Where was the discussion of Javas total dominance in application servers right now (perhaps.Net will make a dent, but it remains to be seen).
Java and.Net are buried under the web server scripting systems PHP/ASP/XSL. The "application server" is typically a DBMS with Apache+scripting playing at middleware. HTTP requests become a kind of RPC (SOAP not required). Maybe your script calls into some large C applications like sendmail. Web scripting systems don't have the hype of Java and.Net, but they're easy to setup, easy to learn/use and are widely deployed.
ASP,JSP,ChiliASP,ColdFusion... Anyone with experience in writing script based web applications knows that it is a nightmare.
Its no worse than unplanned C/C++/Java code. Planning (aka software design), not language, is the key to maintainability and debuggability.
I build and maintain script-based websites written PHP, which has no debugger worthy of the term. A day or two (or three or more) of software design before writing code keeps them manageable. And review the design before patching.
In a web-scripting environment, the IDEs just get in the way. You really need a debuggable browser (broken HTML, client JS), a debuggable webserver (what was POSTed, list ALL files accessed while handling the POST), and perhaps a debuggable database. Nothing like it exists for web developers (why not? Client -Server developers have had it for years-- instrumented protocol libraries, thread-safe tracing, multi-process logging).
Compare the church in His Dark Materials (HDM) trilogy to the pedophile priests in Boston.
I had just finished reading The Golden Compass and started the Subtle Knife when the first pedophile priests were dragged out on the Boston Globe. The juxtaposition of the events of The Golden Compass with the behavior of these priests was Spooky. Example: Boys trapped by priests on camping trips vs church agents kidnapping boys and girls, taking them to Bolvangar...
The scandal expanded as I progressed through the Subtle Knife and Pullman fleshed out his anti-religion theme. Somewhere in the second half of the book the reader learns that the subtle knife must be delivered to Asriel so he can defeat The Authority. Consider the Subtle Knife as the Sword of Justice striking at the church...
Now I am near the end of the Amber spyglass-- The Authority has died-- and bishops are facing criminal charges.
Prophecy!? No, but Quite the coincidence. If you are not reading HDM trilogy now, I recommend you wait a few months before doing so. At this particular time, it is rather disturbing.
See the end of this article for an overview of the scandal.
I have a Dell Poweredge, a Digital Prioris, and 2 Macs (G3 and G4 towers). In each of these machines, the idle-but-spinning hard disks make more noise than the fans. This is with no reading/writing. Also, disks seem to become noiser with age.
If your machine has (decent) power management, wait for your harddisk to go to sleep and hear how much quieter your machine is.
You will never touch Emacs again after you have experienced BBEdit. It is the best $84 I ever spent.
BBEdit does a good job with HTML, PHP, and Javascript all on the same page, recognizing their various keywords and escape chars. It includes a command shell similar to Emacs' shell buffer.
You can pack alot of communications gear into a 10cm cube. Provide propulsion with ion engines. With ~16 of these cubes, you could cover most of earth. Run your own spy network. Put harddisks on them and run GNUtella over the amature satellite band. With 64+ you can be a force in the satellite communications industry (beware the FCC). Cost: 64*50K = $3,200,000. Add 10 million more for R & D and ground stations. Everyone else in satellite communications paid billions and must charge high prices to get any ROI.
Those persons afraid of 'space junk' give Nerds a bad name. People on the ground are more likely to be hit by a meteor than by space junk. The dangerous (to spacecraft) junk is the stuff too small to detect on radar. Larger objects (such as the cube) can be detected and either avoided, deflected or destroyed as needed. See http://www.spaceviews.com/2000/08/20a.html for NASA's answer to space junk. I'm sure you can come up with something better, and mount it in a 10cm cube.
After building your cube empire in space, send up a 2 KW laser and carve your initials on the ISS!
No it is not. Getting a patent costs next to nothing (more time than money). Having several patents looks good to investors.
The main use of patents is not to get royalties, but to shut down competitors via injunction and protect a monopoly. Injunctive relief can be obtained before a trial begins, then delay tactics further bleed the defendent.
Defending against even the sillliest patent claim takes a lot of lawyer time. You may also lose customers who are concerned about your business' future. How much money was spent litigating the Festo case? Maybe Yahoo can afford it, but can you?
