new Internet architecture that she calls Named Data Networking (NDN).

   

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8. Xbox 360 wins horrid August, Madden dominates software -

   The gaming industry had its worst August in the US since 1996 this year, but Microsoft has much to be proud of, with both the best-selling hardware and software. That's not to say the PlayStation 3 is in bad shape, as NPD Analyst Anita Frazier points the PS3 "has now enjoyed 13 consecutive months of year-over year hardware sales increases and that momentum is reflected in the content and accessories categories as well."

   Let's take a look at the hardware sales:

   

   Data source: NPD Group