roam

Once upon a time some guy thought it would be a great idea to simply construct SQL queries, make the DB calls and loop over the result sets trying to create somewhat decent output, all in a single JSP. I'm so incredibly happy I never had to work with him again. When you're writing a very simple todo list: be my guest. When you're attempting to create any kind of decent application and do use JSPs like this: you're stupid.

Thanks for making me feel a bit better. The only way I can get a valid web.xml file is by getting started from a simple copy and then relying on my IDE to warn me when I'm about to make a mistake. Come to think of it: I don't know when I last started a Java web app from scratch. The first thing I do is copy the configuration from an existing project and strip out everything I don't need.

I prefer scripting languages over a pure Java stack simply because I can reload the page and see what's happening with the new code. Yes, you can use JRebel, hook up a debugger and tweak settings to get some hot code replacement, but they've always failed me at one point or another, resulting in hours of fun. The compile-check-fix-compile cycle gets under my skin, especially when you're using frameworks and libraries that take a minute to bootstrap.

The JSTL is not a factor in speeding up development. A lot of people even prefer a Velocity or Freemarker template engine when they are using Java. And I've never worked with MyBatis but have done plenty of projects with Hibernate/JPA and let me tell you: I've often come at a point in a project where I was wondering how much time I had saved by not writing the easy SQL queries and how much time I had lost by trying to work around some random restriction in the Hibernate API. For all the "hate" Django's ORM gets, I've never run into the same obstacles.

With all that said, the Play! framework addresses a lot of these issues and is a lot more fun to work with.

Last time I checked there was no way of getting those images working outside of Virtual PC.

1. Spreadsheet shared through Dropbox 2. No, no problems

I think ppk is wrong here. Completely wrong.

As mentioned in the comments of the article, this would mean the first to implement a new feature would be able to define how it works. Not a good idea. We need some form of consensus.

And also mentioned: some things do change. The definitions of border-radius for Gecko and Webkit are not the same at all.

Add doubleclicking to that list, because that's my preferred way of selecting a line of text. Unfortunately a lot of people also doubleclick on links.

I guess there's a lesson here: don't try to chase a higher conversion rate by getting in the way of "savvy" visitors. Still, it's a good idea once you cover all the edge cases.

I guess you're not one of those people that selects text as you're reading. :)

I use Sifter and love the way it looks and works, but the lack of any kind of API is starting to get on my nerves.

You should have a look at Flying Saucer/xhtmlrenderer (https://xhtmlrenderer.dev.java.net/). It handles every CSS rule I could throw at it. If you simply need a commandline app converting a XHTML file into a PDF, you're done in 10 lines of code.

Or the LED Icon Set: http://led24.de/iconset/

(Though they look a lot like the Silk icons.)

... then why are businesses in Western Europe outsourcing to Ukraine, Romania and Estonia? There's still a divide.

No, he's talking about programmers who want to sell software without spending time on marketing it to their potential customers. Unless you've got an incredible product you'll have to get off your ass at some point and actively try to sell it. That's where the procrastination part pops up and I've been guilty of this myself.

If you or your friend are not comfortable with anything else, stick with plain Java. Check out the Play framework if you really want to prevent boredom because you've all done it before. Or Groovy.

If you don't want to do Java projects in the future, I suggest getting comfortable enough with other languages and frameworks on your own time.

For now: what's wrong with "RESTful" URLs? And you do understand you're not required to use 4 different layers in Java either, right?

You're right that it would be easier if some things were set to a reasonable default.

But if you want it right now: create a custom command to do it your way and wrap it in an app that you add to the path. When you start a new project, the first thing you do is add the application to your installed apps and you can use it over and over again.

The keyword is "static". You'll often want to use a mock implementation rather than connecting to a remote server, checking for a 404 error and returning true or false - every time you run your tests.

Loosely coupled objects will allow you to do that, but how would you redefine the behavior of something static?

Sifter: http://sifterapp.com/

While I truly applaud you for trying to build at least something yourself, I have to ask why you think you need to do that? I, as a programmer, wouldn't expect you to build a prototype. What I _would_ expect is a very detailed list of use cases that shows you've thought this through.

Sure, that's not something you can simply show in a five minute conversation, but mockups are great for this purpose.

I don't think you're missing out on a lot, and that's coming from someone who uses both Spring and Django daily. There are a lot of Spring projects, but just to give you an example: - Spring Security --> django.contrib.auth - Spring MVC --> well, Django urls, models, views and templates. - Spring Core/Beans (the dependency injection part) --> do you think you need it?

In the average JEE project, that's all you'll be using as far as Spring goes. Or maybe add Spring Integration or Spring Batch.

I think the estimate is good. When I write 100 LOC, it probably won't be correct the first time. So I go back, fix, test and fix again. While having another look at it I notice that some things can be condensed or replaced with existing code. When I'm done I end up with half the code I started with. So: did I just spend an hour on 100 LOC or 50 LOC?

Here you go then: http://code.google.com/p/modwsgi/wiki/VirtualEnvironments

You mean something like South (http://south.aeracode.org/)? Did you have any problems using it or did you prefer something else?

It would be nice to see something like this incorporated into Django itself, but I guess you can't expect it to bake you a cake, manage your finances and provide you with an easy way to build websites all in one single package. But a man can dream.

Graphic design. But it looks like few are reading the article that thoroughly anyway. ;)

I have to agree with the article up to a certain point though: creating mockups helps me find out what I need to build. Of course, creating a graphic design is something entirely different.

Yep, I'd suggest giving Adobe Air a spin. With some plain HTML, CSS and JavaScript you can create a decent (enough) cross-platform application. If you need an idea to get started, have a look at http://github.com/roam/morse/tree/master.

Maybe it is crap, but this has nothing to do with the people of North Korea. It's (allegedly) their government. The one that also has the ability to manufacture and launch rockets. How many bottles of shampoo could you buy with that?

A Google cache text-only version that doesn't burn your eyes out: http://74.125.77.132/search?q=cache:zNgbhUvoAokJ:majewsky.wo...

Such frameworks do exist. Spring, amongst others, allows you to do that in the Java world (http://springframework.org/).

Edit: because a simple link to the website won't tell you a whole lot about the idea behind it, here's a shot at explaining the basic premise of the core of the Spring framework.

Instead of hard wiring objects, you let Spring handle it for you through dependency injection. You simply specify that you want an "authentication" object and the framework will go ahead and look it up. Whether it's an LDAP authentication object or something for a different backend is determined by the context, which you can specify in XML or annotations.

Clickable: http://mychipper.com/

I like it. Nice and clean, the charts are exactly what I'd need and the options to view daily and monthly reports are good. Maybe it's a bit too minimal: use a bit of a gradient on buttons, use alternate background colors for the expense list; get a bit of color in there. And I'd change the "Reason" label to "Category".

"Also, have an option for password recovery that doesn't require the registered email address. I have a couple of dead accounts because the email address I used to register is no longer active and I can't recall the password. Yet, the reminder is sent to that address"

Err... how exactly would that work? Just because you know the username and/or email address you should be able to reset the password?

Does anybody here have an idea that could work?

Edit: to clarify: I'm not a huge fan of the "Your question/Your answer" approach either.

It looks like the IE8 marketing team is completely losing it. I'm dumbfounded.