February 28, 2005

Recent quotes on StylusStudio.com inside the latest 'the scoop' online publication

So I got an email last week asking if I wouldn't mind allowing a snippet from my " on Stylus Studio and Oxygen -- Suddenly I'm a man with two tool-based love affairs going at once" post from two weeks ago to be used in a future marketing piece for Stylus Studio. I earned a t-shirt out of "the deal" to add to my son's computer industry t-shirt collection :) and I truly meant the comments in which they recently listed as part of their "REAL CUSTOMERS WHO SWITCHED TO STYLUS STUDIO 6" page. I should note that while I do plan to continue use of Stylus Studio past the end of my trial date, I still am very much tied by personal preference and choice to ]]> XML as my primary editor, using Stylus Studio for some very granular and intricate work in which they have built some excellent utilities for.

Extending my view point from that post I honestly believe that these two tools are different enough in focus and feature strength that you can easily justify having them both as mandatory elements in your XML development tool box.

There's one thing that struck me as funny though when visiting this customer page on StylusStudio.com. While the quote that is attributed to me is the seventh one down on the list the first quote listed is actually from me as well...

If you follow their link you will notice the comment came from a November post to XSL-List in which I, how should I say, expressed my feelings of disappointment in Altova for making certain claims regarding their "XSLT 2.0 compatible processor" which if you follow the thread you will notice DaveP properly recognizes the keyword "compatible" as a clever variant to the word "compliant".

Beyond showcasing the quotes (we consultant's need to always be looking for boosters to our positioning statements to clients so while it probably seems like an attempt at "boasting" in reality -- well, I guess its tough to shake the boasting label but for the purpose of increasing ones value in the marketplace a little self-promotion is Ok, right? :D

While you contemplate your feelings on such matters I will quickly take a moment to give both Sync.ro Soft and Data Direct (OxygenXML and Stylus Studio development companies respectively) a bit more air time as they both deserve it for making some pretty fantastic products. And props to both of them for building tools that have no need for clever "disguises" to try and suggest something that they are not. You are what you are and if you're not what you want to be, don't just say you are and hope nobody notices. They will. They always do.

Posted by m.david at 04:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 26, 2005

My current reading list -- Can you guess what project I might be preparing for?

If you can, let me know, would ya? :D

Posted by m.david at 02:23 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 25, 2005

Top 10 Reason's CSS's Death is *LONG* overdue

Ok, I plan to add to this list as I continue to discover reasons why CSS should have died long ago, if only it hadn't taken as long as it has to get somewhat widespread tool and processor support for SVG.

Reason #10:

After nearly 10 years (or has it been more than 10 years -- it seems like 50 to me) the coolest graphic rendering "trick" that can be performed is to round the corners of my rectangles via -moz-border-radius which, technically speaking, is not even correctly implemented according to the CSS 3 spec (based on the info contained in my copy of the 2002 published "Dynamic HTML - The Definitive Reference" from O'Reilly.) NOTE: See the main page of this site to see a sample (if using Mozilla-based browser) -- the site is obviously still undergoing dev work :)

Whats even more amazing is that three years after this title was published it is still accurate which means that in three years, unless the CSS 3 spec has adapted to Mozilla, nothing has changed! 3 YEARS LATER and a hack is still the only available implementation in Mozilla!!! And this just to round the corners of a rectangle!!! And it was the excitment that stemmed from my brain when I realized "Hey, I can round these corners, can't I!" that forced the realization that if after 10 years rounding the corners of a rectangle, using a HACK none-the-less, was enough to get me excited -- then I'm staring down at a very old and sick and ready to die technology.

Nice effort CSS! You're only about, oh, 8 years or so too late on this one... So close, you were oh so close....

I have no doubt that I will find reason #9 soon... stay tuned.

DISCLAIMER: I am not suggesting that I no longer plan to use CSS nor do I think its a horrible technology. Its just not well suited to take on the competition in SVG, XAML, and XUL. And I don't need to be a Seer or a Prophet to know that SVG is about to take the Web by storm and that XAML and XUL will be handling the .NET and Mozilla-based applications. Not sure what will become the defacto-declarative XML-based GUI language for Java but its a safe bet that it WON'T be CSS (you would first have to be a declarative XML-based syntax just to make it into the qualifying round!) and more than likely will be SVG given that there are already several Java-based engines available and what seems a huge amount of recent tool support. Sorry CSS, to little too late.

Posted by m.david at 10:43 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

February 24, 2005

How to win over my immediatte affection - or - How to get sent out on the 'big feed' of XSLTBLog just because you made me laugh

I recently received the following email:
--
Hi,

I have two things on the agenda this morning, first the self-promotion;

1) In frustration over some legacy XML/XSLT code, I did a full
rewrite of them and decided to tell the story at
http://shelter.nu/blog-132.html which may or may not be of interest.

2) Your XSLT blog looks dreadful in Opera. Just thought you'd like to know. :)

Kind regards,

Alexander
--

Well Mr. Alexander, as I mentioned in my response email to you I truly appreciate honesty so in return I am posting this such that others can get a chuckle and then maybe learn a thing or two from the article you posted.

Cheers!

<M:D/>

UPDATE: Yikes! It does look horrible in Opera! I thought it was only because I forced the user to have client-side XSLT to be able to render the main section properly, but no, in fact it just flat out looks *AWFUL*! Hmmmm.... I thought I was CSS-compliant... I'll have to look further into this one.

UPDATE Feb. 28th, 2005 > I've updated the base code for the main page such that at last check the layout renders well enough in Opera such that, >> Continued >>

For the most part, it seems to look Ok in Opera. The existing issue left is the fact that because Opera doesn't support client-side XSLT it does not render the main content section as it should. I initially was at odds as to whether or not I should force anyone using a browser that does not support client-side XSLT ((Safari/Konqueror)<Will support via libxslt in next release/(Opera)< no known plans for any future support) to either use a browser that does support C-S-XSLT or to access and render the Atom feed (the Atom feeds on this site contain the full content of each post) for each of the sections desired, which to me seemed like a fair trade-off as it wasn't keeping anybody from accessing the content, just not everyone could do it directly from the page served up at xsltblog.com domain. But while we dream about the great and wonderful benefits of the fantastic new web we are all taking a part in building -- the ideal world in which the web is a series, sequence, or completely unrelated list of XML-based data feeds in which we use a reader of our choice to access and then render locally using our own machines hardware resources that world is not yet here. Even though the general focus (hinted towards in the domain name *XSLT*Blog.com) of this blog could probably justify forcing the C-S-XSLT hand of the visitor this steps away from the premise and thus the spirit of a Domain Specific Language -- to do a specific job and do it well to then get out of the way and let another DSL take over with its task etc...

Within the spirit of DSL there exists the allowance for the fact that there are cases that *THE* DSL of choice is not available and therefore an alternative method should be provided, so far as the alternative provides adequate capabilities to correctly finish the job it is asked to do -- and then get out of the way like a good DSL such that the process can continue forward. In many ways this is exactly how the future of the web will operate -- using MIME-types and meta-data to describe the data contained in the message that when received by a message processing and data rendering engine can be properly passed to an installed component on the client system, allowing this local domain to determine its own prefered method for rendering this message.

