July 2009 - Posts

Something is squawking!
23 July 09 03:40 PM | CSharpener | with no comments

 After a rather long ... lull ..., I'm hearing much more noise again from the (almost mythological) realm of Pearl 6.  Seems like some sort of Parrot has been squawking loudly, lately.  In fact, it may have even squawked loudly enough to get me to join in the fun! 

 I'm a sucker for the very idea of a multi-lingual dynamic language VM that can allow different languages to use libraries written in others.  Use Python and Lua libs from Ruby?  Sounds wonderful to me!  Here's a link to Wikipedia's article on Perl 6.

 Pray for Perl 6.  The Perl and Parrot communities need everyone's good wishes!

Yes, I was an Agile Manifesto signatory!
09 July 09 11:24 AM | CSharpener | 1 comment(s)

Yes, I was a relatively early signatory to the Agile Manifesto.  I "signed" in the 19 May to 20 June, 2003, time period.  I did my first test-driven development (TDD) using the SUnit testing framework in the Smalltalk programming language.  I was immediately attracted to "agile" and TDD because I had been developing software for many years and well understood the value of the new approaches.  I am still agile and I still recommend TDD, although I am now aware that there are many areas of software engineering where TDD is not yet possible.  As far as agile goes, I do not stand for no process, but for "just enough" process!

 

SmallScript is dead! Long live SmallScript!
08 July 09 11:36 AM | CSharpener | 1 comment(s)

 In a previous post, Before it becomes famous, I posted about S#, or SmallScript, a SmallTalk variant that was being designed that was supposed to have a version that might have worked on .NET.  Now, it seems that project has pretty much died out.  David Simmons, the main figure behind S#, now works for Microsoft.  His role there does not seem to allow much priority for S#. Here is S# - Smalltalk :: The Next Generation, an interview with him that explains his current assignment.  In that article, he projected a date for the next release of S# as "out in the fall," but that was in 2006.

 So, I'm not seeing or hearing much,if anything, going on in the S# or SmallScript worlds.  My conclusion is that it appears the project is dead.  I still have hope that someone will develop a decent SmallTalk implementation for .NET.  If you see one, please let me know!

 

Hot off the press! Google will develop a new operating system!
08 July 09 10:58 AM | CSharpener | with no comments
Introducing the Google Chrome OS

I can feel the trembling from Redmond from here in Southern California!

:)

New platform grows up! Google Apps is out of Beta!
08 July 09 10:40 AM | CSharpener | with no comments

 On The Official Google Blog, Google has announced that Google Apps is now out of beta.  One important observation for software developers is that Google Apps will now cost you.  No more free ride!  While you can try it for free, it costs $50 per user per year after your trial period ends.


[Tools] New version of UMLet available (9.1)
02 July 09 09:57 PM | CSharpener | with no comments
A newer version of UMLet is available. This free UML editor, UMLet, is my "UML as sketch" tool of choice! You can read *about* a very interesting article on the rationale behind UMLet here (note, however, that the article's authors require payment for the full article). UMLet is very capable ... and free, too!
Your Company's Next Senior Software Architect???
02 July 09 04:08 PM | CSharpener | with no comments
I would *love* to join a new and exciting software development team that has a single-minded focus on delivering high-quality software products to great customers. Perhaps that team is working in your company! Please have a look at my resume (http://weblogs.asp.net/jtobler/articles/48839.aspx) to find out if my skills match your customers' needs! If interested, contact me by email so I can get to work with you as quickly as possible! I currently live in San Diego, CA, but would consider relocating to Las Vegas, NV, or the Miami Ft. Lauderdale area, FL, to join the right company with the right challenge!
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