Mark Watson's BlogI am the author of 13 published computer books and a consultant specializing in Java, C++, and Smalltalk development. Please check out my two Free Web Books at my main site www.markwatson.comBoth sides of the IT outsourcing issue- September 26, 2003 The linked InfoWorld article is a fairly good representation of both sides of the outsourcing U.S. IT jobs to other countries. I also have mixed feelings about large scale IT outsourcing - besides the obvious downward pressure on my own consulting rates, I worry that the U.S. will give up its competitive advantage in developing new technologies once competing countries develp a critical mass of technology. On the other hand, I do believe in globalization - doing work and manufacturing were it...http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/09/25/HNoutsourcepanel_1.html?source=rss&url=http:... Using continuations in implementing web services- September 26, 2003 I just ran across a month old blog by Chris Double on using continuations for implementing web services. Good stuff! (For Smalltalk, Lisp, Scheme programmers mostly).http://radio.weblogs.com/0102385/2003/08/30.html Microsoft and IBM on web services- September 26, 2003 In the last several years, I have have watched the growth of two technologies: web services and the semantic web. At least web services are taking off.... The linked article is a light weight media promotion by IBM and Microsoft - still, both companies get credit for supported standards like SOAP, UDDI, WSDL, etc. For Java programmers, Sun's Web Services Toolkit offers a complete software stack - one problem though is if you read the license agreement you will quickly notice that Sun does not..http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/09/25/HNibmms_1.html?source=rss&url=http://www.inf... Lack of computer security: virus and worms effect on productivity- September 25, 2003 Businesses and individuals take a hit on productivity because of security holes in Microsoft and other vendors software. Obviously, no "outward facing" software (HTTP, SMTP, POP, SSH, etc. services) should be written in programming languages that do not effectively trap runtime errors (like buffer overflows). The trouble is "fixing" existing systems. There is no shortage of viable programming languages with proper runtime error handling support: Java, C, Python, Smalltalk, Lisp, Scheme,...http://radio.weblogs.com/0115954/2003/09/25.html#a181 27 Israeli patriots: military pilots boycot occupied territories- September 24, 2003 These 27 pilots have my respect - they are putting themselves at risk for what they believe in. It amazes me that so many people in the U.S. think that they are helping the Israeli people by supporting the right wingers in Israel. The U.S. foregn aid to Israel since 1948 is approximately $275 billion (in todays currency - adjusted for inflation). We should be supporting the Peace Now movement, not the right wingers. Please do a web search using the keywords Israel Peace Now - you will find a...http://www.msnbc.com/news/971397.asp?0cv=CB10 I figured out why Linux is such a more productive environment for me- September 20, 2003 OK, people who know me know that I have been totally enjoying Mac OS X for the last year and a half. Beautiful user interface, real Unix style development environment. That said, I will still sometimes work for a few days on my Linux workstation (and even occasionally under Windows 2000). Why am I more productive under Linux I believe that it is because my Linux installations are always no-frills - I install just what I need to get my jobs done. This is usually: OpenOffice for writing, Java...http://radio.weblogs.com/0115954/2003/09/20.html#a179 XMLBeans project at Apache Jakarta- September 19, 2003 This project is new - you have to pull the code from CVS (but binaary and source drops should be available soon). I have recently used JAXB (both the Enhydra Zeus project and Sun's reference JAXB implementation) for a consulting job and in the XML chapter of my upcoming (almost done!) Java 10 Minute Solutions book. JAXB is cool stuff, and I will enjoy looking at this project that was donated by the BEA Corporation.http://xml.apache.org/xmlbeans/ Must read: CS Monitor on the Neoconservatives (The Empire Builders)- September 19, 2003 Everyone in the U.S. who reads the news at all understands that the Bush administration contains a rather large percentage of Neoconservatives. However, most people don't really understand the Neoconservatives. This linked article is great overview and is very educational - a must read. One disturbing (to me) aspect of the Neoconservatives is their promotion of highly disruptive activities of the Middle East. I believe that their agenda is a real threat to all of our security - scary stuff! As.http://csmonitor.com/specials/neocon/index.html The Tao of Programming- September 18, 2003 The linked page is on Chuck Murko's web site. Good stuff!http://www.topsail.org/tao.html Lockeed buys Titan for $1.8 Billion- September 16, 2003 I would not care so much, but two of my ex-SAIC bosses Gene Ray and Jack McDougle (both very good guys) helped found Titan. Way to go!http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/16/business/16BIRD.html?ex=1379131200&en=8d4ee9d9e9146f... |