The unfortunate side of this in the current sense is that we are currently living within a WorldWideWeb in which Applications (e.g. IE, Netsape/Mozilla/Firefox/Galeon, Evolution, MS Office, OO.org, etc... etc... etc.. are the master of the indiviudal domains (our personal machines), not individual components, processing and rendering engines, or the likes of a typical member within a DSL "Utopian" community like that described above. As such building systems that center themselves around this dream world in which we are in process of building doesnt make a whole lot of sense just yet. These domains (both Man and Machine) will need time to adjust both the capability and the overall mentality to do things certain ways -- a process that has killed the dreams and ambitions of hundreds of thousands of great ideas that were simply too early, too late, or simply not executed to allow for the fact that, while a fanastic idea, the world adapts slowly to change and most business models are falsely centered around the perception that this product fills an immediate need and therefore will take the world by storm, making millions, even billions for all those in whom own a stake in these ideas.

So, after all of this I probably could have just said "I will be implementing a system such that any browser can view the content of the site no matter what client-side capabilities do or do not exist. Realistically I can't promise when that may be -- soon? yes. -- how soon? depends on some other unknown factors at the moment. I'm behind -- in some cases *WAY_TO_FAR_BEHIND* -- on some projects and until these are brought into proper scheduling alignment any and all site updates will be coming in little spurts usually at moments when my brain needs a break from its current task, a change in "code" scenery a proven tactic that more often than not gets me back on track while at the same time piecing together another project that otherwise would be left by the wayside.

Ok, I think thats enough of an update on this one as I believe I have sufficiently beaten this one to death...

Hope your day is spectacular!!! :D

Posted by m.david at 07:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Ajax: A New Approach to Web Applications

adaptive path � ajax: a new approach to web applications

A Quick Note: In taking a moment to do a site design status check I noticed that if you attempt to leave a comment on the main blog it sends you to a search results page with no results, telling you how to properly enter your search phrase. I've kind of been wondering why the last 3 weeks have been "dead in the comments water" and now I know why. I will get that fixed a bit later this morning. My apologies to you if you have left a comment and it was never approved. I never got it!

If anything about current interaction design can be called “glamorous,” it’s creating Web applications. After all, when was the last time you heard someone rave about the interaction design of a product that wasn’t on the Web? (Okay, besides the iPod.) All the cool, innovative new projects are online.

Despite this, Web interaction designers can’t help but feel a little envious of our colleagues who create desktop software. Desktop applications have a richness and responsiveness that has seemed out of reach on the Web. The same simplicity that enabled the Web’s rapid proliferation also creates a gap between the experiences we can provide and the experiences users can get from a desktop application.

I've got two comments regarding this post.

- This is a really cool article and worth every moment of your day spent reading.
- Wow! Thats a *REALLY BIG* picture of Jesse James Garrett there on the left hand side. If the idea is to intimidate the reader into buying into Ajax -- well at least its intimidating -- 'er something :)

Enjoy your day!

[UPDATE: In reading through this again I am left with this impression that the "Ajax" approach is something that Adaptive Path is attempting to label or define as their own innovative idea. Maybe I'm just reading it wrong so my apologies if I am but this "idea" is nothing new and certainly companies like Google and Amazon, while no doubt there is an "engine" of some sort in place, are not calling it an "Ajax Engine." I bring this up only because I have seen companies make an attempt before at suggesting *THEY* are the ones that developed these ideas and "see, companies like Google, Amazon, and Flickr are using *OUR* engine." I don't want to make accusations but I do want to point out that these "ideas" are nothing new and in reality it was the introduction of XMLHTTP from Microsoft that made this "idea" a reality which is exactly where XmlHttpRequest in Mozilla etc... has blossomed from.

Again, my apologies if I misinterpreted the content of this article. Its a good article as long as "Ajax" is thought of in the sense Adaptive Path's label of an approach already in place in a number of main stream web applications such that Google, Amazon, and Flickr have developed.

Posted by m.david at 06:13 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

February 22, 2005

The Sinclairian Generation? First Micah Dubinko, now Ted Wallingford -- Can I please have a show of hands from anyone else who wrote their first line of code in TS-Basic?

Skype Looks More and More Like a Baby Microsoft

At the end of this linked article you will find a brief introduction into Ted Wallingford's Information Systems career that reads as follows:

Ted Wallingford began working with information systems at the age of 7, when his father brought home a used Timex Sinclair 1000 computer and a notepad of hand-written BASIC programs from a garage sale.

Let me introduce you to a piece of the introduction to my resume:

...My passion for software development began in 1983 when my father, looking for a way to help satisfy his 11 year old sons infatuation with computers and technology, purchased a Timex Sinclair 1000 (with the 16k expansion pack of course!) and further bribed, threatened, or in other ways unknown to me secured from my brother and sisters possession an old 11-inch black and white TV to plug it into. I was HOOKED! I enrolled in my first programming class in Jr. High in 1984 and in one form or another have been hacking ever since.

I was running through Micah Dubinko's archives the other day and discovered this post entitled "From the manual of the T/S 1000, my first computer".

Any more Sinclairians out there? ...

Although it's only two these are the very first instances of other 'Sinclarian' hackers I have discovered since that fateful date in '83 when Code and I first met ("It was like Peas meetin' Carrots and realizin' a destiny had just been fulfilled!"). With the closeness in discovery I wonder if maybe we are entering a "Generation of Sinclairians" with similar "first line of code" stories. Mine, by the way, was a "Fireworks" program that I tapped onto the flat plastic surface via some programming magazine my Dad bought. He probably thought it would be necessary, not realizing that a true blooded hacker at the age of 11 has no need for a manual. He just needs to be left alone in a room for about ten days and eventually after enough pounding he'll get something to compile (yep, the whole "Room full of Monkeys" analogy fit my early days to a T -- Wait, hold on... If after reading this last line your first reaction was "what do you mean, early days? Does yesterday still count as 'early'?" your'e a mean jerk and I don't like you anymore! I'm taking my blog and going to hack somewhere els--- You know, maybe this isn't the proper place to be having an "insecure hackers" episode :) Ok, I'll let you play with my Timex Sinclair :) (If I can find it that is... For all I know it was *MY* T/S 1000 that Ted's father purchased at a garage sale as it seems the last time I remember seeing that thing was round about the same time I picked up my first TRS-80 (Oh Glory Day!) that became my T/S 1000's replacement, or about 1985 if I am remembering my dates correctly...

If you are one of the "lucky ones" enjoy your T/S 1000 induced hacking day!

Posted by m.david at 08:28 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 21, 2005

For all you lovers of CGI out there -- I've got a question for you...

Why?

Thats it, thats the question. A simple one word question. If you're unsure as to what I mean let me expand it a bit.

Why in the hell would you ever want to put yourself in that type of programming and server performance hell as to continue to keep building applications in this single-threaded nightmare of a technology? I don't get it. Its the most God-Awful thing I have *EVER* had to deal with from a server programming stand point. I'm not saying that I'm not missing something. I'm just saying if I am it sure the hell isn't obvious.

Please, if you have the answer... keep it to yourself... Cuz' I don't want to hear about why you have justified such a horrific idea as to think you can squeeze any amount of performance out of that... that... that.... that thingawhatever you wanta call it. Its *AWFUL*!!!

Oh, and by the way...