One finds interesting legalese about IP law when searching Google for "Federal Circuit opinion Festo". Does Google have enough money to beat off Altavista yet?
Slashdot Mirror
Java and
ASP,JSP,ChiliASP,ColdFusion... Anyone with experience in writing script based web applications knows that it is a nightmare.
Its no worse than unplanned C/C++/Java code. Planning (aka software design), not language, is the key to maintainability and debuggability.
I build and maintain script-based websites written PHP, which has no debugger worthy of the term. A day or two (or three or more) of software design before writing code keeps them manageable. And review the design before patching.
In a web-scripting environment, the IDEs just get in the way. You really need a debuggable browser (broken HTML, client JS), a debuggable webserver (what was POSTed, list ALL files accessed while handling the POST), and perhaps a debuggable database. Nothing like it exists for web developers (why not? Client -Server developers have had it for years-- instrumented protocol libraries, thread-safe tracing, multi-process logging).
Compare the church in His Dark Materials (HDM) trilogy to the pedophile priests in Boston.
I had just finished reading The Golden Compass and started the Subtle Knife when the first pedophile priests were dragged out on the Boston Globe. The juxtaposition of the events of The Golden Compass with the behavior of these priests was Spooky. Example: Boys trapped by priests on camping trips vs church agents kidnapping boys and girls, taking them to Bolvangar...
The scandal expanded as I progressed through the Subtle Knife and Pullman fleshed out his anti-religion theme. Somewhere in the second half of the book the reader learns that the subtle knife must be delivered to Asriel so he can defeat The Authority. Consider the Subtle Knife as the Sword of Justice striking at the church...
Now I am near the end of the Amber spyglass-- The Authority has died-- and bishops are facing criminal charges.
Prophecy!? No, but Quite the coincidence. If you are not reading HDM trilogy now, I recommend you wait a few months before doing so. At this particular time, it is rather disturbing.
See the end of this article for an overview of the scandal.
I have a Dell Poweredge, a Digital Prioris, and 2 Macs (G3 and G4 towers). In each of these machines, the idle-but-spinning hard disks make more noise than the fans. This is with no reading/writing. Also, disks seem to become noiser with age.
If your machine has (decent) power management, wait for your harddisk to go to sleep and hear how much quieter your machine is.
BBEdit 6.5 on MacOS X with Apache, PHP, MySQL.
You will never touch Emacs again after you have experienced BBEdit. It is the best $84 I ever spent.
BBEdit does a good job with HTML, PHP, and Javascript all on the same page, recognizing their various keywords and escape chars. It includes a command shell similar to Emacs' shell buffer.
You can pack alot of communications gear into a 10cm cube. Provide propulsion with ion engines. With ~16 of these cubes, you could cover most of earth. Run your own spy network. Put harddisks on them and run GNUtella over the amature satellite band. With 64+ you can be a force in the satellite communications industry (beware the FCC). Cost: 64*50K = $3,200,000. Add 10 million more for R & D and ground stations. Everyone else in satellite communications paid billions and must charge high prices to get any ROI.
Those persons afraid of 'space junk' give Nerds a bad name. People on the ground are more likely to be hit by a meteor than by space junk. The dangerous (to spacecraft) junk is the stuff too small to detect on radar. Larger objects (such as the cube) can be detected and either avoided, deflected or destroyed as needed. See http://www.spaceviews.com/2000/08/20a.html for NASA's answer to space junk. I'm sure you can come up with something better, and mount it in a 10cm cube.
After building your cube empire in space, send up a 2 KW laser and carve your initials on the ISS!
No it is not. Getting a patent costs next to nothing (more time than money). Having several patents looks good to investors.
The main use of patents is not to get royalties, but to shut down competitors via injunction and protect a monopoly. Injunctive relief can be obtained before a trial begins, then delay tactics further bleed the defendent.
Defending against even the sillliest patent claim takes a lot of lawyer time. You may also lose customers who are concerned about your business' future. How much money was spent litigating the Festo case? Maybe Yahoo can afford it, but can you?
One finds interesting legalese about IP law when searching Google for "Federal Circuit opinion Festo". Does Google have enough money to beat off Altavista yet?