Developer Viewpoint

Value Integration Standards Support by SaaS Vendors

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 11:15:00 EDT

Best cloud solutions are created by integrating multiple applications. Some of these applications are on premise while others are delivered through the cloud. SaaS vendors supporting integration standards enables easier implementation of cloud solutions. Having purchased a MacBook Pro in early June, I was been struggling to use it. The problem was that I always used Windows/MS-DOS ever since I have used a PC. I remember booking my first trip online through Prodigy running on MS-DOS and considering it a huge accomplishment when I showed up in Frankfurt and they had my reservation at the hotel. I use Google for e-mail, AOL Instant Messenger/Gtalk for messaging and Chrome for a browser. I was wondering how my MacBook Pro would work with all these products. After trying to do it on my own, I decided to go to the local Apple store and attend free workshops on advice from Tim Crawford. It is an interesting experience working in a noisy and packed store in getting tips. After each workshop, I booked a 15 minute session at the "Genius" bar and there is where I got the real good tips.

Today the Flex Market Is Hot - Will It Last?

Fri, 28 May 2010 07:30:00 EDT

I’m finishing the third(!) week of teaching Flex. The first half of June I’ll spend doing some regular consulting work, and then another two weeks of corporate training. The use of Flex technologies is picking up in the corporate world, but hiring managers are clearly facing challenges caused by the lack of qualified software developers on the market. Solution? Re-train your own people.

Bravo, Google!

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 23:40:00 EDT

Let me ask you this, “Can you come up with any innovation for the time interval between the moment you pressed the button Send in your email client and the moment when the send process actually begins”? No? And Microsoft couldn’t, even though MS Outlook is probably still the most popular email client.

Today iPad is the Only Whore in Town

Sat, 10 Apr 2010 15:00:00 EDT

First of all, this change is a stab in the back to Adobe, that invested heavily into enhancing the upcoming CS5 release with the ability to EASILY create iPhone applications in ActionScript. Apple kept quiet (chuckling in the bushes) for all this time and made this licensing change just several days before the release of CS5. This is just a clear indication of the fact that Apple hates Adobe. And I want to make it clear. It’s not about competition. They simply want to apply techniques of a bully-looking security guard deciding who can get into the only night club in town. “I don’t like the way you dressed. Get out of here.”

Flash Player Will Be Packaged with Google Chrome

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 08:00:00 EDT

Adobe has announced that they made a deal with Google: the new releases of Chrome Web browser will be packaged with the latest version of Flash Player. Even though the only person I know who uses Chrome is my younger son (he just says it's cool), this is an important announcement. When I say that Flash Player is a great VM and an excellent choice for delivering rich Internet applications, thousands listen. But when Google makes a commitment to make Flash Player a part of its browser it has even more weight. Google states loud and clear that Flash Player is a valid software that can and should be used.

How O'Reilly Helped Me To Come Out Of The Closet

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 08:30:00 EDT

When O’Reilly’s sent us a book cover design for approval, it was a no brainer. Three authors hence three chickens. Anatole immediately said that he recognized Victor and myself, but was not sure if the third birdy looked like him. No biggies. We’ve approved the cover, but somewhere in the back of my mind I still had unanswered questions: Who are these animals? Pheasants?

Special Report on the Emerging Cloud Computing Trend

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:30:00 EST

McWilliams has displayed uncanny accuracy in predicting the ebb and flow of the markets this year. He not only nailed the March bottom to the day, but also predicted the exact catalysts that would start what has been one of the most significant recovery rallies in NASDAQ history. Following his March prediction, McWilliams advised readers to buy the early July dip and predicted that Intel would blow away even the highest estimate of the 36 analysts covering the stock and, in doing so, ignite a huge July rally. Again, McWilliams was right on; so much so that one Next Inning reader wondered if he wrote the script for the Intel Q2 conference call. Q3 was a repeat performance and has further fueled McWilliams' nearly 200% overall return, 11 times higher than the S&P 500.

