Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 at 4:12 AM
Businessmen and entrepreneurs (your customers) who hire independent developers (you) may need more impressive examples of what the LAMP solution stack can do besides the WordPress example we cited last time. After all, blogs are great for consultants or service businesses that must take on an air of authority. But surely, even a small businessman will appreciate what has been done with Wikipedia, arguably the best-known non-commercial site for some years now. Informing even a medium-size home-furnishing or imprinted premium e-commerce site operator that the underlying WikiMedia runs on a Linux platform and that information is served up with a combination of Apache HTTPD, PHP and MySQL is bound to get their attention. Nor does it hurt that Wikipedia running LAMP accommodates close to 10% of the world’s surfers every single day. That’s a factoid of the day from Alexa by the way.
The next time you have to strengthen your arguments to push a LAMP development proposal, be sure to cite six advantages...
Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 3:30 AM
Dynamic LAMP
The earnest brother-developers of mine at HyTech Professionals (
www.hytechpro.com) could only agree enthusiastically with the even dozen advantages of the LAMP solution stack I run in the last post. Clearly, cost savings is not even the major advantage of using the LAMP combo.
What happens, for example, when all you want to do is save time and cobble together a Web application using only Linux for the platform and Apache for the Web server? Sure, any developer will tell you it’s a static site. You have to build information pages and fill them in yourself. But never mind, the rudimentary e-commerce “solution” seems to work all right because you’ve gotten hold of a utility or two that lets customers put stuff in their shopping cart and execute orders. So everything is hunky-dory until your wonderful line of herbal-source food supplements expands with the fad of the month year after year. Pretty soon, adding product pages and processing orders becomes a managerial nightmare. And this site on the cheap does not even dynamically welcome back a customer and recognize her as a loyal buyer of slimming products...
Posted on Tuesday, July 15, 2008 at 2:41 AM
12 Good Points About the LAMP Components
Other than the fact that there is no dearth of developers who learn enough LAMP to competently put together a Web application, herewith an even dozen of enduring advantages to the LAMP solution stack:
1. Installation is easy because most Linux distro’s bundle all the other LAMP components.
2. Linux is flexible – A good developer takes advantage of access to the source code to customize the OS and optimize it as a base for Web applications.
3. Linux is versatile – The OS is “friendly” with a good range of file servers and network drivers.
4. Linux doesn’t mind legacy hardware -- because the open-source community has adapted it to work from mainframes to servers and desktops. Your ancient Burroughs mini or Sun workstation is no longer supported OEM-wise? Linux and the rest of the LAMP bundle will likely work happily in those.
5. The original Apache project was HTTPD, meaning it was a capable Web-facing platform right from the start. This is especially true for fairly uncomplicated file-based serving...
Posted on Saturday, July 12, 2008 at 1:50 AM
Solution Stack 101: The Continuing Attraction to LAMP
In our last post, we identified the starting line-up for LAMP, argued that an open source stack inherently reduces investment risk for a start-up and well, the obvious benefit that all the components are dirt-cheap to acquire. Today, let’s delve into variations and why you still save money whatever you do.
A decade has passed since a German developer first espoused LAMP in print. Since then, our ever-adventurous brethren in the open-source community have espoused different flavors. The eager young developers at HyTech Professionals (
www.hytechpro.com) up in Nashua (NH) have succeeded with dozen of contract projects alternately writing the user interface in Perl, Python or PHP. So it’s still LAMP anyway. But they are really, really passionate about the elegance of Ruby on Rails. Now, rather than get hung up with an acronym like LAMR (just how courageously can you stand on a “lamer” approach and still expect to get paid megabucks?), a wise man settled the issue by ruling that P should mean “programming language”. So that covers PHP, Perl, Python, and Ruby really neatly...
