Weblog by month (January 2004)
That’s rich
Today I spent some time testing the latest version of one of our big internal applications. It was interesting (to a point... who likes testing?!?) for me, because I did some work on v1.00 of this app a few years back, both here and in Dallas. Something suddenly clicked as I was playing with the system: this new-fangled rich client we’ve all been banging on about is going to be a God-send for applications like the one I was testing. Why? Because the Eclipse foundation for the client means we get a proper API for our user interfaces At long last!
Two to three years ago, when I was involved in coding the Big Thing, we had no end of trouble getting the UI to do what we wanted. Notes 5.0.5 was never that co-operative to start with, and the front-end control one has over nested framesets, views and documents — even now in 6.5 — isn’t too great. So, here’s to hoping that the rich client changes that forever, assuming it has the full functionality of the current Notes client.
That would be splendid.
Whoops
Another home run for Eisner:
Disney loses top cartoon deal.
BEA WebLogic on OS X
Strewth! Rod Chavez has posted a how-to regarding running WebLogic 8.1 on Panther. This is based on work by his BEA colleague, Sam Pullara. Splendid effort. Read the comments against the article to see how you can get WorkShop running too. The developer license for WebLogic allows developer / evaluation use for one year, so long as the server doesn’t go into production, obviously.
Now that’s one in the eye for IBM...
Good grief
OK, so I’m no word-smith; the way I express thoughts and ideas could bear considerable improvement. But when you’re one of the most powerful individuals on the planet, and have a staff devoted to writing your speeches, this sort of thing is unforgivable:
I laid out the other night a jobs for the 21st century program. A part of that is to make sure there’s additional money to help junior high and high school students who have been just simply shuffled through the system. And that’s what’s happened, as you know. If you want to be blunt about what has taken place, sometimes when you don’t measure, you just shuffle kids through. Then you wake up at the high school level and find out that the illiteracy level of our children are appalling. I expect you, as mayors, to challenge the soft bigotry of low expectations. I challenge you to keep raising that bar and standards...
Taken from this transcript over at the Whitehouse website. Via Erik Barzeski.
Stuff
Well, amidst all the excitement about rich clients, Notes 7 / 8, and wot-not, I had some additional excitement: Nick Beggs has a new CD out, featuring solo Stick recitals recorded over the last year. He did it all on his new OS X set-up using the excellent Logic. The CD sounds fantastic as a result, and comes highly recommended! You can find out how to order from this page (scroll down a bit) on his site — there’s also a download link for one of the tracks on the album, “Willow”.
Incidentally, the cover art dates back to a portrait painted in 1988 by some guy called Ronnie Wood.
Never ’eard of him.
Echo and bounce
God it’s quiet out there. Where is everybody?
Update: the new rich client looks whizzy. Can’t wait to get my mucky maulers on that one. Check out Julian’s post for more.
20 years ago
Wow. The Mac is 20 today. Cool.
Back in the early 1990s, my interest in trying to get a hold of a Mac Classic (System 7 was very big then) revitalised my whole interest in computers. This interest, some 13 years later, has not waned. Sure, I use a PC at work every day, but it’s the Mac that makes this all so... pleasurable. So, happy birthday to the Macintosh!
Update: MacWorld exclusive: Steve Jobs on the Mac’s 20th Anniversary.
Congrats to John Gruber!
Ah, first time dads eh? :-) My congratulations to John Gruber on the birth of his son.
Your day has gone
I don’t normally link to Flash games and the like, but this one is too addictive not to mention. Wave goodbye to your productivity!
What a bummer
I use CD-WOW! quite a lot, simply because they (used to) sell chart CDs for £8.99 or less — significantly cheaper (especially as that includes postage) than anyone else. But no, the BPI have to “pull an RIAA” by spoiling our fun: they have reached an out-of-court settlement with the online retailer, the end result being that CD-WOW!’s CDs go up by £2. Bah. They were such a great resource for cash-strapped dads like me
BBC: CD settlement forces prices up.
Hear, hear!
Kathy Sierra asks, “What’s so bad about making it easier to learn Java?” She puts forward some excellent points about CS snobbery and vice versa. Check it out. As for the chumps who rail against “dumbing-down”:
I was talking with author Dori Smith recently, and it turns out we both experienced a similar phenomenon: angry email and online posts about how we were making it too easy to learn Java. But is that really such a terrible thing?
... Well, shame on them. It’s so pathetic egotistical toss-pots like this exist. Thank God for the more enlightened like Kathy, Bert Bates, Simon Phipps, and many others.
Update: This topic, albeit tangentially, is also one of the subjects of discussion over at Ed’s site. Yes, the same post I linked-to before. Chortle.
.NET and Domino
Another piece on Notes at eWeek: Microsoft Zeros In on Lotus:
“It’s hard to understand Java without a computer science background. But Notes developers come from business departments, not computer science or IS departments,” Devendorf said.
Mmmf! Hey! I’m doing OK with Java! Heh heh. Well, ludicrous generalisations aside, I can see where Gary’s coming from, and in many ways .NET does make for a good fit with Domino. I’d be surprised if IBM put up heavy resistance to this given that (hopefully) the IT world is moving away from the either / or approach to .NET and Java-based platforms.
Isn’t it?
Update: This article is also the subject of discussion over at Ed’s site.
Some books
I’ve had a good run of books lately, and I think I will share them with you... Ten years ago, I went to university in America for a bit, and whilst there discovered the joys of Dave Barry’s syndicated newspaper column — very entertaining (the chap now has, inevitably, a weblog). Dave wrote his first novel a few years back, and I recommend it. Big Trouble is funny, but Barry reigns in the laughs a little bit in favour of crafting a most entertaining thriller vaguely in the mould of Elmore Leonard.
Now, obligatory tech mention. Would you believe, I’m still working through Head First Java. Ha ha! What can I say, I take my time. Work keeps getting in the way of just sitting down and reading this book. But I’m still really enjoying it, and hope to move on to Head First EJB Certification soon.
FInally, I’ve also read a couple of novels by Dan Brown entitled Deception Point and Angels And Demons respectively. They’re both excellent, well-researched, well-written and... exciting, especially the latter.
The End.
Muh
I can’t believe SearchDomino.com beats me with three stars versus two...
Knowledge Horizons: Code Central
Quick note chaps: drop the “brick look” — it’s very 1994
My name is...
... Ben, and I’m a coffee bigot. This cartoon encapsulates Starwank, and all the other shite coffee franchises, for me. Sorry.