If you are trying to track-back my server and have discovered the capability no longer exists, returning a 404 error code instead of a scrap of XML to play with when your through. Thats 'cuz I just *RIPPED* out mt-tb.cgi from its single-threaded stranglehold on my server as some porn spammer decided to single ping, ping, ping, my single-threaded server to death all morning long. Apparently either MovableType, Apache, or Suse Linux 9.1 has been default configured to kill the entire server if a process takes up too much processor for too much time or with too many consecutive threads or something else all together. But whatever it is (and no, I don't plan on spending the time to track it down -- if you know, please don't tell me -- I don't want to know) its caused my server here in Salt Lake to kill all processes and terminate itself from existence 5 times. I'm done. Thats it! *NO_MORE_CGI* for me! Well, except for XSLTWiki... But you can't send TrackBack pings to the MediaWiki software so I'm feeling pretty safe on that one. But all of my blog stuff is getting moved to home-brewed ASP.NET-based code running into Mono through Apache, via mod_mono. Once I have reached a level of production ready code then I plan to move the busier sites this server is serving up to the main x2x2x.org servers and continue to use this one as my research and development server as it has been a fantastic server in that regards. But as far as allowing the MovableType cgi-script access to this machine again....

Not in a million *FUCKING* years!

Peace, love, and happy Multi-Threaded server apps to you all :)

Posted by m.david at 10:23 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 19, 2005

<XSLT:Wiki/> is now live at XSLTWiki.com

I have finally taken the time to get the XSLTWiki.com site set-up such that it is now ready for whomever feels so inclined to begin creating content for the rest of to enjoy and for all of the world to benefit from.

As I have noted in the entry page for this Wiki:

While I have absolutely no problem keeping this project going forever, covering the cost of hosting, etc... I have no plans to integrate any sort of advertisements, etc... and simply ask that if you are kind enough to enter content into this Wiki that you respect the fact that this is not intended to be some sort of "Open Advertising" program for whatever product it is that you may be selling. While I encourage tool and processor vendors to jump in and create content for your particular product I would hope that you would respect the intended purpose of this Wiki, pointing visitors to your site for more information and leaving the "sales pitch" for when they get there. Thank you in advance for your understanding :)

The rest of this entry is contained in the extended portion of this entry or simply just visit the Wiki and read it there :) Please note that just like 3 months ago when I started this blog as a complete and total "Blog Greenie" I too am a "Wiki Greenie". While I have my ideas on some cool content and extended features I am going to be learning all about this somewhat new and exciting publishing medium as the next few months continue forward. As such I ask for your forgiveness ahead of time if something isn't working right or is configured incorrectly. I've chosen the MediaWiki (Wikipedia folks) software for this site so I have no doubt that things will be just fine. But I'll leave this disclaimer in just in case I've messed something up or configured something wrong :)

With that, enjoy! :)

Welcome to <XSLT:Wiki/>!

This is just the beginning of what I hope will turn into a fantastic community effort to create Wiki-based documentation for everything that is XSLT 1.0, XSLT 2.0, EXSLT, FXSL, and any other XSLT extension libraries as well as the processors that support these languages.

NOTE: This is in no way an effort to replace things like the XSL-List FAQ or any other documentation such as what is found on EXSLT.org or processor specific documentation particular to any of the XSLT processors in existence. Instead, this is meant to enhance what already exists by creating definitions of elements, attributes, and coding methods such at the Meunchian Method as well as sample usage for each entry. If you decide that you want to create content for something that is already covered in any existing XSLT resources I simply ask that you first create links to any resources that you know of (such as Dave Pawson's excellent XSL-List FAQ, Jeni Tennisons XML pages, TopXML, etc...) that cover this same topic and then extend from the topics that are covered such that we are not duplicating that which already exists. If you notice something that somebody else has created that is covered somewhere else but does not have a proper link then please take the time to create that link such that others will know where to look first for these topics using this site as a secondary source of information for that topic.

With that, please, have at it :) I personally plan to take some time when it becomes available in my schedule to do some slight customizations to the UI (simple things like the logo and possibly the background. The MediaWiki folks have already created such a great UI such that there isn't any need to do much else than help people realize that they are at <XSLT:Wiki/> as opposed to a Wikipedia page) as well as begin to enter in the main topics (e.g. XSLT 1.0, XSLT 2.0, etc...) as well as all of the elements and attributes for these language implementations. But if somebody else beats me to it before I get a chance well then thats FANTASTIC! Isn't this what a Wiki is all about anyway: A community effort?! :)

Oh, and one last thing. While I have absolutely no problem keeping this project going forever, covering the cost of hosting, etc... I have no plans to integrate any sort of advertisements, etc... and simply ask that if you are kind enough to enter content into this Wiki that you respect the fact that this is not intended to be some sort of "Open Advertising" program for whatever product it is that you may be selling. While I encourage tool and processors vendors to jump in and create content for your particular product I would hope that you would respect the intended purpose of this Wiki, pointing visitors to your site for more information and leaving the "sales pitch" for when they get there. Thank you in advance for your understanding :)

With that, Enjoy!

Posted by m.david at 11:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 17, 2005

Community Calendar for Socorro, New Mexico - or - Is Bill Gates really an Alien?

El Defensor Chieftain: Community Calendar

I ran across this in my "start of the day" perusal around all that is the XML internet. I locate XML/XSLT/XPath/XQuery/XForms and XML Web Services related news and information from various sources, this one coming in a Google alert for the keyword "XML".

Take a look at the lineup for the community classes remaining this week across the Socorro, New Mexico area:

Wed/Feb. 16

Bookmobile — Reserve Rode Inn, 9:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m.; Rancho Grande Estates (at the Adobe Café), 2:30-3:30 p.m.; Luna Mercantile, 4-5:30 p.m.

WOW Luncheon Meeting, 12:15-1:15 p.m. — Socorro Public Library, 2nd floor meeting room. Women's Opportunities for Wellness will host a discussion concerning hospice care. The meeting is free and open to the public.

Chemistry Seminar, Noon — Jones Annex 101. Manoj Kumar will speak.

Introduction to XML, 5:30 p.m. — Speare 116. "The schema and its role in file validation: introduction to Relax NG." Free.

Psychology Club Movie Night, 7 p.m. — Weir 102. Watch a classic movie starring Jimmy Stewart and a 6-foot-tall invisible white rabbit. Admission is free, membership is not required.

Thu/Feb. 17

Bookmobile — Apache Creek Mercantile, 8:30-9:45 a.m.; Aragon Post Office, 10-11 a.m.; Datil Post Office, 1-3 p.m.; Magdalena (by the Chamber of Commerce), 3:45-5 p.m.

Geoscience Seminar, 4 p.m. — MSEC 101. Chris Fielding, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, will be the guest speaker.

Physics Seminar, 4 p.m. — Workman 101. Dr. Steward McKechnie, of ITT Industries Inc., speaks on "General Theory of Imaging through Atmospheric Turbulence with Large Ground-Based Telescopes."

Introduction to XML, 4 p.m. — Speare 116. "The schema and its role in file validation: introduction to Relax NG." Free.

Programming with Python, 5:30 p.m. — Speare 116. "Sequence types: lists and tuples." Free.

Library Seminar, 7 p.m. — Skeen Library, Tripp Room. Dr. Rob Bowman and Dr. Paul Tashjian speak on "Shallow Groundwater and Surface Water Geomorphology of the rio Grande Basin."

Fri/Feb. 18

Owl Bar Run, All Day — Runners, bikers and walkers are invited to participate. A 13-mile route from Tech Gym to Owl Bar. T-shirts free to participants. For more info, call (505) 835-5131.

