IT Readings Log   

Friday, February 16, 2007

ColdFusion Scorpio

Scorpio is the code name for the next major release of ColdFusion from Adobe. This site will allow the product team to keep you informed on the project while we work towards release in 2007.

New things we might have in the new version:
  • For engaging applications, we demonstrated a new image manipulation functionality providing both low and high level processing of images with the addition of over 50 functions to the CFML language.
  • For server management and troubleshooting, we demonstrated the new Scorpio “server monitor” feature. This web application (which uses Adobe Flex 2, incidentally!) simplifies analyzing problems during development, helps identify performance bottlenecks on production servers, and allows administrators to monitor overall server health and be alerted if something goes wrong.
  • For more advanced enterprise integration, we demonstrated the ability for ColdFusion applications to natively access .NET objects.

More details here http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Scorpio:FAQ

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Links 2007.01.06

  • Simple AJAX File Upload
    Click here to read the full article.


  • The SqlReader Object
    Cutting your code time in half using a smart SQL frontend.

    Click here to read the full article.


  • Working with the Web Browser Control in Visual Studio 2005 - IE7Clone.
    Click here to read the full article.


  • ASP.NET Validation using Ajax
    Click here to read the full article.


  • SOA Worst Practices
    (actually applies to more than only SOA development)
    Click here to read the full article.


  • AJAX: The Easy Way
    It's been reported, however, that Internet Explorer 7 will support native XMLHttpRequests rather than requiring the developer to make ActiveX requests. This will make a Web developer's life a lot easier.

    Click here to read the full article.


  • ColdFusion and AJAX
    (actually, not about CF, but about AJAX)
    Click here to read the full article.


  • Avoid SOA Pitfalls!
    (worst practices again?)
    Click here to read the full article.


  • Free e-book: Introducing Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 for Developers
    (Hint: downloading the entire book did not work for me, but I was able to get each chapter as PDF)
    Click here to read the full article.


  • Expression Web now shipping!
    Expression Web is a professional design tool to create modern, standards-based web sites which deliver superior quality on the Web. Check out the free trial download today!
    Click here to read the full article.


  • Nifty XML Notepad 2007 is out!
    (No thanks, I use Altova products)
    Click here to read the full article.


  • IBM Steps Up Development of Cool Tools for Ajax
    Click here to read the full article.


  • .NET Tip: Creating a Collection of Your Objects
    Click here to read the full article.


  • Who Owns RSS?
    (Microsoft, of course)
    Click here to read the full article.


  • Skype Founders to Debut New Web TV Service
    The two have invested part of the US$2.6 billion they made from the sale of their VoIP company to eBay to develop the new service. Codenamed "the Venice Project," it employs peer-to-peer technology to serve users

    Click here to read the full article.


  • .

    Thursday, January 04, 2007

    Links 2007.01.04

  • Age: write your custom Graphic library
    Click to read the full article here.


  • CSS Variables
    (.NET 2.0 cool stuff)
    Click to read the full article here.


  • .NET Data Access Layer class
    (everyone has his own Data Access Class. Here's another one.)
    Click to read the full article here.


  • Sun Releases Java SE6 and No It's Not Open Source
    (wtf. I thought it is.)
    Click to read the full article here.


  • AJAX3D - The Open Platform For Rich 3D Web Applications
    (doesn't work on my machine :) )
    Click to read the full article here.


  • The Tribulations of Mixing Microsoft and Mac
    (now this is a messed up configuration management on Microsoft side)
    Click to read the full article here.


  • Event Properties in C#
    Click to read the full article here.


  • Object Mapping
    (really cool set of articles on things I really need: a code generator for mapping SQL tables into .NET classes)
    Click to read the first part of the article.

  • Click to read the second part of the article.

  • SOWA - Building service oriented websites without direct use of AJAX
    Click to read the full article here.


  • CreateXMLDB - Create an XML Database and Associated C# Class to Access it
    Click to read the full article here.


  • ExcelQueryAnalyzer .Net 2.0
    (application to execute SQL queries and display result same as SQL Query Analyzer, but agains Excel files. cool.)
    Click to read the full article here.


  • How to take screenshot (thumbnail) of a web site with ASP.NET 2.0?
    (by the way, check this out as an applied solution: http://www.snap.com)
    Click to read the full article here.