Posted on Friday, July 11, 2008 at 4:32 AM
Solution Stack 101: Why Cost-less LAMP Works
As promised, we switch today to the open-source solution stack LAMP. What the Windows Server-Internet Information Services-Microsoft SQL Server-ASP.NET stack is for the Windows environment, the open-source equivalent to cobble together a Web application is LAMP. For the benefit of newbie’s, LAMP stands for:
1. Linux (the operating system);
2. Apache (the Web server);
3. MySQL, (the database management system)
4. Perl, PHP, and/or Python (scripting languages).
While tapping out this post on my trusty Blackberry Curve, the RoR evangelists at HyTech Professionals (www.hytechpro.com) did their level best to convince me to get with the times, ditch LAMP and embrace LAM-R (or LARM, if you will). Maybe they have a point about that Ruby on Rails as an efficient scripting tool...
Posted on Friday, July 11, 2008 at 4:29 AM
Ruby on Rails In the Real World
Continuing with our brief overview of Ruby on Rails as drastically simplified, elegant, and stable platform for agile Web engineering, we take the word of some impressively-experienced RoR developers up in Nashua, NH, at HyTech Professionals (www.hytechpro.com) that it is by no means the ONE, the “silver bullet” that will replace all other Web 2.0 frameworks out there. Still, the practiced applications architects insist, clients just love the ability to literally see the state of a Ruby on Rails application, brainstorm where it should go from there, and implement modifications much more rapidly. Herewith some interesting examples of real-world applications the HyTech Professionals engineers created in the last few months:...
Posted on Friday, July 11, 2008 at 4:27 AM
Important Framework Components of Ruby on Rails
In yesterday’s post, I related how Ruby on Rails developers, the intense HyTech Professionals (
www.hytechpro.com) teams for instance, push the envelope for rich Web 2.0 applications by keeping their eye on five key RoR principles: trimmer code, segregation by sub-frameworks, not having to repeat one’s self, minimal configuration requirements, and instant feedback just by loading in a browser.
Next, we review the framework components that drive the Ruby on Rails objectives of simplicity, productivity, ready re-use, scalability, testability, and ease of maintenance:
In setting up the link between domain objects and the database, the Active Record sub-framework converts create, read, update and delete (CRUD) commands, the four basic functions of persistent storage, into SQL functions and transmits these to the database. The key point is that Ruby on Rails activates a table when called in the database and automatically creates the required class...
Posted on Friday, July 11, 2008 at 4:20 AM
Five Fundamentals of Ruby on Rails
Today’s applications developer aiming for the next scintillating Web 2.0 site is spoiled for choice. How well, you might wonder, does Ruby on Rails live up to its promise to simplify development tasks while crafting rich visitor experiences?
Part of the answer, I am assured by the intense and prolific young developers of HyTech Professionals (
www.hytechpro.com) is to keep in mind some fundamentals of Ruby on Rails. These comprise:
1. That it is really is possible to produce the same functionality with distinctly fewer lines of code. This is due in large part to the fact that Matsumoto created Ruby back in 1995 as an object-oriented, dynamically defined, and easy-reading language. One does have to be creative with blocks that blend loops and arrays, however.
2. RoR architecture promotes clarity by, for one, segregating code across three sub-frameworks: Active Record, Action View, and Action Controller...
Posted on Friday, July 11, 2008 at 4:02 AM
Working Better with Ruby on Rails
In the last four years, we have seen how Ruby on Rails (RoR) built on, and accelerated the wider acceptance of, the object-oriented Ruby language. Consequently, the Ruby/RoR combo has become a workhorse of such independent software providers as Nashua (NH)-based HyTech Professionals (www.hytechpro.com). Though busy as the proverbial bee, the development teams there gave me a peek at apps they use to produce more than a hundred web-facing projects year after year.
As early as 2005, Ruby on Rails validated the language by making available an open-source framework for executing database-driven web applications. Its sparse architecture requirement, very lean code and easy access to support for PHP or Ajax, for example, made prototyping easy and quick.
Since then, the HyTech Professionals developers have nabbed one “killer app” after another to broaden the utility of Ruby on Rails. One of the first was the ActiveState Komodo integrated development environment that, beginning with version 3.5, provided edit, debug and testing support for the elegance of Ruby and Ruby on Rails code...
Posted on Friday, July 11, 2008 at 4:01 AM
Ruby on Rails Is Simplicity Itself. Or Not Quite?
