Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Opportunities for MDA Plug-Ins

MDA is a useful concept for software development. The process begins with requirements, which is the CIM. From the CIM, analysts create a Marking Model and execute a transformation for producing a PIM. Designers then create another Marking Model and execute a transformation for producing a PSM. Language platform bindings then provide input for a transformation to generate application code for execution.

The models should be created using a tool which also provides APIs for extension.

Tool plug-ins should be created to take advantage of the MDA standards for model to model transformation.

The following make good plug-ins transformation candidates which exist for (PIM->PSM and PSM->Implementation):
  • Behavior
  • UI workflow
  • Persistence Mapping
  • Security
  • Event Service Mapping
  • Deployment
  • Transaction Mapping
  • Scheduling
  • Service Orchestration

Friday, March 25, 2005

Adobe re-discovers Linux with Reader 7

"While still not officially listed in Adobe's download page, you can get Adobe Reader 7.0 for Linux from the company's FTP server."

"A link is included at the end of this article for the impatient. I took advantage of this opportunity to get rid of the ugly Acrobat Reader 5.0.9 for Linux, which is included in several Linux distros including my current distro of choice, JDS..."

Click here for the full story on The Inquirer.

Saturday, March 19, 2005

Check out the NetBeans Java IDE

I must say that the NetBeans 4.1 beta (with Java 5 update 2) is quite impressive.

Besides the fact that the GUI is slick and responsive, the project configuration is more forgiving than previous attempts (namely Eclipse).

I like the options that NetBeans affords in setting up the projects. Specifically, how the user is allowed to specify mutliple locations for src and unit test directories.

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Firefox has the momentum

This article demonstrates that Firefox has momentum for adoption in the marketplace. Consider the fact that this software is impacting the decisions made at Microsoft.

Yahoo pledges full Firefox compatibility

While the official Yahoo statement has been watered down, Firefox is still getting a significant amount of attention in the marketplace.

Correction: Yahoo waters down Firefox pledge



Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Interview: Ken King on the state of grid computing

During the GlobusWORLD conference in Boston, developerWorks, together with writer Hal Hensley, had an opportunity to sit down with Ken King, vice president of IBM Grid computing. The discussion in the link, below, regards the state of grid computing and IBM's current activities, positions, and ideas on this front.

Click here for article.

Friday, March 04, 2005

Firefox Extensions

Here are some Firefox plugins that a friend of mine recently brought to my attention. Very cool.

Stumbleupon
StumbleUpon lets you "channelsurf" the best-reviewed sites on the web. It is a collaborative surfing tool for browsing, reviewing and sharing great sites with like-minded people. This helps you find interesting webpages you wouldn't think to search for.

Flashblock
Replaces Flash objects with a button you can click to view them.

Image Show-Hide
Adds an icon to toolbar. By clicking this button (Or "Shift+B" shortcut) you can simply turn on|off images on all web-pages and (optional) autoreload current page!

Monday, February 28, 2005

Screencast with Google Maps

This screencast is a five-minute walking tour of Keene, NH, courtesy of Google Maps.

Sunday, February 27, 2005

Mozilla's browsers global usage share is 8.45 percent according to OneStat.com

OneStat today reported that Mozilla's browsers have a total global usage share of 8.45%. The total usage share of Mozilla increased more than 1 percent since Novermber 2004.

This is significant because this also means Internet Explorer is reducing in market share now standing at 87.28%

Saturday, February 19, 2005

Learning UML 2.0 and Model Driven Architecture

These articles and presentations serve to communicate the concepts found in UML 2.0 and Model Driven Architecutre (MDA).

UML 2.0

Lamri.com UML Seminar slides
These slides will give you a high level view of UML 2.0.

Allen Holub's UML Reference
Quick reference quide for UML based on the UML 2.0 Superstructure document from OMG.

Introduction to UML 2
A slide presentation for quickly grasping the changes in UML 2.0

Model Driven Architecture (MDA)
MDA is an approach to system development, which increases the power of models in that work. It is model-driven because it provides a means for using models to direct the course of understanding, design, construction, deployment, operation, maintenance and modification. - MDA Guide, OMG

Model Driven Architecure
Slide presentation by Krzysztof Czarnecki, University of Waterloo

Why Model Driven Development
A good basic introduction to MDA by Marc J. Balcer of ModelCompilers.com.

Executable and Translatable UML
A translationalists view of MDA. "because elaboration is stupid!" -Leon Starr

MDA Guide
Introduction to MDA from the OMG

Books
The Object Primer
Teaches about agile development concepts and techniques with UML 2.0, Agile Model Driven Development (AMDD), Full Lifecycle Object Oriented Testing (FLOOT), etc...

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Open Source Radio Show

LugRadio is four Linux fans - Jono Bacon, Stuart Langridge, Ade Bradshaw and Matthew Revell - talking about the world of free and open source software. From the more serious, to the entirely frivolous, this is internet radio by and for ordinary Linux users, who can laugh at themselves.