NRAO Colloquium, 11 a.m. — Array Operations Center. Kevin Marvel, of AAS, speaks on "Astronomy Policy 2005."

Electrical Engineering Seminar, 2 p.m. — Workman 101. Dr. Tom Bilodeau, of State University of New York at Canton, speaks on "Electrostatic discharge sensitivity anlyses for GaAs microwave power amplifiers."

Hydrology Seminar, 3:30 p.m. — MSEC 101. Bill Woessner (Birdsall-Dreiss Lecturer) speaks on "Examining the Exchange of Groundwater with the Stream/Floodplain System: Physical, Thermal and Geochemical Approaches with Ties to Stream Renaturalization."

Mathematics Seminar, 4 p.m. — Weir 209. Dr. Kimberly Burch speaks on "Modeling Physical Properties of Alkanes."

Fri-Sun/Feb. 18-20

Marriage Enrichment Weekend — For more information, cal Joe & Millie Lopez, (505) 835-0264; or Arthur & Flora Olguin, (505) 835-4345.

Sat/Feb. 19

Rugby Match, 1 p.m. — Tech Athletic Field. Tech Pygmies vs. El Paso Scorpions.

---

Anybody want to bet that the next Bill Gates or Linus Torvalds comes from Socorro? I find it even more interesting to note that Microsoft actually opened it doors in the State of New Mexico before moving its headquarters back to the home town of Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Wait a second, I just suddenly realized... Roswell, New Mexico, Area 51, Microsoft, and now Socorro. It all makes sense now!!! ;) ;D

You know, I think theres a hidden message in this lineup of classes... Lets see, from yesterday we've got "Introduction to XML" which covers schema validation with RelaxNG and the "Psychology Club Movie Night" (I'm guessing that the movie night is code for some sort of secret Alien meeting or something... ;) Today we've got the "Geoscience Seminar", the "Physics Seminar", and the "Introduction to XML" presentation again (apparently it must be a popular class amongst the Aliens. Obviously they understand RelaxNG's superior nature! Wait, does that tie James Clark into this somehow? It would makes sense, now wouldn't it! Super-Intelligence = Super-Human = Alien? It's always a possibility! Wait... That must mean Michael Kay's in on this too!!! I knew it!) I'm noticing they all start at 4pm which to us it would be impossible to attend all 3 but to an Alien race who live in Space-Time the 4pm would be more representative of an address than an actual moment that will pass and never return again. And if I needed another sign to crack open my "Python in a Nutshell" title I purchased a few months ago when I posted the question "Am I the last person in the world who doesn't use Python?" well I think I may have just found it. Notice the title - "Sequence types: lists and tuples." I'm guessing now that you're probably not thinking I'm some sort of psycho-hacker-phreak from my "All the blogs a list item" post from last week. I may still be a psycho-hacker-phreak but maybe not for the reasons you thought I was a psycho-hacker-phreak. ;) :D

Tomorrows line-up is even better... I've always had an interest in Hydrology so as luck would have it theres a Hydrology seminar that starts at 3:30p.m. followed by a Mathematics Seminar at 4. I could start my day out right with the 13 mile Owl Bar Run but if that lasts all day how can I grab the Hydrol.... wait, I forgot, Space-Time Continuum... See how that works?! Pretty slick if you ask me :)

Diving deeper into my theory at 11a.m. (again, address, not time... must try and keep this straight :) we've got the NRAO Colloquium where at the Array Operations Center we've got "Astronomy Policy 2005" being presented by Kevin Marvel. Kevin Marvel? Come on... if you're going to try and come up with a fake name to cover your Alien identity at least choose something that didn't obviously stem from your childhood fantasy of being a Super-Hero! And to top it off you don't even hide the fact that you're presentation has to do with this years Astronomy Policy. Astronomy Policy?! Who needs a policy for the stars except for a race of Aliens zinging back and forth from New Mexico to the Mother Ship, wherever that may be (I'm guessing Sirius, the Dog Star, as a likely candidate... Damn! Is Tom Robbins and Alien too? I must say that anybody with that much talent is definitely suspect!)

If you need any more evidence look at the titles of the event lineup for Friday... "Electrostatic discharge sensitivity anlyses for GaAs microwave power amplifiers.", "Examining the Exchange of Groundwater with the Stream/Floodplain System: Physical, Thermal and Geochemical Approaches with Ties to Stream Renaturalization." (apparently the Aliens must figure that if they are going to gain brownie points with the natives they'd best put on a nice "Environmentalist" face), "Modeling Physical Properties of Alkanes."... These are the kinds of titles you find at the University of Washington's lecture board not on a Community Calendar!!! And look at the news clip title in the right column "Neighbors complain racetrack too noisy". Racetrack? Come on now... Try "Launch Pad"! And what about "Water is home for many creatures, students learn". Yeah, and so is Socorro!

It is nice to see that the Aliens in Socorro have good family values as they have devoted an entire weekend to Marriage Enrichment. I do find it strange that in the middle of Marriage Enrichment weekend they've got a Rugby match planned. But then again that just lends well to my idea that the Australians are Aliens too (I've got 23 cousins living in Australia -- I've known something was up for quite some time now ;) Notice the team names -- Tech Pygmies vs. El Paso Scorpions. Tech Pygmies? I'm going to leave that one alone cuz' that just scares me.

While I have no doubt now that Soccoro, New Mexico is a city full of Aliens I do wonder why the title "El Defensor Chieftain" for the local newspaper. What are they defending themselves against and whos their Chief? Wait... Is that where Bill Gates comes back into the picture... It all makes *SO_MUCH_SENSE*!

I think I'd best crack open my Python book now... :)

NOTE: For effect, I've added an "old-time" look-and-feel to the picture hoping that this might lure the Aliens into believing that I've been down with Python for "ages!" The need for this of course is based on the belief that at some point in the future the Aliens might decide to eat all of the natives who don't buy into their way of thinking. "I'm buying baby! I've been buying your ways for years -- see, heres evidence -->" and show them the picture above (I'll have to carry a copy in my pocket everywhere I go, just to be safe.) Thats what I'll be saying when I'm being hunted by one of the Aliens and they have me cornered and there's no where else to run. Might I suggest you do the same (lets just hope they don't read my blog! :)

Enjoy your day!

Posted by m.david at 12:08 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

February 16, 2005

Reversal: Next IE update divorced from Windows

Reversal: Next IE update divorced from Windows: ZDNet Australia: News: Security

NOTE: Apparently Microsoft does listen. Who'd of thought? ;)

Reversing a longstanding Microsoft policy, Bill Gates said on Tuesday that the company will ship an update to its browser separately from the next version of Windows.

A beta, or test, version of Internet Explorer 7 will debut this summer, Microsoft's chairman and chief software architect said in a keynote address at the RSA Conference 2005 in San Francisco. The company had said that it would not ship a new IE version before the next major update to Windows, code-named Longhorn, arrives next year.

Nice work Microsoft! Well, I'd best hold off until we see the result but I know that there is a lot of talent on campus, much of which is new blood waiting for a chance to shine. Lets hope they do!

