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The make build tool was (and still is) very influential in the sphere of software development tools. Its influence is so powerful that even bad aspects of its design survive in the next generation of build tools. Many generations of developers grew up in the school of make. Like the frog in the slowly heating bowl, they got used to its quirks to the point of not feeling the pain anymore. But they shouldn't be too quick to conclude that make's way is the one and only way. The punishment is to miss the opportunity for significant improvement. [Comments are disabled]
Scripting languages are ubiquitous. They are used everywhere: in log parsing, triggering applications, or performing volatile operations which require frequent changes in logic. Shell script was one of the most popular languages through the end of 1980s. Then came Perl, which revolutionized the world of scripting. Later in the day, we have Python and Ruby, both pretty popular. In an organization having primarily Java skills, is it worthwhile to have your developers learn these languages? [Comments are disabled]
We all know about the benefits of digitally signing email messages using OpenPGP-based software like GnuPG (or its older commercial counterpart, PGP). Imagine the same benefits applied to the world of the World Wide Web. [Comments are disabled]
Web Service tools in Java are into their third generation now. Web services were introduced with the hype of a loosely coupled technology for inter-connecting disparate endpoint systems. But they are, in fact, suffering from their tight coupling based on the WSDL data specifications and data types. Most of the current tools offer quick solutions to expose existing code as web services, but none offer a simple, yet intuitive and full-featured client. [Comments are disabled]
Mirrors are extremely useful when used to their full potential -- but this rarely happens. There is nothing wrong with mirrors but the way that we use them. I want to make it so average users who don't (and shouldn't need to) know too many technical details can automatically make the best use of mirrors. [Comments are disabled]
Evolution is a slow process. Getting rid of old bad habits is never easy. This article is a critique of the Make build tool. I'll list its shortcomings this week and suggest a few more modern alternatives next week. [Comments are disabled]
A study of the productivity of software programmers shows the most talented coders to be over 100 times more efficient than the meanest. It is clear, however, that there is nowhere near a commensurate increase in pay. [Comments are disabled]
XP is a lightweight software process that values people and communication over processes and tools. It exploits the benefits of tight collaboration in an environment in which all stakeholders sit within talking distance of one another and work in pairs. Extreme programming works extremely well in delivering great software because, first, it is fun to do, and second, it eliminates fear, promotes collective code ownership, and encourages frequent small releases. In fact, it also values working code over detailed designs. It is quite amazing that the last three or four values are in fact values shared with the Free/Open Source movement (see "The Cathedral and the Bazaar"). [Comments are disabled]
This article looks at current NMS offerings and considers how and what would make a "real" NMS. [Comments are disabled]
Recently, I was approached by a company that was planning to release its core code into the Open Source community. Unfortunately, they didn't have a lot of experience with the Open Source community, nor did they have an understanding of what draws developers to work on a specific project. They were aware that word-of-mouth seemed to be the main method for building interest in the Open Source world, but they wanted some advice on how to get the word out in the first place. [Comments are disabled]
The usefulness of the Internet has been severely compromised by a proliferation of spam, worms, crackers, and viruses. The Internet has been stifled by harmful traffic (and its related expenses) which have increased to a now intolerable level. According to the U.N., UNTAD, Symantec, F-prot, MessageLabs, and several market analysts, the financial burden of dealing with harmful Internet traffic reached tens of billions of Euros this year. Next year will see this increase to hundreds of billions of Euros if the problems worsen as forecasts predict. What is destroying the Internet, and can its collapse be prevented? [Comments are disabled]
The purpose of this essay is to explain why I believe Perl 6, the way it currently seems to progress, is the wrong thing at the wrong time, and why I predict (with all the expected caveats of predicting something) that it won't be successful. I will also suggest a better alternative for the future of Perl which makes more sense at this point. [Comments are disabled]
There are many GUI components available which can be used to display vector graphics and animation. Most of them are dedicated to particular classes of vector images such as graphs, business diagrams, SVG images, geographic maps, technical drawings, and financial charts. Unfortunately, it is not yet always possible to find a suitable component for a particular application which satisfies price, licensing, scalability, performance, stability, feature availability, and other requirements. And if one wants to add vector-based visualization to an existing application, additional requirements of integration ability arise. [Comments are disabled]
Intrusion detection is one of the major challenges to information security. In this article, we will consider network intrusion detection, the analysis of network traffic for suspicious behavior. I base my argument on my experience with a popular network intrusion detection system (NIDS) and informal discussion with other network administrators. [Comments are disabled]
There is a fundamental sea change happening in the industry around us, a move away from prescriptive top-down mandates to implement a methodology to a developer-led "viral adoption" of Agile Practices. But exactly how widespread is this movement? [Comments are disabled]
The GNOME Desktop Environment is a dynamic, young project and full of expectations. I regret that mine are somewhat higher, though. [Comments are disabled]
Over the (fairly) recent past, software developers have been offered a plethora of panacean remedies that seek to address inherent inadequacies and observed problems in traditional software development methodologies. More often than not, however, they come bundled with their own variants of the said inadequacies and problems, and (at least as far as software developers are concerned) basically replace an old devil with a new. But not all do this. One particular credo that has seen some well-deserved success in this regard is Xtreme Programming. [Comments are disabled]
A new software hosting platform is available, and we are spreading the word. [Comments are disabled]
A comment on a bug I submitted recently spurred me to provide some feedback from an application user's perspective on bug reports. There are ways of responding to a bug report that encourage the types of responses that are helpful to developers, and there are ways of responding that only produce anger and frustration, without getting anything fixed. My hope is to encourage good communication between bug reporters and developers to enable better, quicker bugfixes. [Comments are disabled]
The history of software development is full of controversies. One of the oldest is the controversy about modular vs. monolithic software development. [Comments are disabled]
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