IBM
Smarter Business Solutions Through Dynamic Infrastructure
 In February I took on the daunting task of starting a new venture. It was based on an idea I had while reading a book on the low cost airline, Ryanair. I never knew you could lease an aircraft; I thought an airline with billowing amounts of cash just bought the machines and got on with...Nov. 30, 2005 07:45 PM EST Reads: 23,569 Replies: 7 |
In my mind, an ecosystem conjures up a green, lush rain forest. The Java ecosystem, like a rain forest, is excitingly complex and able to sustain a diversity life and growth. At the JCP we have successfully balanced a variety of participants, who both compete and cooperate for success ... Apr. 7, 2005 12:00 AM EDT Reads: 18,156 |
SLOOH.com is the world's first and only source of live deep-sky celestial images. Every night SLOOH's telescopes scan the skies and deliver stunning images to computer screens around the world in seconds. SLOOH offers a schedule of fascinating five- and 10-minute 'missions' that probe ... Mar. 9, 2005 12:00 AM EST Reads: 19,438 Replies: 1 |
Let me begin with a philosophical rant. There is a motto from scientific computing that carries over to many areas of computer science: The gains made by better algorithms almost always outstrip the gains from better hardware. Jan. 5, 2005 12:00 AM EST Reads: 19,434 Replies: 1 |
It's no surprise that the common perception is that Web applications are unreliable and problematic. Users often experience '404,' 'resource unavailable,' and 'network unavailable' errors or even a mysterious application error telling them to 'retry the application later.' The truth is... Dec. 8, 2004 12:00 AM EST Reads: 27,264 Replies: 6 |
Is the Java certification program offered by Sun really the route to a higher salary and better quality of code for businesses? William Knight has his doubts. In his fifth year of Java programming, after being involved in several distributed developments for large companies, a prospect... Oct. 16, 2004 12:00 AM EDT Reads: 40,861 Replies: 40 |
The network effect is the impetus behind today's software platforms, but a balance must be struck between homogeneous vulnerability and fractured inefficiency. Comparing J2EE to .NET shows clear advantages for J2EE through vendor diversity, portability, standardization community, educa... Aug. 5, 2004 12:00 AM EDT Reads: 13,999 |
Java open source graphics visualizing software, JGraph, has introduced some improvements in the functionality of its drop-down menus. Version Aug. 5, 2004 12:00 AM EDT Reads: 9,329 |
One thing that's always struck me throughout my career as a professional in computing has been how little regard or study we give to the history of our profession. I suppose this situation has been engendered to an extent by the rapid growth in the technologies we work with. Jul. 2, 2004 12:00 AM EDT Reads: 19,461 Replies: 7 |
Those of you kind enough to read my editorials for JDJ would have noticed that I started a new job. A fresh start, a new year, a colossal waste of my time it turned out. Startup companies can be odd to work for sometimes and you have to read between the lines when it comes to statement... Jun. 3, 2004 12:00 AM EDT Reads: 25,290 Replies: 2 |
When you mention the word 'robot,' most people think of either large industrial bots that do heavy work on factory floors, suicidal bots doing battle on TV, fanciful R&D bots gracing the labs of universities, or simple hobby bots of the LEGO Mindstorms ilk. Don't get me wrong, all such... Apr. 5, 2004 12:00 AM EDT Reads: 21,882 Replies: 2 |
Ineffectual corporate management has given a great gift to programmers, system administrators, and CIOs - endless corporate accounting scandals. Our federal government has not missed this scandalous behavior as they have passed an extraordinarily strong, far-reaching law to contend wit... Mar. 5, 2004 12:00 AM EST Reads: 28,736 Replies: 3 |
In the world of IT, outsourcing - also known as 'offshoring' - is either the dirtiest word you can utter or a brilliant one; it's all about who says it to whom and where it is said. No matter who uses it, it is a word most often said in private. Feb. 5, 2004 12:00 AM EST Reads: 27,273 Replies: 21 |