Posted by m.david at 02:54 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 13, 2005

How to properly approach critcism and walk away with dignity intact - or - How Mr. Håkon Wium Lie just won over a *HUGE* amount of my respect from his comments to my post contending his viewpoint

Yesterday I posted a question of sorts wondering why it was that Microsoft had taken such a strange and hard stance against future IE6 upgrades wondering if this had anything to do with the settlement a few years back with the Fed's (US-based). I then proceeded to take a few of the points that Mr. Lie made in his "Opera to MS: Get real about interoperability, Mr Gates" post on The Register yesterday to task.

I am now going to post Mr. Lie's response, with a *GOLD STAR* I might add, on my refrigerator as a reminder on how to:

a) roll with the humor punches, avoiding comments or jabs back at the attempted comedian,

b) accept and respect the inherent criticism to then,

c) resist the temptation to defend the viewpoint, instead deflecting the comments by bringing out what the real point of the post was which was,

d) that MS implements poor HTML output that is rarely standards compliant and most often sloppy such that it may look Ok in IE given IE's embrace of rendering sloppy code to look half way decent to then look like crap in other browser because they did't take the time to rendered standards compliant HTML.

In his response Mr. Lie also links back to his personal page on the Opera site in which I had never seen before. After reading it I feel like we're old time chums from back in the day. WOW! Now that is a fine example of how to "keep things real"!

Not that I have ever disrepected Mr. Lie in any way whatsoever. Well I guess my comments yesterday showed some disprespect... but I am repenting of my evil ways. I still believe my client/server points are valid but I could honestly care less at this point as the way Mr. Lie handled even my "chop" at his name with dignity and humor was remarkable. And after visiting his personal page on the Opera site I am left here quiet with a whole new respect for Mr. Lie and for his company. I already had a lot of respect for Opera. Now I have more.

Thank you Mr. Lie for helping me see things from a different angle.

Now, about Opera's support for client-side XSLT -- What can we (the XSLT development community) do to help make that happen? ;)

Posted by m.david at 07:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Inspiration or insanity, either way, this is the result

I can't say for certain what got me going on this topic but I can say that I always seem to find inspiration when Simon St. Laurent puts his digital pen to his digital paper and publishes the result. Maybe its just that I have been staring at this "same old UI" for too many hours this weekend and got zapped by a couple of mutated photons speeding their way in my general direction. Or maybe Simon tends to simply inspire me, be it for good or bad, to write. I think there's enough evidence on this blog to suggest that maybe its just that I have an addiction to writing but either way this is result of my analysis that I recently left as a comment, errr, novel on Simon's latest post.

Whether the result is seen as good or bad, cheers to you Simon for always finding a way to inspire... :)

Being one who spent several years on Redmond campus working first with the team responsible for building and promoting CDF, the first XML implementation, and then the excitement that was the Windows CE group during its early day hype I had a really good chance to see from the inside what is rarely seen by anybody else not directly involved with the research arm of Microsoft. Like Mike Champion mentioned it was truly amazing to see the innovation that was and I assume still is taking place behind closed doors. I know for a fact that many of the projects I had the chance to see first hand are still very much alive and slated for release "when the market and hardware is ready". And this, I believe, is right at the very heart of the problem. On one side of campus you see massive innovation and on the other side massive frustration. Is this a sign of a controlled experiment taking place by the assumed evil MS underworld, giving half of campus a combination of SuperProzac, vitamin B shots, and laughing gas and the other half incremental doses of ricin and Vics medicated lozenges to distract them just long enough to take a whiffle ball bat to their head just for the hell of it. While I don't have any evidence to back up my claim my guess is that this analysis might be a stroke or two off from reality. But maybe thats just me. ;)

Coming at things from the other side now and living, at least partially-to-more-often-than-not, in the exciting world that is the Open Source community I see this amazing dynamic where through the hard work, commitment, dedication, and sacrifice of literally 1000's if not 100's of 1000's of individuals there is now the possibility that a significant portion of our technological future will be courtesy of Open Source software initiatives. And wouldn't it just be dumb luck (or maybe it was planned "luck", you never know with these things ;) that the most exciting project of them all at the moment is an implementation of the exact same software that they are building over on Microsoft campus. The irony, if not obvious, is that in one camp exists innovation and in the other segregation and yet they are both building their foundation on top of the same spec. So where's the problem?

I believe the problem exists in several key places. First, MS has been King of the Hill for quite some time now and from the very early days of the industry its not exactly like the best of feelings have been thrown in the direction of Redmond, WA (right next to where I grew up in Kirkland, WA -- so by default I've been watching this for quite some time now.) And MS has always focused on being different. When the rest of the industry shored up between San Francisco and San Jose MS instead chose a then small community in Washington State on the shores of a recreational lake no one could pronounce to call home. With all this "defection" that was seen as taking place and all of the money that began to flow towards the banks of Lake Sammamish, Redmond was an easy target to focus frustration when things didn't quite go as some of the '90's Gold Rush hopefuls had thought it would. I'm not suggesting that some or even all of this was not at least partially deserved, but instead that they were an easy target to point at simply because they were somewhere else on the map and that somewhere was no where near Silicon Valley. You don't have to be an industry insider to know that to talk ill will of those in whom you share fence-lines and PTA board memberships with is not always the smartest business decision. Deserved or not more often was the case that Redmond became the Voodoo doll pin cushion of the aggravated Silicon Valley Capitalist who simply didn't get what was seen as so rightfully deserved.

With the foundation firmly set in place by the start of the 90's MS has never been able to shake away from this stereotype. When at times they deserved the tongue lashing this was seen as proof that all the other times were deserved as well. But because of Moore's Law and amazing situation was taking place at just the right time in modern day history. In a period of less than 6 years we went from a foundation of 486 and Pentium I processors, each considered "Top of the Line" when they horded 32megs of RAM on their motherboards to a world in which Gigahertz processors cost less than $100 US dollars and RAM was becoming "EXPENSIVE" again when it rose from a quarter for a meg to .35 cents forcing us to pay the ridiculous asking price of $90 for a 256MBytes of RAM. What was amazing about this time was not the obvious delusion seen in the price of a RAM module but that we suddenly became enabled to process code at a rate in which innovation simply couldn't keep up.

But if all of these exciting things were taking place on Redmond campus then why were they not simply finding there way onto our PC dinner plates on a daily basis? Because these innovations were to far beyond what we were able, as a technology based economy, to consume. Consider the fact that the Tiger project, Microsoft's Video-On-Demand project from the early 90's, was developed and ready for release by the time Windows 95 was launched. The problem was (and still is 10 years later!) that the hardware infrastructure necessary to support such an operation simply did not exist and wasn't going to exist at any point in the foreseeable future in which economic investment to hold things until they were ready simply couldn't be justified.

What ultimately then became the innovation of the late 20th and into the 21st century, and the direct benefactor of all this processing power were hand held devices and video game consoles. And thats where we exist today. While the code already exists to take our computing experience to levels in which our machines literally become our friends and therapist, we are simply not ready. While the research has been going on for years that enables our computers to adapt our environment by changing colors and background music when it is noticed our mood is cycling up or down or increasing/decreasing the rate in which a Window is animated to help slow us down or speed us up such that we can properly pace our work day to be most effective, we as a society are just not ready to take that leap yet. So instead we are faced with staring at the same basic Office GUI we have been staring at for the last 10 years and we are left wondering where's the innovation. If you don't own one already go an take a look at an XBox or a Playstation gaming center. Take a look at the hand held devices in which marvels like my Archos Personal Video Recorder contain 20, 30, even 80 GIG hard drives and a LCD that produces an unbelievably clear picture and contains as much if not more TV programming as the Tivo I purchased for my mother this Christmas. And all in a more compact form factor than the Hand held PC's I used to evangelize in the mid-to-late 90's who's battery capacity insured that Duracell's and Energizers stock was quite possibly the smartest investment in 75 years! Compare that to my PVR in which I plug it into its charger maybe once every three days after having my headphones attached and WMA files blaring for hours on end while I hack at yet some more exciting code that may very well play a part, be it even a small part, in helping to change the lives of people living in a fledgling economy on the cusp of being able to understand and accept the next level of technological innovation and yet just barely are scraping by trying to keep a stocked table and steady supply of shoes that don't contain gaping holes for a majority of there lifetime of use.

