The Blog of Maxim Porges

Archive for November, 2007

  • Explosive Cheese

    LeGros will like this.

    2007.11.30 / 2 responses / Category: Uncategorized

  • Flex: No Frameworks Required

    I have submitted my presentation on using Flex without a framework to cf.objective() 2008. After all the buzz about Flex frameworks and the amount of interested Googlers that end up on my web site for the same topic, there’s obviously sufficient interest to put this one up for the world (or at least the cf.objective() attendees) to see.

    Here’s my topic description. Let’s hope it gets approved by the advisory committee!

    Flex: No Frameworks Required
    Adobe delivered Flex with an event model, a component architecture, and all the power of ActionScript. And yet, for some reason, many people feel compelled to strap a framework on top of this perfectly productive paradigm, which often just makes things more complicated than they need to be without introducing any real benefits. Join Maxim for a back-to-basics discussion on Flex application development, based on proven practices gleaned from tried-and-trusted software development techniques.

    Make sure you head on over and register for this conference if you are a ColdFusion or Flex developer. While CFUNITED is a great conference, the topics at cf.objective() tend to be more on the advanced/esoteric side. Registration is $499 for the early rate, $449 for conference alumni and CFUG managers, and group discounts are available (check the conference home page for specifics on pricing).

    2007.11.29 / 2 responses / Category: Uncategorized

  • And Then I Will Buy An iPhone

    What more do you need?

    2007.11.29 / no responses / Category: Uncategorized

  • Glimmer

    This could get interesting.

    2007.11.21 / no responses / Category: Uncategorized

  • Kindle

    I must say, I absolutely love the concept and distribution model for the Kindle, but the UI looks horrendous. It’s like everything that was bad about OS 9 in one box.

    I’m reserving judgement until I see one in person. One of our VPs said he ordered one, so I should get the opportunity soon.

    2007.11.21 / no responses / Category: Uncategorized

  • Starcraft II

    Probably the best $39.99 I spent this year on personal entertainment would be the copy of Dawn of War Platinum Edition I picked up. I used to play Warhammer 40K back in my geekier days, but having a computerized version is really much more fun than moving lead figures all over a huge table at the local Games Workshop (not to mention they don’t have any Games Workshop locations in Orlando, FL that I know of).

    So, I was showing off how DoW plays nicely in the experimental DirectX 9 support in VMWare Fusion, and a fellow coworker and Mac enthusiast showed me the demo for Starcraft II, which is going to be Mac native.

    Check it out (I highly recommend the Terran download video)… and then wait, like me. Should be out in 2008.

    2007.11.18 / 3 responses / Category: Uncategorized

  • Use Skins to Differentiate Prototype from Finished Product

    This is such a neat and simple solution to the classic “client thinks prototype is final app” problem that I can’t believe we didn’t think of it ourselves. Nice work, Ted.

    2007.11.18 / no responses / Category: Uncategorized

  • "Cairngorm Bad"

    GA reports that I have a bunch of traffic on my blog this month from the keywords “cairngorm bad”. Turns out I have the top hit on Google at the time of writing for these keywords, related to my post on the subject of Flex frameworks.

    Looks like we at CFI are not the only ones who have doubts about the viability of Flex frameworks at the present time…

    2007.11.17 / no responses / Category: Uncategorized

  • StackOverflowError: LambdaProbe on JBoss 4.2+

    I couldn’t get LambdaProbe to run on my JBoss 4.2.1GA release on my Mac. It would hit a recursive loop and then puke over a StackOverflowError.

    Turns out you have to modify the code where LambdaProbe checks to see if it can bind to a particular server version. They must have renamed something in JBoss since the earlier releases, since LambdaProbe used to run without modification in the 4.0.3SP1 release.

    In any event, the code change is painless, and since the project can be built with Ant and the source download comes with all the depedencies, you can have a working version in less than a minute.

    See the solution on the LambdaProbe forum here.

    2007.11.17 / no responses / Category: Uncategorized

  • Oracle’s OiAS vs. JBoss

    We’ve been choosing a new app server platform to standardize our infrastructure on, and the choices we were working with were JBoss and Oracle’s OiAS.

    Stipulations were as follows:

    1) Must be a supported app server for CF Enterprise and Flex on Solaris.
    2) Must have commercially viable support options.

    On the one hand, we just bought Oracle’s Enterprise Management console (previously branded the “Grid Control” tools) to manage our databases, and it does a nice job administrating the app server too. This makes it really compelling to stay with Oracle’s server so our DBAs can manage the whole kit and caboodle from one place. On the down side, Oracle’s app server tends to lag behind in JDK versions, and support for CF Enterprise on Solaris is no longer available for this product.

    JBoss is free, highly configurable, lightweight, and stays up to date with JDK versions. You can get commercial support from Red Hat (for a pittance compared to our other enterprise support contracts). On the down side, the admin consoles are pretty bare-bones.

    So, I did a little Googling today, and what do you know – Oracle has a plugin for Enterprise Manager to let it monitor JBoss instances and give you almost the same level of administration as you get with Oracle’s native server.

    I’m not sure what’s left to debate on which server to go with, but I’ll know after I talk to Larry (our DBA team manager) on Monday.

    2007.11.17 / 2 responses / Category: Uncategorized

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