Remember Smalltalk?

I was an IBM support specialist for VisualAge for Smalltalk in the 90's. Seeing these blogs brought tears of bitter memories to me since I'm now a Java head .... To quote: http://blogs.gartner.com/mark_driver/2008/10/09/remember-smalltalk/
Here a simply equation. In terms of mental fortitude…
1 Smalltalk developer = 2.5 C++ developers
1 C++ Developer = 1.5 Java developers
in other words…
Smalltalk is a meal with a fine Bordeaux and a petite filet mignon
Java is a meal with a cold beer and t-bone
So Yeah.. I said it.
Smalltalk is making a comeback. (pausing to wait for reader to regain consciousness)
...
Its somewhat funny to consider that a new generation of developers (post C++) consider the features in Ruby to be bleeding edge when in fact they are mostly retro features of things that Smalltalk has done for decades. The challenge of course is that languages like Python and Ruby have the heat needed to create a strong momentum. Smalltalk enjoys the benefit of association but not enough to transfer that heat in large volume — at least not yet.

Dave Thomas (OTI head) wrote a oldish article in Celebrating 25 Years of Smalltalk about the impact of Smalltalk (don't I remember Footprint and ENVYand the horrors of Visual Banker!)

or an alternative view: What would you miss if you had to stop using ruby and go back to smalltalk?. Yeah I remember that hassle with Operator precedence and the pain it caused.

Finally, a web framework for smalltalk!! http://www.seaside.st/ or Aida http://ww.aidaweb.si/

so... what about Scala? (wikipedia entry)

jaxrpc on weblogic 10

Maxence Button's blog on WebLogic & Java EE: Building JAX-RPC or JAX-WS webservices with Weblogic 10

weblogic workshop 10 and EJB 3.0

Maxence Button's blog on WebLogic & Java EE: August 2008

in particular, using workshop 10 for EJB 3.0 development

InfoQ: How to GET a Cup of Coffee

InfoQ: How to GET a Cup of Coffee

Interesting article on REST using starbucks as an analogy. Might ask Jim Webber if I can use this for my REST lecture in 31284 web services developer / 32525 Web services technologies

Embedded Jetty

I wanted to use Jetty in embedded mode to run a simple AXIS server (for web services support for students).
Since the students have a limited amount of space, having a <5Mb web application service sounds nice.

(I set up Tomcat, and reduced it to 4.6Mb by having lots of symlinks to /usr/share/java which we happened to have a lot of the common libraries installed)
Using symlinks (again) I should be able to reduce this to < 2Mb.

Anyway, found out how to embed Jetty ... might make my own axis "simpleJettyServer" based on the following. ps: I wonder how you map using this?


So Long WTP, Embedded Jetty for Me - Code Commit: "

public class StartApplication {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        Server server = new Server(8080);
        Context context = new Context(server, "/", Context.SESSIONS);

        ServletHolder servletHolder = new ServletHolder(new WicketServlet());
        servletHolder.setInitParameter("applicationClassName",
                "com.myapp.wicket.Application");
        servletHolder.setInitOrder(1);
        context.addServlet(servletHolder, "/*");

        server.start();
        server.join();
    }
}

BEA Workshop - with Ajax

We recently installed Aptana studio (community edition) 3.2 on our lab workstations.
Unfortunately, when installed over Eclipse Europa JST All In One it causes the occasional crash.

here's an alternative - install it as an eclipse extension (so we can disable the install if necessary).

http://www.oracle.com/technology/pub/articles/dev2arch/2008/03/ajax-with-bea-workshop.html

ps: you can also use the eclipse link function eg /opt/eclipse/links/plugin.link where the .link file contains path=/path-to-plugin/

Workshop for WebLogic 10.3 JEE 5 Trial and Error

Want to use EJB 3 in Oracle workshop 10.3?


Workshop for WebLogic 10.3 JEE 5 Trial and Error (James Bayer's Blog)

Installing CVS plugins into Oracle Workshop for Weblogic 10.3

it seems that oracle workshop for weblogic 10.3 is missing CVS.

IDIOTS!!!!

Installing CVS plugins into Oracle Workshop for Weblogic 10.3 (Greg Stachnick's Blog)

Now I'm also using SVN with Oracle Workshop 10.3.
The update site do not work - don't try the subversive plugin from eclipse - this causes a JDT error on Eclipse Europa (Oracle Workshop 10.3 version)

Use http://subclipse.tigris.org/ instead. And don't use the JavaHL driver unless you have the official SVN client from tigris.org

XP-Dev.com Subversion, Version Control, Subversion Hosting, Version Control Hosting, Project Tracking :: User Home Page :: wongcr

free svn hosting

also http://unfuddle.com/

Weblogic Embedded LDAP server

WebLogic Embedded LDAP

Good guide on how to use the embedded Weblogic LDAP server.