  • Sending the contents of a webpage with images as a html mail
    (when formating emails images have to be sent in a special format)
    Click to read the full article here.
  • Monday, December 18, 2006

    Links 2006.12.18

  • Output Caching in ASP.NET 2.0
    Click here to view full article


  • AJAX-Based Website Snap.com to Accelerate Its Web 2.0 Search Engine
    (I was impressed by the www.snap.com website and search style.)
    Click here to view full article


  • With IE7, Microsoft Finally Catches Up to Competition
    (Yeah right. Opera and Mozilla, had features that IE barelly introduced with this version 7. )
    Click here to view full article


  • Google Opens Ajax Web Toolkit
    Click here to view full article


  • News Wire: Google Rips Off Yahoo!
    Click here to view full article


  • calc5.com—online calculator with symbolic calculations and graphs
    (great)
    Click here to view full article


  • HTML Pie Chart at TheGoogleCache
    Click here to view full article


  • google’s own cornershop
    (generate round corners by using a web JS provided by google)
    Click here to view full article


  • GWT 1.3 Release Candidate is 100% Open Source
    (GWT = Google Web Toolkit)
    Click here to view full article


  • Business Model for Open Source
    (it seems they kind of fail)
    Click here to view full article


  • IBM partners with Yahoo!
    Click here to view full article


  • 2007: Where the Tech Jobs Are
    The IT job market is “very attractive right now,” says Scot Melland, CEO of tech
    job site Dice. “Much better than in past years.”

    Click here to view full article


  • What's Next in Linux Desktop Standardization?
    Click here to view full article
  • Sunday, December 17, 2006

    Links 2006.12.16

  • Decoding Microsoft's New Document Formats
    Microsoft has provided us with some new file formats. As an application programmer, you may have a need to read and write files of these formats. In this article, Jeff Cogswell describes the new formats and shows you where to find information for programming with them.

    Click here to read the full article


  • Microsoft Unveils Expression Studio Design Tools Suite, 'Flash Killer'
    (I know I mentioned this before, but this article has some more details and screenshots)
    Click here to read the full article


  • .NET Framework 3.0 Buffet
    (brief description of .NET 3.0 framework)
    Click here to read the full article


  • Full-featured Editable GridView Control
    (.NET, web grid with pagination, add/edit/delete...)
    Click here to read the full article


  • .NET 3.0 WPF Tools && Examples
    (again about .NET 3.0, his time with samples and tools)
    Click here to read the full article


  • Complete Data Integration Through XQuery
    (XQuery = "XQuery is the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standard XML query language, designed for both XML processing and data integration.")
    Click here to read the full article


  • ADO.NET vNext Part 2: Using the Object Services Layer
    Click here to read the full article


  • Getting Rid of the Back Button Problem
    (ah.. this is something I looked for several times. glad I found it detailed here.)
    A web browser's back button is essential for users to navigate across different web sites and web pages. However, for certain data sensitive web applications, using a web browser's back button can have unexpected and undesirable results. With poor planning, it could even crash a web site.

    Click here to read the full article


  • .NET Tip: Comparing Strings Safely
    Click here to read the full article


  • Managing Exceptions in .NET
    Learn about the techniques and guidelines you can use to make your application stable and less prone to errors hande errors in a graceful manner, and avoid crashing.

    Click here to read the full article
  • Thursday, December 14, 2006

    Links 2006.12.14

  • Sun Releases Java 6
    Click here to read the full article


  • Eclipse Closes In on Visual Studio in EMEA Region
    (Europe and others using more Eclipse than the .NET Studio)
    A recent Evans Data Corp. survey shows Eclipse usage rising in the European, Middle Eastern and African (EMEA) region.

    Click here to read the full article


  • eWEEK Labs Picks the Top Products of 2006
    Click here to read the full article


  • Simplicity
    A lot of software developers are seduced by the old ‘80/20’ rule. It seems to make a lot of sense: 80% of the people use 20% of the features. So you convince yourself that you only need to implement 20% of the features, and you can still sell 80% as many copies.