An (almost) Comprehensive List of Web Components

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EDT

In talking with Andy Schwartz before our recent talk together at Oracle Open World, Andy mentioned that he'd like to see some new components make it in to JSF 2.1. I'd like to see that too - but what new components? To aid the discussion, I thought it might be handy to make up a list of components that I think would be handy for JSF - but please, don't take this as an endorsement of any particular component for inclusion into the spec. At best, I can see us adding only a handful, perhaps 3 or so. Still, once started, this kind of project becomes it's own end - so I decided it might be good to publish such a list. Many of these components already exist in some form or another for JSF, or as a JavaScript Widget that could be wrapped in a JSF component - so most of them are available today.

Software Flexibility in the Cloud - Part 4 of 5

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 06:30:00 EDT

Platform as a service (PaaS) refers to the tools used to build software applications (software programs) in the cloud. Think of it as a cloud-based development environment for building and managing software applications. These custom-built applications are then hosted on infrastructure as a service (IaaS).

The Dissolution of the Rich Internet Application (RIA) Market

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:15:00 EDT

As the line between browser-based and desktop-based applications blurs, and as approaches for abstracting functionality and information from user interfaces develop, other markets will eventually merge with the currently separately identifiable RIA market. Furthermore, as the Internet continues to penetrate every aspect of our lives, both business and personal, the distinction between "Internet application" and "application" will disappear, rich or not.

Brand New Adobe Flex Course Scheduled in Denver

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:45:00 EDT

The training covers the Flex client, Eclipse & Flex builder, the Flash virtual machine & how the Flex application development process is designed. It covers Actionscript, how events are handled, and layouts in a constraint based container. The material is similar to the first three days of Flex 3: Developing Rich Internet Applications. However, on the final two days, the course moves into getting data, using E4X Expressions & search, displaying the data and ColdFusion wizards and extensions to code a back end that tightly integrates with the full Adobe suite of enterprise level products and application development toolkits.

Do You Have an SLA For Your Flex RIA?

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:00:00 EDT

A perspective client showed me a Web page from Adobe’s Connect Now. Check this page out before reading further: https://connectnow.acrobat.com/ “Yakov, I want our new application to be like that one. The page comes up really fast and it’s very responsive. Can you create our Flex application for us that will be really, really fast? “ “Yes, I can but it requires planning, and applying special modularization techniques”.

Introducing ZK 5: Future of RIA

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 08:30:00 EDT

We are proud to announce the release of ZK 5 preview edition with some major changes, including a move to the LGPL license, a revolutionary architecture client+server fusion offering the same productivity gains with more control and the use of jQuery allowing you maximize the user experience.

Google OS - A Cynical View

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:15:00 EDT

I really like Google. They produce easy to use applications that work great. I use their search engine about a hundred times a day. Their applications make sense. But this announcement gave me goosebumps. If you didn’t hear that Google has announced that in 2010 consumers will have a chance to enjoy new Chrome-based OS, stop reading and do you homework first.

What's The Design's Share in RIA?

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:45:00 EDT

This weekend I read a blog by a well known person in Flex community and found a very interesting phrase there:"If you take a careful look at Catalyst it flips the % of design and development work within an app. Where development was 80% of an app, it is now 20% and Design/Interaction was 20% is now 80%". Is it really so?

Agile Chronicles #3: Branch Workflow

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:30:00 EDT

This is the third article of the Agile Chronicles series. We'll talk about utilizing branches for each developer in Subversion, Merge Day, and how while cool, it’s an ivory tower process.

This Java Architecture is a Tough Sell

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 11:37:00 EDT

Today, I was discussing an architecture of a new Flex/Java application with my colleague, and we came up with even lighter architecture than the one I offered, Yakov, the gas station owner. But selling an architecture at a gas station is not the same as selling to Wall Street IT architects.