To view the current LDAP tree (but not! the myrealm security!!)
Weblogic -> Console -> Domain -> AdminServer -> View JNDI Tree
Other bits:
http://edocs.bea.com/wls/docs100/ConsoleHelp/taskhelp/security/ConfigureEmbeddedLDAPServers.html

Essentially you need to also set up a security credential password for weblogic (otherwise weblogic generates a random password)

Domain -> Security > Embedded LDAP
ps: you can also set anonymous bind here too.

Using it: Credentials: cn=Admin & password = credential password you set up earlier
Base Dn: dc=domain_name (ie: your weblogic domain name eg: weblogic)

Heirarchy:

Users  ou=people,ou=myrealm,dc=mydomain
Groups  ou=groups,ou=myrealm,dc=mydomain

Security roles  ou=ERole,ou=myrealm,dc=mydomain

Security policies  ou=EResource,ou=myrealm,dc=mydomain

Using an LDAP browser, you get to see the following heirarchy when using Base DN: dc=weblogic

And when you use dc=Config you get

Faith in humanity restored

Wow, what an interesting day.
Last night at 6pm I got a call from Bondi Beach Police - the laptop bag had been found at Bondi Pavilion! With everything inside ok!

My God, that was an interesting tale to tell. It seems like whoever took the laptop bag carried it all the way to Bondi Beach and according to the Laptop logs, tried to access it at 4:50pm.

Of course, one of the best things about thinkpads is that they have a bios/harddisk password system, and the X60s also has a fingerprint reader.
So whoever turned them on couldn't even get past the bios startup page .. and just dumped the bag. They just took my name tag!! (it was an Ansett Golden Wing baggage label - rare I guess??) and my reflector/light on the outside of the bag? They even left my memory keys, papers, and USB wifi detector behind.

After picking up the laptops, I had to think seriously about security in the future...

But... my faith in the fundamental honesty of mankind has been restored...


Some bypasser found it and returned it to the police station.

tragedy and stupidity

Today is not a good day for me.
I rushed to work today from Burwood (where I left Priscilla and the kids to learn swimming) and caught the train to central.
I was pretty sleepy on the train (kids again, poor sleep) and left the train at central.

The problem was that this wasn't a usual schedule for me. I brought 2 bags today, the other had books in it. so.... I left the other one on the train!!!

The bad news is this was my ... LAPTOP bag!! It's gone!! AArrggh!!

What's even worse...
I brought my NEW laptop in the same bag!! 2 laptops in 1 bag! LOST ON THE TRAIN.

How can I make this even more worse??

MY daughter's BIRTH CERTIFICATES were in that bag as well! (I was going to photocopy them at work!). And I have FINANCIAL information on it in spreadsheets. I guess they could also try to hack my security (eg: Firefox master password) etc.

I've been panicking - at the station they got the guard to look at the North Sydney stop, no dice.
Tried lost and found, called Wynyard, been to Town Hall, registered at Central station.. no dice.

I guess I just have to live on faith that someone will hand it in, but this is unlikely since I had a name tag on the bag with my name and mobile number in it.

I can only live in hope....



ps: the laptops were an IBM Thinkpad X30 (upgraded a lot) and a Lenovo Thinkpad X60s (upgraded a lot too). Bummer dude.

'Hello World' example of an Applet using Java RMI

'Hello World' example of an Applet using Java RMI

Also Sun Blueprints (they recommend using a servlet as intermediary)

Demystifying Java Applets, Part 1: Cross-Browser, Standards-Compliant, Pure HTML Deployment Using the Object Tag

Demystifying Java Applets, Part 1: Cross-Browser, Standards-Compliant, Pure HTML Deployment Using the Object Tag

also
(Multiple Browser Supported) Java applet using XHTML 'object' tag

Teaching Mobile Computing to Generation C: A Conversation With Java Champion Qusay Mahmoud

Teaching Mobile Computing to Generation C: A Conversation With Java Champion Qusay Mahmoud

Designing Enterprise Applications with the J2EE Platform, Second Edition

Designing Enterprise Applications with the J2EE Platform, Second Edition

http://java.sun.com/blueprints/patterns/index.html

Core J2EE Patterns

Core J2EE Patterns

AWT, Swing, SWT, and JFace: A comparison of Java GUI libraries

tomlauren.com: AWT, Swing, SWT, and JFace: A comparison of Java GUI libraries

SWT, Swing or AWT: Which is right for you?

Picking the right Eclipse distribution for you

Picking the right Eclipse distribution for you

Using the Eclipse GUI outside the Eclipse Workbench, Part 3: Adding actions, menus, and toolbars

Using the Eclipse GUI outside the Eclipse Workbench, Part 3: Adding actions, menus, and toolbars