The never-ending desire for riveting Web sites that “pull eyeballs”, lengthen stay and induce return visits has, since 2004, complicated the life of Web application engineers. Enriching a page with Flash, embedded video, visitor talkback, and self-serve communication channels means developer teams need varied expertise in Ajax, Web services and allied technological tools. Happily, Yukihiro Matsumoto authored the Ruby on Rails language and offered it up as a Web 2.0 framework option with the simple immediacy of PHP and the familiar architecture, clean code and robust quality of Java.
At a briefing I attended earlier this week, a Project Manager at HyTech Professionals out in Nashua (www.hytechpro.com) raved about the agile development they have managed for hundreds of clients with Ruby on Rails. At the core, he claimed, all a developer really need attend to is a Web server, a database engine and such sparse code it’s unbelievable. This independent software house found it could slash time to market with the speed and ease with which RoR could generate rich, database-driven Web 2.0 projects...
Posted on Friday, July 11, 2008 at 3:56 AM
Secure Browsing in a Shared .NET Framework Intranet
Think of all the students in a school computer lab or office workers in a shared corporate NET framework environment. Even if they should know better, everyone indulges in personal Internet browsing, surfing adult, gaming, video and social networking sites. But there is no such thing as leaving no tracks, right? Anyone can peek into the contents of History or the Favorites list. When PC’s are shared, moreover, there is no safety in saving addresses in the Favorites list even if one uses it often enough. There is always the risk that the network Admin will give vent to his curiosity and delete “non-business” Net addresses. So, how does one work around these “hindrances”?
While modeling an e-commerce project based on the NET framework with the folks at Nashua, NH, -based HyTech Professionals the other day, one developer demonstrated how to use a neat utility called WebTool (author: George Bodnar). One simply stores the executable file on a memory stick. On loading, you see a list of Internet addresses and a button. Select the address wanted, press the button and WebTool opens a new instance of Internet Explorer...
Posted on Friday, July 11, 2008 at 3:54 AM
Security Advantages of the .NET Framework
Recall how, in a recent post, I referred to securing reporting under the NET framework by customizing the IAuthenticationExtension security extension interface. One does this to override the default Windows Authentication mode and put a third-party security utility to work. Stepping back, however, posters often pose the question: is NET inherently more secure than that other hugely popular platform, J2EE? In other words, are open-source cryptographic tools just as good as commercial software?
The other day, the folks at Nashua(NH)-based HyTech Professionals, able code developers at J2EE and Net frameworks both, sent along an interesting showdown between the two platforms. Seems two Professors Francia (spouses, I hazard) of Jacksonville State U’s Computer Security and Forensics Laboratory got themselves a grant from the National Science Foundation. In short, this was a scientific test of cryptographic API’s running under Java and NET frameworks...
Posted on Friday, July 11, 2008 at 3:53 AM
Porting and Flexibility Under the .NET Framework
In a preceding post, I touched briefly on the speed, multilingual awareness, security and project management potential of porting over to the NET framework. Let’s get down to cases today and critically examine what happens when a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner gets on the job.
At Nashua, NH, -based HyTech Professionals (www.hytechpro.com), a team of system architects and developers with a track record of delivering over 100 NET framework projects each year took on the requirement of porting an employee relations suite from Unix to the NET environment. The group had convinced the financial services client that there were important gains to be had in accessing the relational database capabilities of MS SQL Server and that NET framework modules afforded fairly painless development and deployment...
Posted on Friday, July 11, 2008 at 3:50 AM
Enduring Advantages of the .NET Framework
NET 3.5 has passed the six-month mark since being officially released so this seems a good time to strip the hype away and focus on just why the Microsoft offering of Web-ready building-block applications is here to stay. Herewith a mere handful of the strategic advantages afforded by the ever-expanding NET framework set of technologies:
1. Dramatic boosts in performance with pages enabled for output caching. After executing a page and sending it to the requesting user, NET framework components leave the result in memory and serve the cached version when another user requests the same page (or part of it). This reduces the communication load with the back-end database, too.
2. Leveraging a broader set of stock knowledge in programming languages. On top of VBScript and Jscript, teams of NET framework architects like those at well-regarded HyTech Professionals (www.hytechpro.com) in Nashua (NH) code in no less than 25 languages like C#, VB.NET, JScript.NET, and Visual Studio 2008. This is pretty much what you’d expect for a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner that delivers over 100 applications every year on the NET framework...
