So Long Apple. The Party’s Over
JavaLobby.org has a pretty long thread on this recent blogosphere topic. Apple did not ship a Java 6 with Leopard. Everyone is up in arms. One of the questions I haven’t seen address anywhere is why it’s Apple’s job to spend time putting together a Java runtime for the Mac. Why is this the expectation? I really don’t know. Did Sun and Apple agree to some mechanism for Apple to build JVMs for the Mac? Didn’t Sun learn anything from the MS JVM situation many years ago? The path each party took may be different, but the net result is the same: current Java technology not running on a major platform to Sun’s specs and the community’s desires.
Perhaps with the openjdk project someone will be able to build a usable Java 6 for the Mac (although the openjdk project is only for Java 7 and onward, I think). I wrote a bit more on my initial Apple/Java reaction over here -> Choose Apple In the Enterprise – Get Screwed but I don’t think I asked the same question there as I’m asking here. Why doesn’t Sun spend the time making their tech work as they expect on all the major platforms? While we’re at it, why not a 64-bit browser plugin for applets? If they can’t even be bothered to do this, then completely remove applet support from future versions of the Java stack. I don’t think we’re moving away from 64 bit support in the future, so why keep clinging on to useless technology that Sun won’t update?
UPDATE – another great post on the subject over at ‘thinking in java‘.
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Tags: sun, java, jvm, java6, apple, leopard
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Upcoming Groovy recipes book from Scott Davis
Groovy and Grails give you the power of the Java platform together with the flexibility and dynamism of a scripting language. Pick one of the many example projects in this book: at first you’ll scratch your head and ask, “where’s all the code?” Then you’ll smile as you realize that Groovy allows you to write code the way you always thought you should. You will never look at Java the same way again.Groovy Recipes is targeted at the busy Java professional who needs quick solutions to everyday problems. Each recipe shows a concise code example right away. If you need more information, each recipe is explained in plain English.
Bookpool: Groovy Recipes: Greasing the Wheels of Java
I’m looking forward to this book – just placed my pre-order with bookpool.com. I’ll forget about it and then it’ll be a nice December surprise showing up one day at home, which will be nice! 
I’ve met Scott a couple of times, and he’s certainly got a great way of presenting in person. I trust the book will be just as good, if not better, than his in-person presentations. I don’t personally know Venkat Subramaniam, although I think he works locally to the RTP area. I know both Scott and Venkat were presenting on the nofluffjuststuff conference this summer, and having two big names collaborate on a ‘recipes-style’ book (one of my favorite styles of tech books!) I’m sure this will be a winner.
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Tags: groovy, book, scottdavis
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My Halloween costume
For Halloween this year, I’ve dressed up like I do every year – as a creature of habit. (whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo, insert other scary sounds here)
Whew, that camera phone is just … unflattering at best. I’m not giving it much material to work with, though, so I can’t blame Sony Ericsson 100% But given that it’s a Halloween photo, it’s supposed to be a little scary, right?
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Tags: halloween, costume, scary
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Microsoft Web Development Summit 2007
Ben Ramsey » Blog Archive » Microsoft Web Development Summit 2007
Ben’s part of a group of PHPers that have been invited to Microsoft to discuss PHP, MS, interoperability and other cool topics. He’s meeting with some bigwigs like Scott Guthrie, which means MS is serious about this topic. MS had a group of PHP people up back in 02 or 03, but I’m not sure it’s happened since. Good to see it happening, and that MS is being responsive to the needs of the PHP community. I guess they’d like more people moving from LAMP to WISP (Windows, IIS, SQLServer, PHP). Or would SPIW be a better acronym? 
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Tags: microsoft, php, benramsey, webdev
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Queen’s nephew Linley is the royal blackmail victim
A nephew of the Queen is being named as the victim in the Royal blackmail plot. His name is now being widely touted on the internet, including the authoritative Huffington Post, quoting the Radar publication.
Royal Anecdotes
My wife is really eating this stuff up. The name in question is supposedly David Linley, son of Princess Margaret. Apparently the UK press is not allowed to name the victim of the blackmailing effort, because of his status as a member of the royal family. My wife and her friend spent most of yesterday trying to figure out who it was. Even this morning, while the blackmailers have been arrested, there’s precious little in the search engines (yet) about this unfolding drama. I figured I’d post it here as well to help spread the word.
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Tags: royal, blackmail, queen, uk, england, scandal, lindley
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Client input in the web dev process
Clients hire web developers (or their firms) because we are the experts. When I call someone in to fix my air conditioner I don’t let them work for awhile and then tell them they are doing their job wrong and I know the problem is the compressor. They are the expert, not me. When a client tells me the layout is unusable, the typography is wrong, the form isn’t styled properly, or [insert common client complaint here] I simply want to say – “Why don’t you do it?”.
