thoughts.on.code

Tonight I was reminded of McCarthyism as I read yet another post by James McGovern, “Thought Leader“.   The inconsequential “facts” that “must” be proven, the distortion of other’s views, the belaboring of an issue, well past it’s expiration, the  fear of losing control.

We as a Ruby community have been hoodwinked into listening to this guy, and trying to explain to him what the problems are with his argument (or lack thereof).  We should have just ignored him.
We know that Ruby will make it into the larger Enterprise.  We know that there is a ground-swell and for once,  technology and innovation is being pushed by the developers, not the spec writers who work for the IT giants.  It will happen.
Will this happen immediately? No.  Soon? yeah, probably.

Will it be a complete domination? Not likely.  Java is just now becoming COBOL.  And, Ruby is not “backed” by the Big Dogs, nor will it see much in that regards.  But, with the right combination of killer architectural solution (DSL’s maybe?) and continued ground-swell, we could see that happen.
And this is the type of FUD we can expect.  Don’t forget the FUD about Java when it started it’s rise against C++ and VB.  Just back then we didn’t have an “early hater” to associate with it.

Today was the first day of the Greater Nebraska Software Symposium, a.k.a. NoFluffJustStuff.
So far it has been a huge success. Everyone I have talked to said that they were very impressed with the material covered and the speakers.  As for me, I am just glad that we were able to get such a great conference in my town.  Hopefully this will become an annual must-be-there type event for the developer community.

Thanks to everyone in the Java Users Group for getting the word out, and attending! I saw a lot of familiar faces today as I helped with registration, but what made me happier was the large number of new faces.  As a board member in the local JUG (OJUG), I see this as a great opportunity to grow the group.

Here’s the scenario: Big Weekend planned. in-laws coming for a visit.  Pizza’s Ordered. Pizza’s Consumed.  Fast Forward about 20 hours - every one who ate the pepperoni pizza is  sick and wishing for a swift end ot their miserable plight. Myself included.

But it gets worse.  What happens when you get sick?  For me, I usually curl up in a ball, drowning in a sea of comforters, and wish for sleep to overtake me, or death, or anything that could relieve the discomfort.  What do I not do?  Check my RSS feeds.  Now I’m 235 entries in the hole, after just getting back to 0. 

This is my current state:

Work:
Windows XP, Enterprise Java Development using MyEclipse, Spring, and Hibernate.

Home:
Laptop:  Dual boot with Ubuntu linux and Windows XP Home, Rails Development using RadRails, Java development using MyEclipse.  All dev work happens on Linux. The only reason for Windows right now is as a test platform, and because I haven’t gotten a VMWare instance created yet, and have not gotten iTunes to work under Wine.
   Desktop: OpenSuse 10.0.  Painful, slow (its a 400mhz Celeron on its last legs). My wife uses it for Solitare and paying bills.  I plan to replace this with a Mac Mini before to long
   Server: Fedora Core 3.  I will probably switch this over to Ubuntu at some point… It has another OS partition on it that has not been used in over a year, and the CMOS does not stay.  Needs a good cleaning and a new Mobo.

Web:
   Blog: I use Wordpress for pretty much all of my blogging needs. It works extremely well. I’ve thought about switching to Typo a few times, but have not been successful with getting it installed on my hosting provider (which I am sure is all my fault).
   Current Projects: I am focusing all of my efforts in Rails.

What do you use?

I’m not talking about the HTTP GET problem… that has been well described and has a number of solutions.   I’m talking more about the disruptive nature of the web applications being developed and pushed out, with new things coming out every day.

Now, I am just was just as awe inpired with Google Maps as the next person, and too am still developing with and researching the use of AJAX in numerous applications, some for my current client, and some for my side projects.  I really like the useability and intuitiveness that is enabled by only a few web technologies, such as Flex, OpenLazlo, Flash, and last and probably most easily attained AJAX.
No, I am more concerned about the implications of having these technologies hosted for me.  Should I trust Writely?  or ajaxWrite?  Why? I realize that both of these, and most other AJAX apps allow you to store the data on your computer, but at some point, it is on the Web.  Whats that you say? Google bought Writely, and they believe in “do no evil“?  Well, maybe so, but I am beginning to think of Google like it is the Microsoft of the Intar-web. My guess is Google will have a Web-Office solution before Microsoft’s next Office release, though the quality of said solution will most likely be the most liberal use of word “Beta” we have seen since Google Finance.
In reality, I will probably use these tools more than the average web user.  But it begs an interesting question that has really been around since PCs became mainstream:  Do we trust our software providers?  I am a developer, and I used to feel comfortable with software, but as I become more versed in what “business” seems to mean in this Enron and WorldCom informed world, I have started to question wether that is a good idea or not.

I think the best way to look at it is this:  if you feel that the content of what you are putting into these applications is something you would not want to be seen by others without your knowledge, then do not use them.  Keep using your local software.  And if you are severly paranoid, unplug from the ‘Net and hide in your tinfoil-wallpapered closet.
Of course, this advice (if you can call it that) can be used in relation to any web technology.  The specific problem with AJAX enabled apps is that they pushing what can be done further than ever before.
And hopefully next week I can introduce you to my latest AJAX-inspired application.  But a word of warning: it will be Beta!