The Rails community has a sense of humour. Check out acts_as_asp.net plugin. To truely appreciate the joke, you have to have coded ASP.NET and then discovered Rails in all its DRYness. ….So yes - I totally get it.

Google Web Toolkit is now available in a Javascript 2 version. A great idea , I mean who wants Java to output Javascript. It just seems like common sense to me to get Javascript 2 to output Javascript. Why has it taken so long for such a great idea to take shape? Why? …and what a great day (April 1) to make such a groundbreaking announcement.

• Use a Niko-niko calendar to gauge the mood of your team
  Rotate unhappy team members. If you keep making em do things that they hate, you risk losing good staff forever.
• Use burndown charts
  Burn down charts offer a nice way to visualise project status.
  ….but dont make your team members track every minute of there time. Let your team members do what they are good at! A good PM will have a good sense of status without needing a time tracking tool.
• Kanban boards rule
  You just need a whiteboard with post it notes under 3 colums - Todo, Doing and Done

Much better than your Pert and Gantt friends!

aka - Why being a software/web developer sucks right now?

I’ve come to realise that the lifespan of software/web applications is approximately 8 - 12 years. Put into perspective this means that software developed between 1998 - 2000 is now being replaced. As a developer there is a big difference between being involved with a project to develop new software (functionality, features, whatever) as opposed to just rebuilding every feature in a short timeframe or even worst having to replace a custom in-house built masterpiece (spaghetti code and all) with an off the shelf product. I admit that I like to build and design software from scratch — its just more exciting. …..But if we must replace software because it is built with an out of date technology, we better make sure that we are building something that will last for at least the next 8 - 12 years. At the moment I am not sure this is possible! Web development frameworks and technologies seem to be in a state transition.

Let’s take a look:

• In .NET Land
  Lots of asp apps exist, even 7 years after the release of .NET. Should you transition to ASP.NET 2.0 or would it be wiser to let the new MVC framework and ORM techniques such as Linq to SQL stabilize first?
• In Java Land
  From EJB to Spring + Hibernate. But what if you head back to EJB 3 or 4 and JPA in the next few years? From Struts to ? - I am not sure what the leading web framework for Java is at the moment? Maybe give Wicket or something like Grails a try?
• In Ruby Land
  Rails stills sets the pace for streamlined productivity but will only be enterprise ready in a year or 2. ….by enterprise I mean bureaucratic companies/departments that are slow to install Ruby and slow to add servers that would allow Rails apps to scale! The ‘Enterprise’ should not be mistaken for the ‘Worldly Web App’ - a space Rails is already proven in. Rails is still evolving and 2007 has seen the emergence of more Ruby web frameworks eg Merb.

So the question is, in transitioning to a new technology, framework or off the shelf software product are you sure that it will go the distance?

….And you better make sure that the off the shelf product that is replacing something custom built is not built with out of date technology from the same era. A sure sign of this is the use of framesets. I wont mention software names here but yeah some elearning products dictate the use of frames - bring on HTML 5!

Rhino on Rails brings a scripting language back to the server-side! It sounded familiar and then I saw this cartoon and realised that it had all happened before…..

You know those O’Reilly book covers with the animal pics, well now you can make your own with O’Reilly Maker. I really like the cover for Hybernate

Kinda funny: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr5w3X4R8b4

Yep, Just saw hot cross buns at Woolworths, Carindale. Woolworths is letting seasons clash! On New Years Eve, it seems preparation is already being made for Easter.

I sadly encountered the XML Situps pic about a year and a half ago - It was funny but I could not laugh! You see I was knee deep in the middle of porting content from a proprietary (Coldfusion based LMS) to Blackboard via their IMS-CP format (a zip make up of a manifest/hierarchy and xml files for each tool/content type used in the course/unit). I still recall trying to port a Quiz with multiple choice questions to the IMS-QTI spec. Would you believe it if I told you that a single multiple choice question represented in the IMS-QTI xml format takes up 150 lines? Probably not!!!!!

So now I still think this is funny and I can finally laugh out loud: XML Situps!

In a year that lacked ‘groundbreaking’ five things stuck out for me:

• Just how many times can Timberland scream Yeah/Hey over tracks?
  Um — I guess its too late to apologize now!
• Delta Goodrem’s video for “In This Life”
  This is really the ‘chairs of the world’ music vid. Delta just sits on different chairs. A big thanks to the casting director/decorator.
• Great Songwords/Lyrics! (where ! equals NOT)
  Excerpt from “Kiss Kiss” by Chris Brown:

  I’m a country boy from Tappahannock
  Va is where I reside so shawty understand it
  And I know I just turned 18
  And I get a little mannish
  And you see this bandanna hanging
  That means I’m like a bandit (like a bandit, bandit)

• We got High School Musical 2
  I can’t really comment on this - but they kept breaking into song and dancing. Celine my cousin (she is 9) loved it, made me watch it, make me buy merchandise for her. … and I believe 3 is on its way in 2008. Next year I predict the rise of Hannah Montana (aka Mylie Cyrus) - which is like yay if you like Country music, but what if you don’t!!!
• The Veronica’s released a clothing line
  Yep — Its sold at Target or rather all sold out at Target. More popular than their CD and again Celine has many clothes from this range.

…. and I am just upset that 2007 had no new Madonna material released.