Monday, January 23, 2006

JavaPosse 027

I participated in my first regular Java Posse newscast this weekend. The results just got posted today! Have listen to the latest Java Posse podcast!

99.8 degrees and counting...

The seasonal sickness has strutted onto the scene... this time around it consists of a very nasty head-cold and a dizzying fever. I get sick very rarely, but I think the mass exposure at MacWorld a few weeks ago took down several of my co-workers. Now it's spreading around... Uuuugh.

In (almost) the words of Dave Chapelle: "My head is strong!"

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Excellent Interview of Bill Goggin from TopCoder

On today's Java Posse PodCast, there is a great interview of Bill Goggin from TopCoder. He makes some really good points about component-based development, and how the market seems to be burning a lot of time developing frameworks instead of creating individual components. I couldn't agree with Bill more! There are so many frameworks out there, most of which have a somewhat closed (or at least limited) component set. It would be *far* better for Java and the market as a whole to focus on building individual components in *one* framework.

That would be one *standard* framework, of course. There isn't a single standard component framework for Java web applications at the moment - but the closest to standard is clearly JavaServer Faces. I'd like to see folks focus on making JSF components to flesh out the component marketplace. The .NET side of the fence has a huge head-start in that they have a single unified framework that works for desktop, web, and mobile. Their marketplace is already flooded with thousands of usable components that you can download and use to get your work done quickly!

Java is sooooo behind in this space!

Monday, January 16, 2006

Joining the Java Posse

This weekend was a very special one for me. I got to spend Friday evening with some great friends that I have worked with for many years (though not currently). I had dinner (and drinks) at my good friend Carl Quinn's house. Joining us were Tor Norbye and Dick Wall.

Up to today, Carl, Dick, and Tor made up the Java Posse - which is a very popular PodCast on Java technology. We had talked for a long time about me possibly joining the Java Posse - but I was working at Sun (with Tor), and they didn't think it would be good to have too much Sun representation on the Java Posse. Well... I'm at Apple now, so it's open season! We recorded the 25th (silver) episode of the Java Posse together that night, and I will be joining the Posse as a full-fledged member from now on. I am very stoked!

Long live Java! Long live the Posse!

Monday, January 02, 2006

Happy New Year

Hey folks...

Happy New Year! I spent New Year's Eve with good friends and all of their screaming kids! It was actually really fun! It is hard to believe how much energy little kids have. We even piled the kids into the hottub outside around 1am. Eventually they burned out and dropped like flies. Night night kiddies!