Search Engine as the Most Valuable Enterprise Application Component

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:15:00 EDT

This year can be labeled something like “Rich Internet Applications meet Enterprise Database by the way of full text search”. We are slowly getting used to the fact that off-the-shelf and free software can find related data out of million records within a second. The fact that the found data can be ordered and presented in a form of the definite answer recognizable by user in a single glance is nothing short of magic.

Optimize Flex Applications By Breaking Them Into Modules

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 11:49:00 EST

Adobe Flex has gotten the Web2.0 development by storm and we see lot of Web2.0 Flex-based implementations these days. There are a lot of complex enterprise applications being developed in Flex. Many of these applications are getting huge in size and often take a lot of time to download in the client browser to run. Modularization of the applications can reduce the size of the application and improve user experience.

AJAX World - Adobe Flex 4 Is Shaping Up

Thu, 29 May 2008 11:15:00 EDT

Adobe has published their first plan of what should be included in Flex 4 that is scheduled to release next year. Since Flex is an open source product, you have a say in this too. Obviously, there's a hope that upcoming Thermo release will bring together developers and designers. I'm cautiously optimistic here. It's great that a designer's tool will automatically generate MXML. A developer will pick it up and re-factor. But will the tool be smart enough to reverse-engineer the re-factored code and present it back in a visual form to the designer for further work? That is a million dollars question.

A Runtime Integration Approach to Application Development

Fri, 23 May 2008 14:30:00 EDT

This pattern is a hybrid of plug-in and event-driven architecture to integrate individual plug-ins together to come up with the Plug-in Integrator Pattern. This pattern leverages the benefits of both these well-known architectures to provide an optimal solution to build an enterprise-ready rapid application development infrastructure, preferably in Flex, but it might also be implemented in other programming languages such as Java and C#.

AJAXWorld and Bear Stearns

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 09:00:00 EDT

This was the first time I've included into the list of the RIA players a little known product called Curl. Even though this language was created in MIT, it's mainly used in Japan. I had a chance to spend an hour with Curl folks today, and it seems that this language may be a good fit for RIA that require solid processing power on the client. I need to spend more time studying this language to form an opinion about this language Curl.

Viewpoint: Is "RIA" a Ploy to Keep Merriam-Webster in Business?

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 03:00:00 EST

Marketing gurus create new terminology like 'RIA' and 'Web 2.0' in order to force people to engage in new conversations without them dragging along their baggage of ingrained prejudices about what something is or is not. They also do it - I am convinced - to make themselves seem smart. But we should not have to keep inventing new words in order to have these new conversations.

JavaFX Is A Too Late Response from Sun for Rich Internet Applications

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 17:45:00 EST

JavaFX is a little-too-late response from Sun to the rapidly growing community of the languages, tools and techniques for development of the Rich Internet Applications. Fine, let's give JavaFX some time, it's still too young. But what can you expect from a scripting language built on top of Swing libraries? This is already outdated...even before its own release. I hope to see some real competitive sample applications showing the power of JavaFX rather than declarations that it's a Flash or Silverlight killer. This is not even funny.

Un Momento, Por Favor

Sat, 21 Oct 2006 19:15:00 EDT

Your footsteps echo down the unmarked path. Gravel shuffles everywhere as you slow and strafe around the corner of a generic concrete bunker. You reach for the double- barreled shotgun but it's too late. A loud bang rips through the air but it's the soft thud as you hit the ground that confirms your worst fear, you're dead...again. A quick click of the mouse and poof...like magic you're all the way back to your last reached checkpoint.

My Website + Google = My Online Identity

Thu, 20 Jul 2006 12:45:00 EDT

I just got an e-mail from a recruiter of sorts. They want me to do phone Flex/Flash consultation for a 20-40 minute paid phone call. Apparently, Ether (www.ether.com) could make money if they employed some sales teams. It seems all of California is reaching out worldwide, looking for people to come to live and work there. The reason? To be tech lead in their startup and manage contractors and outsourced individuals to make bling and fame in Web Deux Point OMG. If my hunch on what this call is about is correct, this'll be the third startup this month looking for Flexcoder meat.