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FOSS Integration Software Study

john joseph roets — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 00:07:22 +0000

In Can OSS Integration Server Software Enable EAI/BPM, Dennis Byron discusses whether open source software can compete in the integration server market.

Research has shown that often when cost is such an inhibitor, open source software (OSS) can help…On the other hand, everyone agrees that BPM/EAI/integration software is among the most complex software developed and offered in the market. Therefore—conventional wisdom says—it is no place for the OSS culture and development model…Conventional wisdom is wrong again.

createTank’s elemenope SOA framework is mentioned as one of the few FOSS competitors in the market area.

The elemenope framework is a classic integration server based on both OSS terms and conditions and OSS culture. It has been in development since 1999, almost since the start of the integration server era, and it has also enabled a service-oriented architecture (SOA) since before that term became popular.

Worth a read…
Can OSS Integration Server Software Enable EAI/BPM?
http://www.ebizq.net/hot_topics/open_source/features/8804.html
(Requires free subscription)

Gloomy Forecast for IT Work Force?

john joseph roets — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 13:16:31 +0000

eWeek serves up deception.

MS wants to downplay US developer/IT quality to make the case that they need more H1B workers, in order to:
1. Bring in workers of dubious quality
2. (And the real reason) to lower the market rate on US developer/IT workers.

The same holds true on MS arguments on security clearance requirements for US Govt. work (MS is against).

SOA and Downsizing

john joseph roets — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 00:46:10 +0000

In Does SOA threaten developer jobs?, much is said about supposed concerns that developers now have over SOA adoption.

So, one might surmise that Jacquard Loom developers once felt insecure about the goings on in assembler and C development, and that C developers once lost sleep over OO and Java development.

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A bit about WADL (Revised)

Larry Liberto — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 18:27:08 +0000

In today’s high-tech world there is a growing need to create a simpler way to describe web-based applications. In the past one would use a WSDL to describe such application. One competing project put forth from Sun is Web Application Description Language [WADL] (http://research.sun.com/techrep/2006/abstract-153.html).

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XML Processing on Appliance

john joseph roets — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 13:18:04 +0000

XML processing in hardware to boil down an XML doc for simpler binding to objects:
http://tinyurl.com/2syl99

Most importantly:
“We use an object binding framework,” he explained. “We use XSLT to
transform it in hardware. So when the XML comes in, all the validation,
all the business rules that are applied to it, all the transformations are
done, so we get a clean XML that is exactly fitting the object that we
want. So we can make one Java call, say un-marshal, and we have the
object, lo and behold. We don’t have compiled classes. We have no mapping. Nothing.”

Technology and Architecture — Walls ARE Important

john joseph roets — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 11:39:46 +0000

One of the first notations made in my notes from the ZapThink session (see Zapthink LZA Reviewed) was a subtle disagreement about the relationship between Architecture and Technology. ZapThink asserts that “Architecture is not about technology.” They paraphrase “physical”* architects stating that buildings are and should be designed “for the space.”

What the Classics Say

While this is not untrue, a review of classic architectural writings reveals a fuller and more enlightened perspective. In point of fact, Architecture is about the spaces and the structure and the foundation. Physical Architecture does in fact concern itself in no small manner with the structure and foundation of the building. Without a solid and proper foundation, even the best and most suitable “spaces-based” Architecture will fail. The spaces based viewpoint might come from the fact that in the world of physical Architecture, structures and foundations are usually a known quantity, as a great deal of experience has been recorded over the past few thousand years. However, whenever a new material or technology is introduced, inherent unknowns often produce failure. With this failure and its study comes further understanding.

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REST, XForms, XQuery, and “skimming”

john joseph roets — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 16:03:58 +0000

Interesting concept: REST, XForms, XQuery, and “skimming” –
Pattern of holding data on the server in a native XML database, and offloading all translation and processing to the client.
See: REST, XForms, XQuery, and “skimming”

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Introduction to HttpUnit

Larry Liberto — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 02:28:15 +0000

In today’s application development environment it is standard practice to build unit tests for each object being developed. Unit testing is increasingly more and more popular in Java due to the many open-source unit testing frameworks available. However, this type of testing becomes more difficult when the application is Web based or contains EJBs because of the dependency on application servers, servlet containers and EJB containers. We can, though, test the publicly exposed portion of the Web application with frameworks like HttpUnit.

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Useful Resources in WSDL Design for Complex Payloads

john joseph roets — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 16:54:40 +0000

Some useful articles and best practices information for WSDL design in systems with complex XML schemas.

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Software Interview Questions

john joseph roets — Thu, 31 May 2007 03:08:21 +0000

A great set of interview questions developed by staff and friends of createTank over the past few years to get a good feel for the quality of a candidate from a few perspectives (general skills, communications, problem solving, etc.).

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