» 5 Reasons it Sucks to be a Web Developer | Get A New Browser
I came across this post today (via wayne-sutton.com, an area blogger). The point above (#4) really hit home, and yet I have conflicting views on it. Primarily, the comparison to an AC repairman, while not necessarily wrong, is limiting. In some cases, when doing web dev work, you’re mostly working on mechanical stuff, and the comparison is apt.
However, when doing other work – the front-facing stuff, that’s generally when clients will throw in more feedback. At that point, the AC repairman analogy breaks down. You’re now more analogous to an architect, or interior designer, or maybe even just a cleaner. The input – “change these colors, move this around, etc.” is valid. They’re telling you how to do your job because that’s what they’re paying you to do.
I’ve had very few clients debate the finer points of natural vs artificial primary keys. I’ve had plenty chime in with ideas about the functionality they’d like to have, either backend or frontend.
I’m going to tag this as ‘refreshthetriangle’ and perhaps our local Refresh group (“Refresh the Triangle!”) may throw their 2 cents in…
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Tags: refreshthetriangle, webdev, clients
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FEMA sorry for fake news briefing — chicagotribune.com
In the briefing, parts of which were televised live by cable news channels, Johnson stood behind a lectern, called on questioners who did not disclose that they were FEMA employees, and gave replies emphasizing that his agency’s response to this week’s California wildfires was far better than its response to Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.
FEMA sorry for fake news briefing — chicagotribune.com
Where has the character in our government officials gone? I realize this can be considered an ‘isolated incident’, and I’m sure there are many good, honest and hard-working people working in our federal government. But really – faking a news conference? This is just sickening. What other conferences have been faked? Is this really the only one?
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Tags: government
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Refresh The Triangle first meeting
I just got back from our new Refresh* meeting (“Refresh The Triangle”) – http://refreshthetriangle.org/. This was held at Viget Labs, and they were the initial organizers. We had a stab at a Refresh group a year ago, but it didn’t get off the ground. There were something like 30 people at tonight’s meeting, which was great. The always insightful Jackson Fox presented “Building User-Centered Web Apps in a Crunch”, with some good ideas on how to do user testing without breaking the bank or the project deadlines. Thanks Jackson!
Also, I got a chance to demo my new MatchOrClash site to Peyton Crump, Viget’s Director of Interactive Design, and he had some great ideas and feedback. If any of you readers are interested in playing with the demo, email me and I’ll send you a full URL to take a look at the work in progress.
* The Refresh idea is explained in more detail at their main site, which is also a directory of other Refresh meetings around the world.
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Raleigh web job market
If you’re in the Raleigh area and are looking for a job in the web development market, give me a holler – I’ve had recruiters calling night and day. AND they’re not all calling with the same position. That used to happen once in a while – I’d have calls from three recruiters that were all trying to fill the same position. You could tell – easily – by the wording of the position description.
“Night and day” is a slight exaggeration, but I’ve had more contacts in the past 3 months than the previous 6 before that. Talking with both recruiters and employers directly, there seems to be at least an overall *slight* shortage of good qualified workers in the area. There may be a bigger shortage of people in certain areas, and less in others, but on the whole it seems there’s more work than workers right now. I have info on people who need LAMP/PHP, Java and .Net people for either full time, contract or part time work.
I don’t know if there’s just an issue with fiscal years rolling over and new budgets happening, or if there’s some other explanation, but I’ve noticed a very large amount of activity going on here. I just hope the positions get filled, because long term, if not, that would mean employers would look elsewhere to set up shop, expand and hire.
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MySQL using two timestamps for created/updated values
I’ve seen this on and off for years, but never have it handy. So, here’s a quick demo:
mysql> create table sample ( timeUpdated TIMESTAMP, timeCreated TIMESTAMP, val INT );
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.24 sec)
mysql> insert into sample (timeUpdated, timeCreated, val) values (NULL,NULL,1);
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)
mysql> select * from sample;
+———————+———————+——+
| timeUpdated | timeCreated | val |
+———————+———————+——+
| 2007-10-24 15:25:03 | 2007-10-24 15:25:03 | 1 |
+———————+———————+——+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)
mysql> update sample set val=val+1;
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)
Rows matched: 1 Changed: 1 Warnings: 0
mysql> select * from sample;
+———————+———————+——+
| timeUpdated | timeCreated | val |
+———————+———————+——+
| 2007-10-24 15:25:23 | 2007-10-24 15:25:03 | 2 |
+———————+———————+——+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)
The basic idea is that by forcing NULLs in to the TIMESTAMP columns, they’ll both be triggered to use the current timestamp value. But when you don’t reference them, only the first TIMESTAMP column will be updated, and if you define it as the ‘last updated’ column, you’re good to go.
There are also ways to handle this via triggers, and loads of ways to handle this sort of logic in your app layer. I think the grails GORM layer will automatically add dateCreated and dateUpdated values behind the scenes, so if all your data is controlled by GORM, you’re set to go. If it doesn’t do it now I believe it was talked about being added soon.
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