I'm not talking of third world countries here. In fact in regards to third world countries there is not a person on this planet who could argue and not look like a complete idiot for doing so that there is any one person and subsequently company doing more for the development of third world countries than Bill and Melinda Gates (ooops,that two people isn't it? All the better!) and the Microsoft Corporation. So on one end you have 20+ Billion dollars being properly directed towards the countries in which computers mean nothing and simply a life past the age of 5 means everything. On the other end you have the Open Source community who collectively are helping to bring technology and innovation at the promise of no cost and no expectations to countries who have no problem living into adulthood but are constrained to reach that next level of sociological and economic advancement simply because the economy will not support it quite yet. Each side is significant. Each side necessary. And ironically enough were all building our foundation and basing our excitement on implementations of the the exact same technology specification -- the C# language and the Common Language Infrastructure.

How in the hell did that happen? ;)

You know, maybe we just need a few more years before we realize that things are not as bad as we think they are. Then again, maybe not. But if you have seen what I have seen and know whats just around the corner for our technological economy you'll then understand what I mean when I suggest that if we hang on for just a little bit longer while the infrastructure is finished being built and we further prepare ourselves for the changes that lay just a few years ahead then we may just be Ok. That is if we don't first go crazy from our intolerance of staring at the same old screen that contains the same old user interface with the same old applications we've been staring at for years. If not, then maybe that SuperProzac, Vitamin B, and happy gas experiment will find its way down the line and we wont give a damn about the state of things anyway. ;)

Cheers to you all! :D

<M:D/>

Posted by m.david at 11:15 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 10, 2005

on Stylus Studio and Oxygen -- Suddenly I'm a man with two tool-based love affairs going at once

You know I really don't know how to say the above statement in a way that doesn't take on a sort of kinky connotation while at the same time showcase the fact that I have discovered that I am quickly developing a relationship with Stylus Studio while still maintaing my commitment to OxygenXML as strong as it has ever been.

Is it possible to have an effective relationship with two tools at the same time without wavering in favor of one or the other in a moment of passion where you declare to the current tool in use that you are madly and forever devoted to it and it alone?

In all honestly -- I am beginning to believe that you can.

OxygenXML and Stylus Studio, at least in what I have discovered over the last few days, are both *VERY* good at their primary purpose and, at least in my particular case, what they are both very good at are two very different and yet very necessary aspects of XML software development. While I doubt highly I will ever give up Oxygen as my daily "workhorse" providing services for a majority of XML development needs I have discovered that Stylus Studio reaches a level of hard core detail fine tuning that in many ways is simply remarkable. If I were to list just one reason for each tool as to why I feel so strongly on this matter they would be as follows:

- Oxygen has a simple, clean, intuitive interface which is *EXTREMELY* powerful and integrates perfectly with Eclipse, providing a relaxing colorset that simply makes you feel at ease while working.

- Stylus Studio might as well be called "Swiss Army Knife Studio" as there is not one thing it does not have the capability to do. From analyzing and viewing your XML, Stylesheets, and now XQuery in any which way you could ever want to, digging down into the heart of a transformation for performance tuning in ways you didn't even realize was possible.

In many ways Oxygen is to RelaxNG what Stylus Studio is to Dimitres FXSL stylesheet library. Oxygen to me just feels comfortable and right much in the same way RelaxNG feels comfortable and right. Stylus Studio on the other hand has literally thought of everything you could ever need for XML/XSL/XPath/XQuery development much in the same way Dimitre has thought of everything you could ever need for XML transformation development bringing XSLT to the level of Turing completeness and beyond, especially in the 2.0 based libraries. While it would be difficult to be as cleanly designed as Oxygen, Stylus Studio has done a fairly nifty job of taking a billion utility tools and placing them into a location that doesnt require a whole set of specialty devices just to gain access to the specialty devices contained in the tool -- much like the Swiss Army Knife.

In conlusion, while I may have a bit of a *GULP* at the end of my trial month when I hand over my $500+ dollars (compared to $100+/- a few bucks depending on quantity and/or upgrade discounts for Oxygen) to purchase Stylus Studio I am sensing that it will be 500 bucks well invested into the "dig deep into the details" tuning of my future xml, stylesheets, and xquery files. You never know, maybe if I batt my eyelids and make kissy faces (none of which, I should add, George required of me when he donated 10 Oxygen licenses to the Saxon.NET project last year ;) :D) I can find my way into gaining some "extending viewing" privileges for the Saxon.NET team as well :D

I know what your're thinking, and you're right, I have no pride ;) But I think if you spent the amount of time I do with XML/XSL/etc... on a daily basis and you suddenly find that what little was missing from your relationship with Oxygen can be found in rich and overflowing treasure in Stylus Studio and yet Oxygen will still let you back in the door when you return from your "extra-curricular-activitees" with Stylus you just might be losing a bit of that pride yourself.

Oxygen -- already a *MANDATORY* element of my development day
Stylus Studio -- Quicking taking its place right along-side Oxygen
Both -- have a *VERY* bright future in my XML toolbox

The End.

Posted by m.david at 10:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 09, 2005

Comparing CSS and XSL: A Reply from Norm Walsh

XML.com: Comparing CSS and XSL: A Reply from Norm Walsh

This is WAY TOO GOOD not to send out on the big wire... I'll let Mr. Walsh do the rest of the talking.

A quick intro:

In Printing XML: Why CSS Is Better than XSL, H�kon Wium Lie and Michael Day launch an aggressive attack on my assertion that "web browsers suck at printing" and "CSS is never going to fix it." In retrospect, I regret the way that I expressed that. I suppose the shortest possible reply to their article would simply be "I was wrong. Cool!" For simple HTML documents, CSS can produce reasonable-looking print output. (Printing from web browsers still sucks, and I don't see any evidence that that's going to change in the near future, at least not for the web browsers with the largest market share.)

Posted by m.david at 08:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 06, 2005

All the world's a list item - or - How I rid my code of all those nasty divs, tables, and other annoying block-level HTML elements and replaced them with nothing but ul, ol, and li elements coupled with standard inline markup like a, p, h1, h2, etc...

k' call me crazy, you won't get an argument from me nor most who know me but I take a certain pride in my brand of crazy... the kind that finds me locked away in my DevNest day in an day out hacking at code until I have proven that what was once thought impossible (or in this case what I'm sure most will see as possible, just pointless) has been cracked wide open and exposed for how simple (or in this case, stupid) it really is.

