XML: How to get the benefits without the heartache, part 2

Sean McGrath, ITworld.com

From bitter experience, I have learned that the only way to approach document-centric XML applications is from the content creation and modification side of the application functionality spectrum. There is little point in having a wonderful back-end system for content management and exploitation if there is no author-friendly way of creating and modifying that content. ...continue reading 'XML: How to get the benefits without the heartache, part 2'

XML: How to get the benefits without the heartache, part 1

Sean McGrath, ITworld.com

Much has been written and continues to be written about the "angle bracket tax". Now let us start by calling a spade a spade. XML is not a silver bullet and if you unilaterally spray it over your application space you can get into trouble. ...continue reading 'XML: How to get the benefits without the heartache, part 1'

Intranets have eyeballs too

By Sean McGrath

We live in a world that is fixated on the idea of aggregating eyeballs. Advertising is the obvious example of eyeball aggregation writ large. Print, radio, TV and now Internet technologies are heavily involved in finding better, faster, cheaper ways of getting more and more eyeballs tuned in to particular world views, particular value propositions, particular products. At a blogging event I attended recently, Michael Breidenbrücker put it bluntly in the title of his talk: "Let's face it: Web 2.0 is all about advertising." ...continue reading 'Intranets have eyeballs too'

When choosing an integrated development environment, prefer lumberjacks to magicians

By Sean McGrath, ITworld

There are two types of integrated development environments (IDE) in the world, which is convenient, because there are two types of developers in the world. To make things even more symmetrical and just super peachy, there are two types of opinions about IDEs in the world -- those that make grand generalizations and make everything look nice and binary and those that do not. ...continue reading 'When choosing an integrated development environment, prefer lumberjacks to magicians'

How to think big by thinking small

By Sean McGrath

Computer programming logic is easy really. It all boils down to endless variations of the following pseudo-English constructs: do | if | while. That's it. Nothing else to it. Granted, there are a million and one ways to express all three of these. There are also a million and one poetically beautiful ways to creating new language constructs that hide the do/if/while stuff from direct view. But, when it is all boiled down, it is just do/if/while in endless permutations and combinations. ...continue reading 'How to think big by thinking small'

Spot the warning signs in configuration file design

Sean McGrath, ITworld.com

Say you have identified a set of parameters for your application and you are now looking at how to store them, edit them, read them in and so on. You could start with a simple ini or you might be inclined to XML-ize. I like to use Python syntax for parameterization from the get-go. If I need to, I will write a parser for whatever subset of Python my application ends up using in the real world. But I wait for real-world experience using the application to tell me what that subset is. I don't try to second-guess it. ...continue reading 'Spot the warning signs in configuration file design'

How to choose the right application development technologies

By Sean McGrath, ITworld

Application design can involve dizzying oscillations as a result of the power of the available technologies. Should you start with a C# application and embed bits of XSLT as required? Or, alternatively, should you start with XSLT and step out into C# if/when required? ...continue reading 'How to choose the right application development technologies'

How to choose the right application development technologies

By Sean McGrath, ITworld

Application design can involve dizzying oscillations as a result of the power of the available technologies. Should you start with a C# application and embed bits of XSLT as required? Or, alternatively, should you start with XSLT and step out into C# if/when required? ...continue reading 'How to choose the right application development technologies'