All change on the JDJ front, eh? What's going on? It's all gone topsy-turvy! 'Alan at the back, a whole host of new faces, and a new front cover.' Don't panic; it's all under control. JDJ has undergone a major renewal process, taking us into version 3. We do this every so often so we d... Jan. 8, 2004 12:00 AM EST Reads: 15,446 |
Many of the problems related to software development are at the individual level, with those who create bad code rather than with any specific technology issue. Therefore the goal of anyone staffing a project is to attract employees most likely to ensure success. Nov. 3, 2003 12:00 AM EST Reads: 17,482 Replies: 2 |
At JavaOne, Jonathan Schwartz, executive vice president of Sun's Software Group, outlined his mission to increase the number of Java developers from 3 million to 10 million. The hope is to attract these extra seven million from the legions of Visual Basic (VB) developers. Oct. 1, 2003 12:00 AM EDT Reads: 24,077 Replies: 7 |
Software is created by programmers who write code, testers who try and break the code before users do, and analysts who are incapable of either task. Analysts know this and like a congressman's PR agent on their lunch break, they must constantly adapt to find new ways to remain on the ... Aug. 1, 2003 12:00 AM EDT Reads: 15,536 Replies: 8 |
Lately, a lot of energy has been focused on the SCO Group/Linux IP fiasco, ignoring a potentially more damaging trend in the computer industry. Every day, it seems, we see a new lawsuit in which some obscure company (or in some cases, corporate megalith) sues a successful Internet ven... Jul. 31, 2003 03:53 PM EDT Reads: 13,195 Replies: 2 |
(July 25, 2003) - It's a truism to say that software development is a communal activity. Unfortunately, a lot of newer Java developers don't get it, which works to their own detriment and, potentially, to the detriment of the wider Java community. There's a stereotype of the hacker as... Jul. 25, 2003 11:23 AM EDT Reads: 13,361 Replies: 1 |
When Govindavajhala Sudhakar, a Princeton college student from Bangalore, presented a paper on JVM security at an IEEE symposium on computer security, the press naturally took notice. Jul. 1, 2003 12:00 AM EDT Reads: 15,009 Replies: 1 |
I remember well the first time I worked at a company that used corporate e-mail. Instead of the usual development process that involved weekly meetings with users, between which we wrote specs and coded deliverables, this new messaging technology was going to streamline everything for ... Jun. 1, 2003 12:00 AM EDT Reads: 14,498 Replies: 3 |
Sun has asked for feedback in a 'J2SE Client developer survey,' Scott Violet himself went onto javalobby.org asking for input and my initial thoughts were, 'Fantastic - finally Sun is taking Java seriously on the client.' I got myself a fresh latte coffee and sat down to complete the s... May. 1, 2003 12:00 AM EDT Reads: 15,198 Replies: 4 |
One of the recent stirrings to occur inside the Java industry is what has become known as 'memogate.' A Sun engineer wrote an internal memo to his colleagues that listed a number of problems with Java on Solaris, ranging from large VM footprints and issues with serialization to the usu... Apr. 1, 2003 12:00 AM EST Reads: 14,483 |
Okay, I'll risk my career and admit it: I not only know how to draw a flowchart, I still find myself using them from time to time. I have one of those little green plastic flowcharting templates to help draw the symbols and arrowheads, but I don't use it much anymore. (I don't like to ... Mar. 1, 2003 12:00 AM EST Reads: 16,119 Replies: 2 |
There have been lots of reasons bandied about lately about why Java is good or bad or indifferent. I'm afraid I've been too busy to follow the discussions closely, but that rarely stops me from chiming in. Others find my ignorance entertaining; perhaps you will, too. Feb. 1, 2003 12:00 AM EST Reads: 15,174 |
Back in high school, I worked as a roadie for my friends' rock and roll band. It was a great job, since I didn't need to make much money. Good thing, that. My take from our fabulous two-week, Christmas '74, 'Wyoming Tour' was $9. Jan. 1, 2003 12:00 AM EST Reads: 16,028 |
