I think that learning Java is challenging. You've got to learn the language, object-oriented programming, the libraries and the endless Java Technologies. The Java landscape is crowded with J*tx* and tx J add-ons, where tx is some technology abbreviation; for example, JAXWS, JAXB, SAAJ, JMS, JFC, JCE, JAAS, etc …

Today's entry in Scott Berkun's blog (Asshole driven development ) is brilliantly scathing. The comments are also handy for identifying the key dysfunctionality in an organization.

A couple of years ago Mark Grand shared with me a number of things that seem to make software development needlessly clumsy and complex. Indeed …

I read recently a quick note on a Very productive day . New development feels more productive than maintenance because it's more "linear"; it sounds like that means fewer dead-ends, less exploration.

I also read recently "How to innovate on time " where the trick is to increase your failure rate. In …

First, the confusion. A couple of comments asked for code, offering to "fix" the problems. Specifically, offering to optimize or improve the PL/SQL. The code was already posted, but I failed to make that clear. Here's a recap of the various blog entries on this subject.

1. PL/SQL vs …

There appear to be four responses. Two were numbered, the third is a rambling thought on scalability, and the fourth is a thought on management's discomfort with the truth.

The Cubulus project and Alexandru Toth 's page describe an "OLAP Aggregation Engine". It is very nice to see advanced work done on the dimensional model.

The cited research dates from 1999 (V. Markl, F. Ramsak, R. Bayer, "Improving OLAP Performance by Multidimensional Hierarchical Clustering", Proceedings of the Intl. Database …

In PC World, May 1st, there's one article, "Shrink-Wrapped Software's Days Numbered " by Robert Mullins. This has quotes and numbers. Very nice, and it specifically identifies open source and SaaS as beating out shrink-wrap.

In MSDN, however, see "Building Distributed Applications: Architecture Strategies for Catching the Long Tail ". This makes …

Thanks to everyone who attended. See Designing Web Services with the J2EE(TM) 1.4 Platform : JAX-RPC, SOAP, and XML Technologies for more information. Also, check out Dr. Dobb's SOA, Web Services and XML department.

Here's the Micro$oft PPT file: Web Services 8.ppt

Here's the Open-Office file: Web …

After having written a number of application-specific object-relational mappers, I have been on the prowl for an elegant, enduring solution. I had started to come to grips with Django , and like much of the approach. Django has a tiny infrastructure feature (the settings.py file) which made it unpleasant to …

The Web Mart design pattern identifies three aspects to a piece of web content:

• The Core Concept - the "fact" that we will present.
• The Access Dimensions - objects that identify a concept or support navigation to the concept.
• The Details - objects that provide details in support of a concept.

There are …