Code Gear coming out party (Borland developer tools)

Borland has finally announced what they are doing with their developer tools. By the sound of what is going on from the Yahoo Finance site, Borland is forming a new company that will be a "wholly-owned subsidiary".

Anyway, they have a web site: CodeGear.com.

The front page shows an animated GIF showing: CodeGear = new Company(); or CodeGear := TCompany.Create(); or $CodeGear = new Company()

Technorati Tags: [CodeGear] [Borland] [Delphi] [TurboC++]

Java now Open Source

Sun finally came through on its promise to go Open Source with Java. And they did. With a remarkably small amount of fanfare I might add.

At least I haven't heard much on it yet -- but then again, I'm mainly a .NET developer. So what would I know? :)

Anyway, here is the official Sun web site for it: http://www.sun.com/software/opensource/java/

Technorati Tags:[Programming] [Software] [Java]

Firebird goes 2.0

Since BSDG used to be primarily a Borland user group, I thought we should at least mention that Firebird has gone 2.0.

For those of you that don't know, FireBird is the Open Sourced version of Borland's Interbase database. It has installs for Windows 32 and 64, and multiple versions of Linux

Technorati Tags: [FireBird] [Database] [Interbase]

.NET 3.0 Released

Title says it all for now...and on election day. Hmmmmm.

See it here

Technorati Tags: [Programming] [Software] [.NET 3.0]

Vista, Office 2007, Exchange due Nov 30

According to IT Wire, they have received official word that Vista, Office 2007, and Exchange will be released on Nov 7. That should mean the release of .NET 3.0 as well.

http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/6820/52/

I think this will be the new official D Day for developers and IT professionals everywhere, and hopefully will round out a pretty full release calendar for the past few months. I'm still coming to terms with IE7 and FireFox 2.0. Now we have a new OS and Office platform to boot! And a slew of new things in .NET 3.0!

It isn't that this changes everything, but it will change nearly everything.

Technorati Tags: [Vista] [Office] [Exchange][.NET3.0] [IE7] [FireFox 2.0]

What's up at O'Reilly

O'Reilly is offering some deals for User Group members: Subscribe to MAKE or CRAFT and get 1 issue free, or buy books at 30% to 35% off with the new user group code DSUG. O'Reilly has a great selection of books you can choose from, including some interesting new ones (See bellow). O'Reilly is a great supporter of user groups too, which makes me a huge fan.

MAKE magazine is all about really cool and terribly geeky projects and cool hacks. They claim they are about DIY Technology projects. I say it is the resource if you really want to prove your geekiness for all to see. They have a whole community on their site where you can share your projects too. Check it out.

CRAFT is their new magazine that just came out this month. While MAKE is all about technology and science, CRAFT is about, well, crafts. As they describe it on their site, they are the first project-based magazine dedicated to the renaissance happening within the world of crafts.

Here are some new books that I think look really interesting, but you can check out their new releases and see what looks hot to you.

• Cryptography for Developers
• Hack the Stack
• Mapping and Modding Half-Life 2 Complete
• Process Improvement Essentials
• Programming Atlas
• WarDriving and Wireless Penetration Testing
• Web Scripting Little Black Book

I am planning to get the Process Improvement Essentials book. I'll let you know how good it is.

Technorati Tags: [Programming] [O'Reilly] [Crafts] [Books] [Technology] [DIY]

FireFox 2.0 release

This is good news: 1 week, 2 new browsers.

Today FireFox 2.0 was release. www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

A few days ago IE 7 was released. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie

Because of one week in the entire year we now have to go through every site we ever developed to make sure everything still looks like it is supposed to.

The programming gods are against us.

Technorati Tags: [Programming] [Software] [Browsers] [FireFox] [Internet Explorer]

Open Source is Contagious

No, this isn't a continuation of Microsoft's rant that Open Source licenses are viral (which is actually only true of some of them). Instead it is cool news about how QUALCOMM, makers of the fabulous Eudora mail program, will be basing future versions on Mozilla's Thunderbird email program. They will add all the cool features of Eudora, and then make the resulting program free and open source.