Since I'll be presenting sessions throughout the week, I should really be reviewing them to make sure I have my message straight or at least make sure I don't goof up too badly. I'm still trying to live down that episode when I credited Sir Francis Bacon, of all people, with the invent... Nov. 1, 2002 12:00 AM EST Reads: 14,070 |
I'm sorry, dear reader, but I'm afraid I'm in a bit of a 'blue funk' this month. There's an awful lot going on, it seems, and I don't understand most of it. I'm confused, angry, irritable, way behind in my work, and quite probably suffering from the after-effects of an alien abduction ... Oct. 1, 2002 12:00 AM EDT Reads: 12,758 |
I've been weaving these threads of cubist pseudo-consciousness for over a year now, and the consequences of such promiscuous international celebrity are really starting to get out of hand. Sep. 1, 2002 12:00 AM EDT Reads: 15,533 |
I almost missed this month's deadline for this column, but I have a good excuse: I've been out searching for beauty again, and must report that my family and I found some largish, mountain-shaped accumulations of it in Glacier National Park, in northwestern Montana. Aug. 1, 2002 12:00 AM EDT Reads: 14,610 Replies: 1 |
This is the thirteenth installment of Cubist Threads, but ironically I'm feeling pretty darned lucky to be writing it. Who would have thought this blatantly self-aggrandizing auto-theoretica would survive a whole year? Jul. 1, 2002 12:00 AM EDT Reads: 13,049 |
Sometimes I think the world is getting fundamentally goofier, at an ever-increasing pace. On the other hand, I've only been here a brief while (in geologic terms, at least), and can't help believing that the world has always been pretty doggone goofy. Jun. 1, 2002 12:00 AM EDT Reads: 11,841 |
As I'm pathologically fond of pointing out - I'm a child of a bygone era. Oh, I'm not old enough to remember the time before Sputnik, light bulbs, or the coagulation of the planets from protostellar dust clouds, but I surely do remember GI Joe at 45 caliber, Ray Stevens at 45 RPM, and ... May. 1, 2002 12:00 AM EDT Reads: 13,037 |
I've been thinking that, if I want to keep writing these monthly bits o' fluff, I'd better start making some sense pretty soon. If you've been reading Cubist Threads, you know I'm prone to launching into some banal diatribe about the prosaic minutiae of my midwestern upbringing. Apr. 1, 2002 12:00 AM EST Reads: 13,366 |
This great Sonny Curtis tune has special meaning for me. You see, The Law and I have been at odds since I was very young. I fought The Law constantly – at home, on the playground, at summer camp – and after years of openly and repeatedly demonstrating my spiteful defiance, ... Mar. 1, 2002 12:00 AM EST Reads: 13,837 |
For those of you who have been following 'Cubist Threads' from its inception, you know - both of you - that several of my little musings have centered around brushes I've had with 'greatness.' Presuming I understand my own thought processes well enough to comment, I'd have to guess tha... Feb. 1, 2002 12:00 AM EST Reads: 12,745 |
'How did I get here?' There's a question I've asked myself many, many times over the years. Decorum prevents me from recounting all the contexts to which 'here' has referred, but suffice it to say that my inflection has become less frenzied as I matured. Jan. 1, 2002 12:00 AM EST Reads: 14,318 |
Lately I seem to be getting younger. Oh, don't get me wrong - I'm not complaining - it's just that puberty was bad enough in the forward direction; the prospect of going through it backwards leaves me a little unsettled. Fortunately, if the rate at which I'm getting younger matches the... Dec. 1, 2001 12:00 AM EST Reads: 12,597 |
Our world has been changed. We have been changed. Emblazoned in our collective consciousness are indelible, fresh images of unspeakable carnage. We will carry these images with us - shaped in psychic scar tissue - for the rest of our lives. For some of us, September 11 will ma... Nov. 1, 2001 12:00 AM EST Reads: 12,194 |
Life happens at a dizzying pace. It seems like yesterday that I was writing my first Cubist Thread, in which my abundance of personal failings was first publicly perused. One that didn't make the list at the time, but for which I should be roundly criticized, is vanity. Oct. 1, 2001 12:00 AM EDT Reads: 13,837 |
