General Development Archive

XSLT: Taming a functional language

Eugenia Loli 2004-05-06 General Development 26 Comments

If you're coming from a different programming background, one feature of XSLT (all versions) may seem especially difficult to grasp. I'm not referring to the XML-based syntax; once you get a feel for it, it is surprisingly transparent (even if bulky). For many novices, much more puzzling is XSLT's lack of an assignment operator. Read the article at DevChannel.

Introducing the Luax Framework

Submitted by Asko Kauppi 2004-05-06 General Development 5 Comments

Luax is a similar framework as Java or Python for that matter, offering OS-independent programming platform for writing any kind of applications. Unlike Java, LuaX uses existing C/C++ open source libraries extensively (SDL, etc.) to do its work.

Deploy a C application as a grid service

Eugenia Loli 2004-05-06 General Development No Comments

The new programming model of grid services allows applications to be abstracted through their interface, enabling cross-platform and cross-programming language interoperability. This article demonstrates this by showing how to implement and deploy an existing application as a grid service using the IBM® Grid Toolbox for Multiplatform.

Reboot Linux Faster Using kexec

Eugenia Loli 2004-05-05 General Development 12 Comments

Even if your work doesn't require you to reboot your Linux machine several times a day, waiting for a system to reboot can be a real drag. Enter kexec. Essentially, kexec is a fast reboot feature that lets you reboot to a new Linux kernel -- without having to go through a bootloader. Faster reboot is a benefit even when uptime isn't mission-critical -- and a lifesaver for kernel and system software developers who need to reboot their machines several times a day. Kexec is currently available on the x86 32-bit platform only.

Wave Goodbye to the Old User Interface; Windows Forms 2.0 Preview

Eugenia Loli 2004-05-05 General Development 20 Comments

This article discusses a "Minority Report"-alike user interface developed at Microsoft (video here). In the meantime, Windows Forms 2.0 and Visual Studio 2005 (both codenamed "Whidbey") are the next release of Microsoft’s smart client platform and tools.

Xtreme Programming and Open Source Software Development

Eugenia Loli 2004-05-02 General Development 22 Comments

This article is about Open Source software development. Given the unrelenting ideal of better software that remains the guiding principle of the Open Source world, it is inevitable that it crosses paths with Xtreme Programming, in philosophy to a large extent and in practice to some. The author also examines some "Xtreme" influences on F/OSS development -- what these are and what these can be.

Tune Eclipse’s startup performance with the Runtime Spy, Part 2

Submitted by Frank 2004-04-30 General Development 3 Comments

This article describes how to find common programming mistakes that may lead to poor startup time and how to correct them. Included is a case study demonstrating how the Runtime Spy was used to improve the startup performance of IBM WebSphere Studio Application Developer. The previous article, Part 1, introduces the Runtime Spy.

Model-driven development with the Eclipse

Submitted by Shellie 2004-04-27 General Development 8 Comments

The Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF) is an open source framework for developing model-driven applications. It creates Java code for graphically editing, manipulating, reading, and serializing data based on a model specified in XML Schema, UML, or annotated Java. This article will step you through the process of creating a model, generating code, using the generated apps, and customizing the editor.

A Glance At Garbage Collection In Object-Oriented Languages

Guest post by Zachary Pinter 2004-04-27 General Development 35 Comments

Garbage collection (GC) is a technology that frees programmers from the hassle of explicitly managing memory allocation for every object they create. Traditionally, the benefit of this automation has come at the cost of significant overhead. However, more efficient algorithms and techniques, coupled with the increased computational power of computers have made the overhead negligible for all but the most extreme situations.

Formatting Your Output with C++ Streams

Eugenia Loli 2004-04-27 General Development 23 Comments

Writing to text files or to the console in a C++ program? You might need to format some text data, and the C++ streams class includes some handy formatting features that allow you to do great things. Jeff Cogswell shows you how to use it to line up your text columns, right- or left-justify your text, and set the precision of your floating point numbers.

Conformance to ISO Standards for C++ for VS.NET 2003

Eugenia Loli 2004-04-24 General Development 14 Comments

Partial template specialization is a vital technique for writing rich and useful collections. It can serve a useful purpose in many C++ programs, and is just one of the many new areas of standards conformance in Visual C++ .NET 2003. This article demonstrates how Visual C++ can be used to incorporate the .NET Framework into C++ applications.

Developing Struts with Easy Struts for Eclipse

Submitted by Frank 2004-04-23 General Development 10 Comments

This article shows you how to develop a Struts application in the Eclipse IDE, with the help of the Easy Struts plug-in. You'll get an introduction to Easy Struts, installation and configuration steps, and instructions on building a basic Struts application through a progressive example. Different ways of enhancing the Struts application -- such as connecting to a database, modularizing the application, internationalizing and localizing content, handling exceptions, and creating custom plug-ins -- are also covered. Finally, you will learn how to deploy your Struts application on the Tomcat Web server.

Biztalk Mapper 2004 vs MapForce 2004

Guest post by David Handlos 2004-04-22 General Development 7 Comments

I spend a great deal of time with XML data transfers, and use XSLT on a regular basis to transform, conform, or calculate the XML into formats that I can use. Originally, I used the mapping tool within Microsoft's BizTalk Server 2002 for complex XSLT. Although it had limitations, the tool presented everything in a visual manner that made editing quick and much less painful.

Visual Studio .NET Design View and Custom Web Controls

Guest post by Will Senn 2004-04-22 General Development 27 Comments

This article is intended to give you a practical recipe for creating a simple Web Control and extending Visual Studio with support for the control. The control itself is a basic Country Code drop down list such as you would find on many profile entry pages.

A Beginner’s Crash Course into Object Oriented Programming

Guest post by John Collins 2004-04-21 General Development 57 Comments

The purpose of this article is to give a novice programmer the basic idea of what OOP is, as implemented using PHP. Readers should have a basic knowledge of programming ie what variables are, variable types, basic methods of writing comments, and how to enter code into a text editor.

GCC 3.4.0 Released

Eugenia Loli 2004-04-21 General Development 41 Comments

GCC 3.4.0 was released (mirrors) and it includes numerous new features, improvements & bug fixes.

Subversion 1.0.2 Available

Submitted by wheaty 2004-04-20 General Development 15 Comments

The future of CVS, Subversion 1.0.2, is now available in the source releases area.

A Look at the N|vu WYSIWYG Editor

Guest post by Metin Amiroff 2004-04-20 General Development 51 Comments

N|vu is a web development application with a WYSIWYG interface that is aimed to be user friendly, easy and powerful, sponsored by Linspire. This review looks at this program in detail and aims to help users to get an idea about it.

A, B, C, … D! The Programming Language

Guest post by Owen Anderson 2004-04-19 General Development 101 Comments

For years the development scene has been dominated by the C family of languages, primarily C itself and its immediate successor C++. Recent years have given rise to other C-descendents, however, such as Sun's Java and Microsoft's C#.

Elegant Code with Anonymous Methods, Iterators, and Partial Classes

Eugenia Loli 2004-04-15 General Development 37 Comments

Fans of the C# language will find much to like in Visual C# 2005. Visual Studio 2005 brings a wealth of exciting new features to Visual C# 2005, such as generics, iterators, partial classes, and anonymous methods. While generics is the most talked-about and anticipated feature, especially among C++ developers who are familiar with templates, the other new features are important additions to your Microsoft .NET development arsenal as well. Read more here.