I am curious if they plan to offer support as a revenue stream. QUALCOMM also provides a number of wireless and cellular products, so they may have decided that they don't need the incomesteam from Eudora, and would instead of incredible brand recognition by improving their circulation.

Not so long ago Opera software made their lightening quick browser completely free, but not open source. Maybe they will join forces with Mozilla's Firefox and make an open source version of Opera. If they could give Firefox a huge speed improvement we would all be winners. I really like Opera, but I am hooked on the huge sellection of extensions for Firefox. It would be great to have both!

UPDATE: After reading thier FAQ on the announcement I found their motivation.

Why is Eudora moving to an open source development platform?

QUALCOMM has decided not to remain in the email market because it is not in alignment with the core business or strategic goals. By moving Eudora to an open source product, QUALCOMM can exit the Eudora business while still supporting Eudora users and advancing the Eudora e-mail client at a faster pace than before, through the power of the open source development community.

So in answer to my speculation, they are not offering support as a revenue stream, they are just taking an honorable exit from a specific market. I think it is great when companies do that.

Technorati Tags: [Software] [Eudora] [Open Source] [Thunderbird] [Mozilla] [Firefox] [Opera]

Language Bootstrapping

We were having a discussion about programming langauges and the concept of bootstrapping came up:

Each new version of Delphi is written in that version of Delphi too. The original compiler was written in C++ and Assembly. Once the compiler worked then it was used to rewrite the compiler in Delphi. I am sure much of the compiler is written in inline assemblier, which is a feature of the Delphi compiler. When a new version is under development, when they reach stable milestones they start developing in the milestone releases.

As I see it there are three benefits to writing a language in itself (if it is a general purpose language that this is applicable to)

1. Like Chris suggested it is the original unit test. At Microsoft they refer to this as "eating your own dog food" (I am not kidding). The idea is if you are using your product then you know it works or doesn't work, and you do a better job debugging it. For a general purpose programming language what better way then to write the language in itself.

2. This is really a side effect of the first benefit, but it is a instant testimonial for the language. If it is good enough to write itself in, then it must be good enough for project X. Like I said, this is a side effect.

3. As the language is improved then those improvements can be used to make the language better. This also explains how computers in general have an exponential growth - each new innovation is used to create the next. As Anders Hejlsberg put it ". . . .standing on the shoulders of giants," (maybe slightly out of context, but applies in principle). So if you decide to use language A to write language B then if you want to take advantage of a new feature then you must first update Language A to you can update Language B. You create twice as much work that way. So by putting in a little additional effort up front to bootstrap, you actually save work in the long run.

That is the way I see it at least.

Technorati Tags:[Programming][Software][Langauge][Bootstrapping][Delphi][Languages]

Learning Ruby and Ruby on Rails

We were having a great discussion about Ruby and Ruby on Rails and Mike Moore of the Boise Ruby Brigade suggested some great resources for learning Ruby and Ruby on Rails:

The main Ruby web site was updated recently. I believe there is some good info there, like this 20 minute introduction. The Ruby on Rails web site has alot of good information on it. You might want to start out with some of the screencasts. You will get a good sense of what Rails does and how you can use it there. You can also get to the APIs, online tutorials, and some of the many books written about Rails (and Ruby) at RubyOnRails.com. I prefer to do all my heavy learning with dead tree books, and the Pragmatic Bookshelf has the best offering of Ruby books so far, although other publishers are starting to catch up. The seminal Ruby book is the "pickaxe" book by Dave Thomas, named for its cover. My favorite Rails book is also by Dave Thomas. There is also a new beta version. ~Mike

I looked at Ruby a long time back, but there wasn't much documentation then. Looks like that is no longer the case. I guess it is time to look into Ruby again. Thanks for the resources Mike!

Technorati Tags:[Programming][Software][Ruby][Rails][RubyOnRails]