If the title didn't give it away then let me clue you in to what I am refering to. If you view source on this site you will notice that what was once a series of nested div's coupled with various other inline elements is now nothing but ul, ol, and li elements. Why on earth would I do such a phreakish thing? There is a method to and reason behind my madness so hear me out before you write this off as just another lonely hackers psychotic endeavor into the utterly stupid and pointless. I promise I'll be brief (I gotta get back to my code! ;)

NOTE: I just realized you will need to go to the main page for the site as the archived pages are not updated with the new code base. You can access the main area here.

About a week or two ago it suddenly occured to me that a web design and development method that is now a fairly common CSS hack, that of using ordered and unordered lists to create script free block-level dynamic menus, could fairly easily be used to create an entire site... and in fact that's exactly what I have just proven. But why go to all this effort?

Simple.

Functional programming languages such as Lisp and Scheme have been built around the premise of List processing. Everything's a list, a TODO: (Oh crap, can I freely write that or do I have to pay royalties to Microsoft... they own the patent for those four letters and one symbol, right? ;) a task list if you will. Everything has a known start and stop point (I'm setting aside the fact for now that any number of the items on the task list can have a task list of its own which brings us right into the "bitter gall" that most people define recursion as being) before getting started and when that task list is complete the job is complete. Its really that simple. Much like mathematical... wait, let me start over... EXACTLY like a mathematical function can be thought of given that when you start "processing" the equation you have a known set of "variables" that are set (can you imagine if your Jr. High math teacher suddenly change the value of your variables half way through solving a problem... "What's 5 + 4 + 3?" she would ask and before you got to the third number in the equation she states "oh wait, little Charlie over there has decided he wants to change the 3 to a 7... you don't mind, do you?" Its no wonder I spent so little time in the classroom and so MUCH time in the principals office growing up... I wasn't a big fan of people mucking with my stuff... Little Charlie and I didn't get along all that well ;) :D

Ok, are you ready for my point? Again, it's simple. If we are moving towards a world in which functional languages like Lisp, Scheme, Haskell, or modern day derivatives such as Scheme.NET, F#, or maybe even my LispML project then why not begin to write code in a way that can easily be adapted to these programming styles. Won't this make our code that much easier to port to these new languages and technologies and furthermore, as in this particular case, allow the ability to use simple element structures and predictable element names to represent a hierarchal data structure of an entire web site? Whats even more cool about using this method is that I can use the same code base to:

- view my entire site in an outline view without changing one line of code. Simply change to a different CSS file and *WHAMO* I go from outline view to site view and back again. At the fundamental level I could even use something like Word(TM) or OpenOffice.org(TM?) to create an outline of a site and through a little bit of XSLT magic take that exact outline and immediatelly convert it into a living, breathing web site. Hell, I could even use PowerPoint(TM) if I became desperate enough ;)
- use the same markup to view, process, and reoutput the result of any particular process. Same elements that come in will go right back out, albeit in a reordered state.
- reduce my entire block-level element code base to three elements that always represent either a block of list items or a member of a block of list items leaving only anchor, parapraphs, heading, sup, sub, etc... elements to deal with/handle.
- lose any and all hardcoded structure from within a web page leaving a completely malleable source base instead. Instead of worrying about how I am going to markup a document to be properly represented to the end user I simply write a site outline and then apply a predefined stylesheet to it or allow the end user to apply one that he or she prefers. While one person may prefer to view the site in a text browser like Lynx another may prefer to view it completely structured into a modern-day dynamic view similar to the way I am pushing this site towards. NOTE: Please disregard the mess... the site is obviosly still in a "work-in-progress" state. I actually plan to call the first phase "code complete" either today or tomorrow and then move to test.xsltblog.com for the next phase of development -- integration with Saxon.NET and server-side data processing via both Windows Server 2003 running .NET 1.1.xxxx as well as Mono's CLI runtime implementation -- leaving the main site as is (well, as it will be after its cleaned up a bit more) and moving towards a release-schedule such that you don't have to fumble your way through the site anymore like you have over the past few weeks.

I could go on but I will save you from my continued banter and simply let you decide if this is something meaningful to you or not. If yes, then stay tuned for a follow-up post later in the week that ties this concept together with the early stages of the LispML project, Atom, RSS, blogs in general, and a few other suprises I may or may not have ready for viewing by then.

Until then, enjoy!

BTW... The one thing I thought was going to be the hardest thing to create, that of the calendar on the left hand side, was actually the easiest. I mention this as I found it amazing to discover how easy it was to implement this concept, even at levels that seemed liked they could have been a bit more difficult than others to implement. The fact that I am amazed is actually the amazing part as this concept is nothing new and in fact is second in age only to Fortan in regards to programming language paradigms still in use today. I guess what amazes me is that I haven't seen anybody use this method as a base for HTML web development. I'm not suggesting that I am the first or that this is something that isn't already in heavy practice in some area of the web that I am unaware of... I just haven't seen it yet. If you know of something similar to this please let me know as I would love to chat with anybody else who may have gone through a similar excercise. I think its a neat idea that has promise, especially if there are others who already feel the same way.

Also, please disregard the chaotic state in which the CSS is in right now as it contains a ton of attributes/properties/values that are completely unnecessary and only represents various stages and forms in which this research project took over the last few days of development. Tomorrow I plan to put this into a combination of a LispML/AspectXML source base that can then be processed by Saxon.NET to build a much cleaner and completely dynamic representation of this same code base.

Posted by m.david at 11:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 05, 2005

Week in Summary

One of the nice things about locking myself away in my little DevNest in the sticks of Northern Utah is that I am able to get a lot of work done without any interuption. Well, I guess that "without interuption" bit all depends on whether you consider it an interuption when your server located in your downtown Salt Lake City apartment goes down and you don't know why and the only way to get it back online is to rush yourself away from your nice-and-cozy DevNest, test the Utah State Highway Patrol's willingness to let you fly by them at mach speeds so that you can bring your currently crippled server back online... If you don't consider that an interuption then I highly recommend this "interuption free" approach to getting all you can and more out of the 24 hour period you have each day to write code.

With my server back online (my apologies to any of you who paid a visit to xsltblog.com, alphacomega.com, understandingxslt.com, understandingxml.com, or weblog.saxondotnet.org only to find them inaccessible!) and nestled back in my cozy DevNest I can now spend the time to get the "Week in Summary" post published. As such here goes...

Looks like Gmail is going "PrimeTime"

It seems that sometime between last night and this morning 46 new invitations have been added to my Gmail invite tally... Does this suggest Google will be going public with Gmail in the near future. I would take it as at least a pretty good sign for sure.

disable output escaping hack for Mozilla (works in IE too)

For those of you looking for a client-side hack for "disable-output-escaping"-like functionality here's a little javascript hack I wrote to take an XML string and unescape the <, >, and & escaped XML encodings.

via Mike Champion | XML and Lisp/Scheme

Mike Champion recently pointed out a nice link to a BYU project that nicely pulls together XML and Lisp. In fact I have a project much like this called LispML that I am working on so its nice to see that others see the value in this as well.

A nice thread on XSLT extensibility

Dimitre Novatchev recently responded to a post to XSL-List with some nice coverage of the extensibility of XSLT.

ANN: nxslt.exe (.NET XSLT Command Line Utility) version 1.5

Congratulations to XSLT:Blog Legends of the XSLT Community member and Microsoft XML MVP Oleg Tkachenko for his recent version 1.5 release of nxslt, a command-line utility for implementing System.Xml.Xsl-based transformations.

