Smalltalk with James Robertson

Google has added a cloud storage service that is plug compatible with Amazon's S3:

Google Storage is interoperable with a large number of cloud storage tools and libraries that work with services such as Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) and Eucalyptus Systems, Inc. To use these tools and libraries, all you have to do is change the request endpoint (URI) that the tool or library uses so it points to the Google Storage URI, and configure the tool or library to use your Google Storage developer keys.

That's pretty cool; it means that developers can flip back and forth pretty easily based on price and performance. The pricing looks competitive as well.

Technorati Tags: cloud, google, amazon

Dave Winer hits on something interesting here - in a post about the ongoing move past XML:

This is why I find the arguments of the JSON-only proponents either lazy or dishonest. I don't know which it is. They say that XML is too complicated, but that's wrong. Just ignore everything but elements, attributes and namespaces.

You need to read the whole thing to get the context, but - to summarize - Dave laments the way XML has been deemed as "too complex", and uses XMPP as an example of that. I thought about doing something with XMPP once, but after looking at it, decided against. I wanted to leave some time in my life for other pursuits, like eating and sleeping :)

Here's the thing though - over time, the architecture astronauts grab all emergent technologies. They got their hands on XML, and ended up getting lost in the weeds (I still subscribe to the Atom mailing list - you should see what level of minutiae gets discussed there these days).

Fear not though - JSON may be simple now, but once the astronauts are done with it, someone will have to invent yet another simple text transport scheme. It seems to be the way things happen in this industry.

Technorati Tags: xml, json, transport formats

This event sounds fascinating, and is exactly the kind of session I love at SPA conferences.

Technorati Tags: spa, conference

Rob Fahrni asks a question that I haven't seen anyone else ask:

Yesterday, on Twitter, I asked “Can you develop XBox 360, Sony Playstation, or Wii apps using Flash?” There was a reason for that question. I was hoping someone would take the bait, but alas, nobody obliged. Once again I ask, can you develop XBox 360, Sony Playstation, or Wii apps using Flash? I’m fairly confident the answer is “NO.”

Consoles are pretty closed off development environments - but the technorati haven't been up in arms about that the way they have about the iPad/iPhone. I wonder why that is? Rob makes a number of other good points as well - go check his post out.

Technorati Tags: Apple, iPad

I found these tow posts - one on Reddit, one on the "Code Bubbles" project - to be a fascinating contrast. Over on Reddit, someone flagged the release of GNU Smalltalk 3.2. This generated the all too common "image based development stinks - real me use code in files" argument. For instance:

Can this Smalltalk implementation use the typical file model and compile down code into native binaries, or does it use the g****** image model and require the interpreter to run any apps?

All by itself, that's not noteworthy - discussions around image based development often get heated like that. What I found interesting was this comment from the Code Bubble project:

Developers spend significant time reading and navigating code fragments spread across multiple locations. The file-based nature of contemporary IDEs makes it prohibitively difficult to create and maintain a simultaneous view of such fragments. We propose a novel user interface metaphor for code understanding and maintanence based on collections of lightweight, editable fragments called bubbles, which form concurrently visible working sets.

The UI metaphor you see in the video detaches code from files, and - more or less - simulates an image. Maybe we'll see convergence over time.

Technorati Tags: smalltalk image

Spotted in Phil Windley's Technometria

The more dynamic the Internet gets, the more data there is floating around, the more we mashup things to create just what we need, the more important late binding becomes--in your life, your programming language, and your Web technology.

I agree with that. The web is an ever changing thing, and dynamic systems are much, much easier to adapt. An early bound system is just too rigid.

Technorati Tags: web

Apple's new policy hit Scratch (a Squeak based instructional tool for teaching kids about programming. I saw an email from John McIntosh about it this morning, and now Lambda the Ultimate has noticed:

If the general idea wasn't enough to make you mad, or if you wrote it off as being purely an Apple/Adobe spat, this ought to cut a bit closer to LtU's heart... Apple removes Scratch from iPad/iPhone/iTouch. My wife has taught a couple of classes using Scratch with young kids, and to see the pride they feel at their creations is a marvelous thing. I think restricting their ability to share that feeling is really reprehensible. And the damage done to the programmers of tomorrow? Hard to say

Make chimes in on a similar note.

Technorati Tags: smalltalk, iPad, apple

Interesting comments about Java from Josh Bloch, Google's Java architect - he says that there's no real direction, and licensing issues are starting to cause problems:

The problems around Java that Bloch mentioned largely predate Oracle's acquisition of Sun Microsystems, which oversaw the Java development process, and Bloch called on Oracle to step up as the prime steward of the language and associated platform software."Oracle should take the lead of Java once again," he said.

Over the last few years, Sun had been busy trying to find some way to make money - it doesn't surprise me that a money pit like Java development took a back seat. What will be interesting is Oracle's take. Oracle is profitable, and can afford to do whatever they want with Java - but just how much money do they want to shovel in that direction?

Oracle isn't without challenges of their own, with the rise of acceptable OSS databases - including MySQL, which they own (insofar as anyone can "own" a fully GPL product). I wouldn't be at all surprised to see continued drift, because I just don't know that Java's direction is all that crucial to Oracle's immediate future.

Technorati Tags: oracle, jcp

I love this from Anders Janmyr:

Anyone, who has worked seriously with a modern dynamically typed language like Ruby or Smalltalk, know that they are more productive. Working with waterfall languages after working with agile languages is just painful. (Thanks to Andreas Ronge for coining the term Waterfall Language.)

Just give Smalltalk a try - make up your own mind :)

Technorati Tags: smalltalk, dynamic language

I ran across this screencast (long, but worth watching) comparing and contrasting various web development tools - starting from the premise that UI (including front end web development) really, really needs to be interactive and iterative.

I thought it might be useful to take his two test cases - "Hello World" and "Time Tracker" and do them in WebVelocity - a tool that's pretty much right up the alley this guy is looking at. So, tomorrow's screencast will be the "Hello World" app, and I'll have the time tracker example up on Friday or Monday.

Technorati Tags: web development, webapp