Posted on Friday, July 11, 2008 at 3:48 AM
Where the J2EE Application Server Stands in the Scheme of Things
As the Java web servers of old housed servlets or JSPs, so J2EE application servers are the containers for Enterprise JavaBean (EJBs) framework components. That is, every J2EE application server provides a range of services to EJBs and manages their lifecycle. Understanding this architectural framework is core to working with the distributed-processing, multi-tier and Web-ready potential of the platform.
The learning curve is steep but taking advantage of J2EE application servers (and other J2EE technologies) enables one to reap great benefits like having to do less custom coding and considerably quicker turnaround of more robust applications. It pays to master the J2EE SDK for the necessary packaging and development utilities. One also needs to pay more attention to the underlying processes, like the way a J2EE application server completely takes over the management of Entity EJBs, lest over-reliance on remote interfaces and multiple JVM’s result in a messaging overload that slows the system to a crawl. The result? Unhappy end-users...
Posted on Friday, July 11, 2008 at 3:46 AM
What to Look for in a Hyper-Effective Team of J2EE Developers
J2EE may be free open-source and, in the hands of the right developer, a powerful platform for multi-tier, Web-based applications. But easy it is not. Given technology that sees some new development practically every month, how do you find and screen highly effective J2EE developers?
Whether hiring for an in-house IT group or looking to outsource to an independent applications provider, the first step is to have a Java Architect working for you, not just a first-line, order-taker J2EE developer. This means broadminded thinkers who understand your business need, can conceptualize all the system components you need, and direct the J2EE developer team to ably link backend databases and servers, middleware and presentation layers...
Posted on Friday, July 11, 2008 at 3:44 AM
J2EE Server
Last time, I pointed out that the continuing lack of J2EE Enterprise Architects and Business Component Developers puts a crimp on plans by Global 2000 enterprises to migrate their applications to the Web. The other huge hindrance, revealed by a Precision Marketing Group survey a couple of months back, is the complexity of transitioning from legacy client/server frameworks to Web-ready J2EE servers.
Taking the survey at face value, one would have to believe that nearly 99 percent – that’s virtually everyone, folks – of these large, globe-spanning businesses are still stuck in Microsoft Access, Lotus Notes and Oracle Forms client/server tools, obviously never intended for Web applications. Even those enterprises that already have some rudimentary Java team in-house complain they still lack the skilled developers to architect and maintain J2EE servers. Without well-administered J2EE servers, there is just no way to attain rich internet applications like wikis, portals or CMS...
Posted on Friday, July 11, 2008 at 3:43 AM
1. The Spectrum of Choices for J2EE Training
Even as J2EE remains at the forefront of robust, highly capable platforms for Web-based applications, there is a pressing need to fill the ranks of developer teams worldwide. Just how does one gain a foothold in the field or, if already hands-on in a team, get the J2EE training to architect Java projects?
There are many ways to obtain solid J2EE training. Sun itself funds many J2EE training programs, with course tracks for Web Component Developer, Business Component Developer, Mobile Application Developer, and, for those of you with aspirations to be world-class, Enterprise Architect. And there’s a choice to do this online, or arrange for in-house and offsite classes. In the end, you get a nice Certified Developer credential to hang in your cube...
Posted on Friday, July 11, 2008 at 3:40 AM
1. J2EE: Back to Basics
By the very nature of their operations, large and medium-sized businesses have complex requirements. And when the time comes to port legacy systems to today’s business demands or to build entirely new functionality, IT planners in the know tend to think in terms of .NET, Oracle, SAP or Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE).
The great appeal of J2EE rests on its open source heritage, pretty much an anti-establishment way to get even complex enterprise applications developed without license fees or kowtowing to “Big Brother”. Far from being scanty, the Java programming language defined basic objects, as well as the needed higher-level classes to handle security, networking, XML parsing and GUI crafting. And to this, as most users have known since 2003, the Enterprise Edition added the ability to develop and run very large, scalable, multi-tiered and increasingly robust networked applications...
