BSDG Agenda for March 2004

March 4, 2004 - 7 PM - Washington Group conference room

News:

1. Free subscription to Software Development Magazine
2. Idaho .NET Users Group - April 15th guest speaker Tom Howe on "The Business side of Software Development".
   Please let me know if you plan to attend so they can have an accurate head count.

Borland:

1. Why VCL for .NET? - by Danny Thorpe
   Why did Borland create VCL for .NET, and when should you use it instead of .NET's own Windows Forms framework?
2. Looping through a .NET DataSet - by Anders Ohlsson
   How to keep track of where you are in your data. 
3. Borland supplies RSS news feeds
   Stay up to date with what is happening at Borland.
4. The BDN Guide to RSS - by Craig Stuntz
   A simple introduction to using the BDN RSS feeds and writing applications which produce or consume RSS.
5. Delphi-JEDI+
   API Header Translations and nothing else.

Java:

1. Eric S.Raymond advocates Sun's releasing Java open source.
2. IBM Offers to Help Sun Open Up Java [Letter] [ LinuxToday]
3. Sun to Meet IBM Over Open-Source Java

Industry news:

1. Firebird Relational Database 1.5 Final Out
   The v1.5 release represents a major upgrade to the engine.
2. U.S. to block Oracle bid for PeopleSoft
   They turn the tables on Larry.
3. SCO Sues own customers
   It's ok to use Linux, as long as you never did business with SCO
4. AMD offers buffer overflow protection - in the CPU - To work with updated Windows XP
5. Intel's new 64-bit copies AMD's spec
6. The silver lining of outsourcing overseas
   There really isn't one, but it is nice to see other people's points of view.
7. Stop Advocating Free Software!
   If all our software is free, then how are we going to afford to buy computers to run it on?
8. Yahoo! vs. Google: Algorithm Standoff [ Analysis]
9. Yahoo's search engine: Pay for ranking
   If you really want top billing in the search engine, just slip Yahoo! a few greenbacks.
10. Cybersecurity industry association
11. 'Caller-ID For Email' Specs
    Microsoft's patented version of SPF.
12. XP Update 2 too include Virus Scanner
    Remember their last attempts at virus scanners?  I wonder what else they are going to include in here too. . .
13. Windows XP Reloaded
    New windows release planned before Longhorn.
14. Anti-Spyware Law Proposed
    Proposed laws may effect how software can be loaded and unloaded from computers.
15. Nearly Half of U.S. 'Net Users Post Content
    Most have made home pages, and very few actually run blogs.
16. Knoppix
    The full featured Linux that runs from a CD.  Be sure to check out all their customizations.
17. POVRay Short Code Contest, Round 3 - 256 bytes
    Check out the pictures that were made with just 256 total bytes of instructions and data.
18. Mind Over Machine
    Controlling computers with your thoughts.

Group Reading:

Code Complete: Data

Code Complete 2
New version with chapters online for review and comment.

Presentation:

Content Syndication:

Content syndication allows automated access by computer programs to web and Internet content.  You may recall Netscape's "Push" technology from way back.  This is an extension to that.  The main attraction to day is that it is a way to stay on top of updates and events without giving your e-mail address out and exposing yourself to SPAM.  Many net users assume that any request for their e-mail address is just an attempt to subscribe them for more SPAM.  With content syndication you use an aggregator to check the news feeds for updates in much the same way you would check your e-mail or the newsgroups.  Then the updates you indicate your interest in are displayed for you to choose which you want to get more information on.

1. BDN Guide
2. Lockergnome's RSS Resources
3. RSS
   RSS is an extension of the original "standard".  It is a very loose standard and not very strict.  There are many contradictions and inconsistencies.  It is still the most popular, and probably the easiest to implement.  It is specifically designed for news or blog type applications.
   1. SimpleRSS
      Component for creating and consuming RSS in Delphi
   2. FeedReader [home]
      An open source RSS aggregator written in Delphi.
4. RDF
   RDF is the W3C standard Resource Description Framework.  It is used to describe and catalog more than just news.
   1. www.w3schools.com - tutorial
   2. Open RDF component for Delphi
5. Atom
   The most recent variation is Atom.  It is a universal personal content publishing standard.
   1. Blogger - has adopted Atom
6. OPML - Outline Processor Markup Language - Outlines in XML 1.0
   Uses to provide a list of syndication channels.

RSS-test.zip