    Click here to read the full article


  • News Wire: Developers Don’t Design?
    (set of interesting links & articles)
    Click here to read the full article


  • Using css to force Landscape Print in IE
    Click here to read the full article


  • Convert System.Type to SqlDbType
    Click here to read the full article


  • Easy Client Side TabStrip
    (set of two articles about building a Tab control)
    Click here to read the first article

  • Click here to read the second article

  • Embed image in Email
    Click here to read the full article


  • Implementing AJAX in your Applications. How Simple it is ?
    Click here to read the full article


  • Web 2.0 Re-Examined
    (excelent article that compares web 1.0 and web 2.0 at server-side.... peformance & stuff)
    Click here to read the full article
  • Tuesday, December 12, 2006

    Links 2006.12.12

  • The Productivity Perks Behind Prototype's Popularity
    (prototype - JavaScript Library to consider. )
    Learn how to leverage the popular Prototype JavaScript framework to speed up your AJAX-based development. You'll see how to use JavaScript in an object-oriented way.

    Click here to read the full article


  • Color Theory for Developers
    Click here to read the full article


  • Essential ASP.NET 2.0, 2nd Edition: Chapter 4: State Management
    (beginner level info on .NET framework)
    Click here to read the full article


  • Excel Services Technical Overview
    (shared workbook solutions)
    Click here to read the full article


  • Cutting Edge: The Client Side of ASP.NET Pages
    (explanatory article on .NET Client-Side generated code)
    Click here to read the full article


  • Storing Binary Files Directly in the Database Using ASP.NET 2.0
    Click here to read the full article


  • Security Hole in Microsoft Word Threatens Millions
    Click here to read the full article


  • Chinese Monkey Trap?
    The Americans complain we are getting their jobs. But look at the economics — A Nike Shoe in a US store is selling for $120 dollars. It is being bought by a Chinese factory at around $3 dollars. So for the $120 that the American consumer pays, $3 goes to the Chinese manufacturers, while the rest goes to American companies doing logistics, branding, distribution, and other services. If China can get rich by manufacturing the actual shoe for less than 5 percent of the total value chain, it is not fair to be begrudging us while you continue to take a bigger piece of the pie.

    Click here to read the full article


  • Does Anyone Buy Software Anymore?
    Click here to read the full article


  • Microsoft Releases MSDN Wiki
    Click here to read the full article


  • .

    Monday, December 11, 2006

    Links 2006.12.11

  • Managing Client Expectations: User Acceptance Documentation

    How do I determine when a project is over, and how do I communicate this to my client?

    Click here to read the full article


  • Are You (And Your Apps) Ready For Vista?
    Click here to read the full article


  • ISO 19770 and Software Asset Management (SAM)
    (some standards)
    Click here to read the full article


  • Older IT Workers: A Survival Guide

    If you`re old enough to remember the debut of Windows NT, you may face some challenges in the tech job market.

    Click here to read the full article


  • Microsoft Unveils Expression Studio Design Tools Suite, 'Flash Killer'
    (competition for Macromedia Flash?)
    Click here to read the full article


  • Outsourcing: India Moving Up, Philippines Moving In

    Evidence of that sharp growth is on display early in the evening in the lobby of the RCBC Plaza building in Makati City, as groups of prosperous-looking young men and women, Starbucks coffees and McDonald's bags in hand, head to work at more than a dozen call centers serving the United States, just as everyone else is heading home.


    Click here to read the full article


  • To Outsource, or Not to Outsource
    Click here to read the full article


  • Rendering an IHTMLElement to an Image File Using GDI+
    Click here to read the full article


  • Recursively create thumbnails from PDF files
    Click here to read the full article


  • God, cat and dog

    There are four parts: main program, god, and the TLO:s cat and dog. Imagine that the TLO:s are parts of your program, probably doing something big and untamed.
    Using a debugger to step through the code is the easiest way to understand how it works. Main program creates god. God creates cat and dog.

