Check out JRewriter, a Java static analyzer with automatic refactoring capabilities. We’re all familiar with refactoring tools built into our IDEs but JRewriter can automate the process.
An interesting alternative to ORMs is presented at DevX.com in their Use Stored Procedures for Java Persistence article. Worth chewing on.
By the way, I’m still a big fan of ORMs and, in particular, EJB3. And while I believe in stored procs and use them heavily, they are not for everyone and you need a solid data architect and application architect to agree on a good design solution.
When I did some architecture work for NIH a couple of years back we put Sun’s Jini technology on the evaluation shortlist. I’d almost forgotten about it until I read this JavaPro Jini at Your Service article. It’s worth reading, especially with everyone working on SOA stuff these days.
A friend of mine sent me a link to this nice introductory article on ServiceMix. We’ve been using it for a proof of concept at a client and it looks pretty strong.
I spoke with the BizDev manager of Fortis TCS today. They are an interesting company that focuses on the tax side of technology. That is, if you spend money on R&D and would like to get tax credits (refunds of what you’ve already paid in taxes) then they’re a group you should get to know.
Fortis comes in and talks with you for 30 to 60 minutes and can then give you an idea of how much money you might be able to get back from the government in the form of tax refunds based on R&D expenditures. They also do similar work with export expenses — meaning you can get tax credits if you do exports. The idea is worth looking at because if you invest in product R&D you can get cash back from the government. And, who wouldn’t want that?
I met with Eric today to talk about his company and what it does for its customers and came away thinking “why didn’t I think of that?” Eric Spiegel is CEO and co-founder of eXpert Technology Solutions, which provides turnkey, business-intelligence enterprise management software for Citrix and other platforms. He’s also a writer for Datamation Magazine and his columns are a great source of information for IT professionals looking for guidance on issues orthogonal to their professions.
As we know, Citrix is a thin-client application enabler: it can take a “fat client” windows application and through a small client application (or just a browser) on a client PC it can run an entire application from just a server and use the display/keyboard/mouse from the client. Eric and his two other co-founders set out to plug an important hole in Citrix’s product line: detailed analysis and reporting of who used what application, for how long, and whether they were supposed to be able to or not. While Citrix eases the administration burden of having to install applications on multiple computers, it doesn’t ease the administrators burden of reporting to upper management.
Eric and his team have created the XTS Access Tracking Manager which, among other things, does the following:
If you’re a Citrix shop (and who isn’t these days), check out the reporting tool. You’ll be glad you did.
I think the domain name says it all! One feature I like is their RSS feed that shows new patent filings and awards. If you follow new patents like I do, it’s a nice service.
Check out this link a friend of mine sent: ESB vs. BizTalk Debate Heats up in Barcelona. Dave Chappell writes:
While giving a presentation at the Enterprise Architect Summit in Barcelona on the subject of ESB and other SOA-related infrastructures (see Resources), I got into a public altercation with a couple of Microsoft guys who were in the audience. It turned into a pretty heated debate over core architectural fundamentals, which we hammered out in front of an audience of about 75 unsuspecting conference-goers. I have to say that in all my years of public speaking, this sort of spontaneous public debate has never happened quite like this. The conversation that ensued brought to light some important issues regarding fundamental differences between the use of an ESB as the foundation of building a service-oriented architecture vs. using a combination of BizTalk and WCF (formerly known as Indigo).
There is a webinar recording available.
Take a look at Splunk. Quickly. It’s one of those things that you didn’t know you needed but once you see it you’ll be wondering how you did without it. Their description:
Splunk is the new way to see inside the data center. It’s search software that indexes all your fast moving IT data as it happens. From one place, make sense of logs, configuration files, message queues, JMX, SNMP and database transactions from any system, application or device.
There’s a nice interview on Microsoft’s new found respect for AJAX: Q&A: Microsoft Touts New Ajax Tools. Microsoft says:
First of all, we need to understand the need driving the interest in Ajax, which as a style of Web development bears its roots in what Microsoft invented almost 8 years ago with IE4 (DHTML) and IE5 (XMLHttp). Most of what is fueling the interest, in this somewhat old technology, has been frustration around how to create richer applications on the Web.
Note that he quite properly points out that DHTML and XMLHttp, two core technologies required for AJAX, were “invented” by Microsoft. What he fails to point out is that Microsoft crippled DHTML in later versions of IE because it started to make the web a platform for rich client and could threaten Microsoft’s dominance of the desktop. Funny that the very thing they didn’t want to happen (rich web-based clients) is what’s causing them trouble now.
Instead of building the best platform technologies into the browser and then letting it flourish and taking advantage of the platform to deliver services themselves, Microsoft gave an opening to the likes of Google by not leveraging their own technology for over 4 years.
While it’s a little late, Windows Live and Office Live should address the issues by offering nice services. I’m not one to count Microsoft out, though, no matter how high flying Google is at this time.
The ingenuity and developer relationships that Microsoft has should get them back into the game very quick.