Thursday, February 10, 2005

Silicon Insider: R.I.P. Microsoft?

I have spoken with many about the impending demise of the giant behemouth, Microsoft. They, being the analysts, typically point to Microsoft's enormous pot of cash, claiming they have the money if they need to remake themselves. However, in his treatise, Malone argues Microsoft may have to die in order to be reborn.

Click here for the story.

Yahoo Tests Toolbar for Firefox Browser

"Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) said late on Wednesday it has released a test version of its toolbar for the Mozilla Firefox Web browser."

Press Release.

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

Google's New Map Service

Google's new map service is one of the best I have seen.

Notice the scrolling zoom on the left.

If you need a link to the address being displayed, for email and such, click on the link button in the top right.

Check it out at: http://maps.google.com


Monday, February 07, 2005

Aqua Data Studio - Cross Platform Database Tool

"Aqua Data Studio is a database query and administration tool that allows developers to easily create, edit, and execute SQL scripts, as well as browse and visually modify database structures. Aqua Data Studio provides an integrated database environment with a single consistent interface to all major relational databases. This allows the database administrator or developer to tackle multiple tasks simultaneously from one application."

It is about time a cross platform database tool came along. I believe this is a perfect example for where thick client Java development makes sense. Java abstracts the database well enough to atleast be able to execute the queries needed per database in runtime.

Plus, it is free for non-comercial use. Basically, until it is a worthwhile enterprise to invest in database development and maintenance, it is free.

Microsoft Recommends Firefox in Knowledgebase

For proof, just visit the following MSDN link.

If the link does not work, it is because Microsoft has removed the page. I thought of posting a screenshot, but I am not sure of the ramifications. Feel free to post comments.

Friday, February 04, 2005

Trial: Rational Application Developer for WebSphere Software V6.0

"Optimized for IBM WebSphere® software, and supporting multi-vendor runtime environments, IBM Rational® Application Developer for WebSphere Software is powered by the Eclipse open source platform so developers can adapt and extend their development environment to match their needs and increase their productivity." -- ibm.com

The RSA download includes Windows and Linux versions of the download.

Click here to download the trial.

Thursday, February 03, 2005

Clustering Eases Talk America's Replication Woes

"Talk America Holdings Inc., a phone and high-speed Internet access provider and an early adopter of Oracle Corp.'s 10g technology, has untangled itself from 50 Informix databases down to two Oracle databases running on an RAC cluster—a choice that's jazzed up its querying capabilities and helped it wipe its hands of a data replication mess."

For more on this article click here.

Another good article for learning more about Grid Computing. Click here for Grid Computing 101.

Sun's Grid Computing Solutions

In a nutshell, some of the problems solved by Grid Computing according to the Sun website are:
  • CPUs are not fully utilized across multiple projects within a department

  • Computing resources in one division are sitting idle while other divisions across the enterprise are experiencing high demand

  • Compute and application demands go way beyond the capabilities within a single organization or corporate firewall
For more, see Grid Computing at Sun

Tuesday, February 01, 2005

IBM Technical Journals

This is a great resource for access to high-end academic computing research.

IBM Technical Journals

This website, links the user to two different journals:

  • IBM Systems Journal
    This journal is a quarterly peer-reviewed technical publication. It features the work of computer systems and software engineers.

  • IBM Journal of Research and Development
    This is a bi-monthly peer-reviewed technical journal. Compared to the Systems Journal, it coveres more general fields of science, technology and information engineering.

Monday, January 31, 2005

A Middleware for Middleware

People of different languages need a translator to communicate. But sometimes, even people with the same language have a hard time communicating. For these challenging situations, people need a broker.

In the same way, disparate software systems need middleware to facilitate interoperablility and effective communication (i.e. getting IBM z/OS applications to talk to applications running on MS Windows). But now, organizations are adopting a variety of middleware standards, and throw in M&A (when multiple companies become one they often have different standards and interoperability issues), even middleware is challenged with interoperability.

Then there is this technology called Mule. Mule is an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) messaging framework. It can be thought of as a highly distributable object broker that can seamlessly handle interactions with other applications using disparate transport and messaging technologies.

Sunday, January 30, 2005

Grid Computing

Acording to Wikipedia, Grid Computing offers a model for solving massive computational problems using large numbers of computers arranged as clusters embedded in a distributed telecommunications infrastructure. Grid computing's focus on the ability to support computation across administrative domains sets it apart from traditional distributed computing.

Grid computing has the design goal of solving problems too big for any single supercomputer, whilst retaining the flexibility to work on multiple smaller problems. Thus grid computing provides a multi-user environment.

Another good resource for information on Grid Computing is the latest issue of the IBM Systems Journal. One nice feature of the SJ is that it provides both web and PDF versions of their publications.