    Click here to read the full article


  • Paint.JS
    (Good old MS Paint, but built with JavaScript)
    Click here to read the full article


  • Manage ASP.NET Session variables using the Facade design pattern
    Click here to read the full article


  • A Helpful Database Library
    (.NET & ADO Database connection and SQL execution library. Error handling, etc..)
    Click here to read the full article


  • AJAX Frameworks tested and reviewed:
    - Putting AJAX Frameworks to the Test
    Click here to read the full article
    - An Open Source AJAX Comparison Matrix
    Click here to read the full article
  • Thursday, December 07, 2006

    Links 2006.12.07

  • The Future of AJAX is. . .XML?
    (associate JavaScript functionality with XML structure)
    Click here to read the full article


  • Generate an Image with a Random Number
    Click here to read the full article


  • Session Diagram "A Way For Better Controlling Your Session"
    (stuff about sessions, structures)
    Click here to read the full article


  • Event Calendar
    Calendar Control of ASP.NET 2.0 can be extended to cater one of most frequent
    requirement of tracking events, project milestones, history, schedule etc

    Click here to read the full article


  • ASP.NET AJAX under the hood secrets
    (One of the best AJAX articles I saw. Advanced.)
    Click here to read the full article


  • How to Backup an SQL Server Database in a Shared Network Location
    Click here to read the full article


  • Build Custom Code Generators in C#
    Click here to read the full article


  • What ADO.NET Teaches Us about Custom Objects
    Why do so many .NET programmers prefer to write custom objects instead of using
    ADO.NET objects?

    Click here to read the full article


  • A Navigation System Comes Easily
    (XML-data-driven navigation system in just a few simple steps)
    Click here to read the full article


  • ASP.NET Tip: Creating Paging for a Repeater Control
    Click here to read the full article


  • Developing XSLT-based Applications in ASP.NET 2.0
    (XSL Templates)
    Click here to read the full article


  • Google Answers Reaches End of the Line
    (hmm.. why?)
    Click here to read the full article


  • Ubuntu Linux Is an Ideal Windows Replacement
    (I agree. Downloaded it, installed it, love it)
    Click here to read the full article


  • ASP.NET Graphs: Raise the Bar
    (simple web charting wiht .NET)
    Click here to read the full article


  • Drawing Inspiration: Collaborative Whiteboard Tools -Part 1
    (I enjoyed the tool presented here.)
    Click here to read the full article


  • News Wire: Liquid vs. Fixed
    (set of links on AJAX frameworks, CSS, IE and other web news)
    Click here to read the full article


  • Managing Client Expectations: User Acceptance Documentation
    Click here to read the full article
  • Saturday, December 02, 2006

    Links 2006.12.02

  • FormatString - smart string formatting
    (sring formatting in C++ and .NET framework)
    Click here to read the full article!


  • MySQL Security Overview
    (basic security information on MySQL)
    Click here to read the full article!


  • Web Applications Performance Rules
    (great advices on .NET web applications performance)
    Click here to read the full article!


  • A Laptop for Those Who Can Least Afford It
    Click here to read the full article!


  • How many Microsofties does it take to implement the Off menu?
    (ouch. Joel, Joel...)
    Moishe Lettvin, who spent a year working on the menu I criticized yesterday: “So that nets us a conservative estimate of 24 people involved in this feature.”

    Click here to read the full article!


  • ATLAS "To Do List" sample (Microsoft Ajax implementation)
    Click here to read the full article!


  • Improving the design pattern of web applications with AJAX
    (good article, with samples, on AJAX simple implementation)
    Click here to read the full article!


  • Drawing lines in Mozilla based browsers and the Internet Explorer
    (cool, I need to try this one: draw lines with JS and CSS)
    Click here to read the full article!


  • When and How to Use Dispose and Finalize in C#
    Click here to read the full article!


  • ASP.NET: Post Data Programmatically with "Webscraping"
    Click here to read the full article!


  • Ubuntu Creator Urges Abandonment of OpenSuse
    (Ubuntu - I love this Linux distribution. Its creator generated some fuzz recently.)
    Click here to read the full article!


  • Study: Sitting Up Straight Hurts Your Back
    (huh? funny: I remember several friends of mine desperately trying to stay straight)
    Click here to read the full article!


  • French Parliament: Au Revoir Windows, Bonjour Linux
    Click here to read the full article!


  • CFCs for the common developer
    (CFCs explained - ColdFusion related...)
    Click here to read the full article!


  • Developers Must Play by Vista's Rules
    Click here to read the full article!


  • Study: Developer Use of Visual Basic Plummets
    (VB: for how long? Do we still need it? Why?)
    Click here to read the full article!

  •