The BBC, Mozilla.org, and Microsoft to provide keynote speakers f or XTECH 2005 -- registration now open

If you needed any other reasons to schedule a flight to Amsterdam during the last week of May heres three more...

* Paula Le Dieu, Co-Director, Creative Archive, BBC
* Jean Paoli, Senior Director of XML Architecture, Microsoft
* Mike Shaver, Mozilla Foundation and Oracle

Call for Participation

Simon St. Laurent recently announced a call for participation for the O'Reilly Open Source Convention that will be held in Portland, OR between August 1st and 5th, 2005. If I can get my eggs into the proper baskets in time I plan to submit a proposal for Saxon.NET and another unannounced open-source project of mine but either way I will most definitely be in attendance so if you will be too lets plan lunch! :)

via XML:Dev > ANNOUNCE: Rx4RDF and Rhizome 0.4.3

As pointed out in this announcement by Adam Souzis:

Rx4RDF is application stack for building RDF-based applications and web sites implemented in Python. Rhizome is a Wiki-like content management and delivery system built on Rx4RDF that brings the Wiki metaphor to building dynamic web sites.

Sounds pretty sweet! Now I just need to follow-up with my agenda to learn Python! :)

Where Should XML Go?

There has already been quite a bit of coverage on this, especially on xml-dev as the "[xml-dev] xml 2.0 - so it's on the way after all?" reaches strains to reach the "permathread" status. In making an attempt to keep myself out of the waters of controversy that this topic can easily become flooded by I'll leave you to generate your own opinion from the above linked thread. Good luck! :D

via Linux Electrons | Bill Gates on Interoperability

If talk of XML 2.0 didn't hord all of your attention this week it would probably be because you were too focused on what Bill Gates had to say about Microsoft, Office, XML, and Interoperability. Elliotte Rusty Harold earned a much deserved spot this week (two actually) in the XSLT:Blog Quote of the Day section with some comments he had on the matter and this article showcases some nice coverage from a Linux perspective as well. Generally speaking I have more of a "Pro-Microsoft" stance on matters such as this mainly because I was, albeit for a short period, working for the Micorosoft Site Builder Network when the initiative came down to build and evangelize the Channel Definition Format which was the very first XML implementation to hit the mainstream. Microsoft has been there from the beginning and it can easily be argued that without Microsoft XML would be just another good idea that never really went anywhere. To take aim at Microsoft and suggest that they are not commited to XML and as such interoperability to me seems totally and completely... well, I'll hold back from any further comment because I don't want it to appear that I am calling anybody names or suggesting their opinions are not worth more than mine. Still, I will go as far as suggesting that if you feel that Microsoft isn't committed to XML and given that XML and interoperability, generally speaking, go hand-in-hand I will simply ask you this...

"Where in the fuck have you been the last 10 years?"

Do I need to point out that the .NET platform has been built around XML from the very, very beginning and that its only been recent years that Java has natively supported XML through extension projects such as JAXP? I was on the Passport team back in '99 when .NET and Hailstorm were reaching implementation status and I can assure you that XML has been at the development foundation from the very beginning -- which reminds me, when is Microsoft going to bring back the Hailstorm project? If Amazon can release A9 and Simple Message Queue and Google can release Gmail which so blatantly reads your emails and posts related links and ads to the right, and neither of them receive much more than a "hmmmm... not sure if we can trust these guys" [NOTE: I recognize there has been some serious warnings from some of the experts but it hasn't been enough to keep these products from receiving a halfway decent "blessing" from the press which in many ways is what killed the Hailstorm project] from the privacy advocates then why can't Microsoft provide storage-and-retrieval services for contacts and calendars? Don't get me wrong... I have nothing against Amazon and A9/SMQ nor Google and Gmail... but I also think that if Amazon and Google can release products that stomp on our privacy's foot and give it a wedgie to boot so then should Microsoft be able to release such products without receiving a "Storm of Hail" Fire from the same folks who have let Amazon and Google slide right in to our privacy graces. Come on folks, its time to stop holding one companies ability to cross the privacy line for ransom while letting other industry behemouth's slide right on through the back door without so much a flinch. Or if this is just not possible then have some balls and call the stops on these other two privacy-line crossing giants. Either way, show some consistency or show yourself the back door 'cuz I'm not listening to ya anymore.

Ok, now that I have made enemies with half of XML-land I should probably move on... Actually, I think thats probably enough for this post. I do want to cover the release of support for XForms from the Mozilla organization but Kurt Cagle has plans to do an in depth piece on this release and as such I will let his expertise garner the attention and respect it so rightly deserves. Once he has finished and posted his coverage I will point to it and let this be sufficient in regards to the coverage here on XSLT:Blog.

Until then... enjoy!

[NOTE: If you are wondering why I would post a comment from Elliotte Rusty Harold in regards to Microsoft and interoperability as a Quote of the Day only to then state that I feel differently on the matter the reason is simple. While I definitely have my opinions it would be unfair for me to not allow the opinions of others to gain "air-time". Its a good quote and its from Elliotte Rusty Harold and you are NEVER going to find me suggesting that my opinion is worth more than Mr. Harolds. He obviously and most definitely deserves precedence in your mind over whatever opinion I might have. But at the same time I'm not going to *not* say what my feelings are on a subject simply because someone else might disagree. Even when that person is someone like ERH. If there is one thing I have learned in life its that with proper information its a lot easier to both see and understand someone elses viewpoint and in many cases discovering such information can help reshape our own opinions on the matter. From my comments I may come to discover things that I had never known and obtaining this information, at least in my mind/opinion, is never a bad thing and always a good thing. As long as the sources of information are credible and based on fact rather than opinion I embrace learning more about any given subject matter. Sometimes the best way to discover new information is to contend against a subject matter you feel differently about based on your current understanding. Some of the best lessons I have learned and information I have gained has come from the mistakes I have made in comments. Then again, how can you help reshape another persons opinion if your'e not willing to speak out your own opinion based on the understanding that you have come to develop on any particular subject matter. As such my philosophy has always been and always will be (unless of course I receive better data to help reshape my opinion :D) to speak my mind and then learn from information I receive in response to this mind-speaking. You can call it a "twisted" way of learning but in response I will simply call it real. Borrowing from the title of Jeff Key's blog "It works on my machine." :D]

Posted by m.david at 09:28 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 04, 2005

It's Friday Evening. Do you know where your blog is?

You would have thought that I somehow had misplaced mine if you based this thought on the fact that as far as entries into the main feed of this site go I haven't made a post in over 4 days. This week has become somewhat of a scramble to finish the code on several projects, this site being one of them. I have continued posting content to the "In the News", "Announcement", and "Code of the Day" sections but as far as actually sitting down and writing my own content the week has been quite flat. Please don't take this as a sign of "lost interest" and simply "lost my mind" in trying to complete this sites features and functionality as well as a few other projects that have desperately needed my attention. I'm still a bit off from having this complete and tonight will not be much help as I have a family gathering that is taking place as I write. However, once things have settled later this evening I will sit myself down and do a complete an proper summary of the weeks happenings. I also have planned a "state of the site" posting in which I will showcase where the site is currently, how it works, how it was built, and whats in store for the next installment. I doubt much I will get to that tonight but we'll see how the rest of the evening plays out.

Plan for a "return to normal" posting mode to take place this weekend as well.

Until then... :) <M:D/>

Posted by m.david at 06:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack