On The Margins

Monday June 02, 2008

[ Technology ] Community Statistics for Netbeans Database Usage

"The database support in NetBeans allows users to connect to a database and view and modify the database structure and data. These graphs show which database servers users connect to most often." Of particular note, besides the large usage of MySQL and Oracle, is the large usage of Java DB (Derby), and the significant PostgreSQL usage.

2008-06-02 13:20:38.0 -- ; Permalink ; Trackback.
databases development java javadb mysql netbeans opensource postgresql programming server software technology tools

Monday May 05, 2008

[ Java ] JavaOne 2008

I will be at JavaOne 2008 for most of this week.

2008-05-05 08:05:21.0 -- Comments [2] ; Permalink ; Trackback.
conferences developers java

Monday April 28, 2008

[ Technology ] Java DB 10.4.1

The 10.4.1 version of Java DB, the world's most advanced Java database, has some really cool features -- asynchronous replication, table functions and JMX capabilities.

Sun engineers worked within the Apache/Derby community to develop these features: A great team. A great product. A great community! 

If you're a serious user of Java DB (and/or of Apache Derby) and plan to use this product in your business, you should consider the multi-platform, software support services for Java DB -- Sun's distribution of Apache Derby -- available at some amazing bargain prices at various service plan levels.

Sun provides support service plans for Java DB, which is, for all practical purposes, identical to Apache Derby.

2008-04-28 18:05:26.0 -- Comments [3] ; Permalink ; Trackback.
databases java services software support technology

Tuesday January 29, 2008

[ Java ] Next Generation Java Testing

At Java.Net, I have written a short review of a Java testing (TestNG) book.

2008-01-29 18:18:48.0 -- ; Permalink ; Trackback.
books java netbeans programming quality testing tools

Friday November 30, 2007

[ Sun Microsystems Inc. ] Where was I?

While I was away for meetings at Sun Microsystems's India Engineering Center, Eileen Alan of SDN channel posted a recent conversation I had with Kuldip Oberoi about Java DB and Apache Derby. I think Kuldip and I touched on a number of important topics about the technology, the business and Sun's general strategy behind Sun's Java DB work, and it is certainly very exciting to see the uptake by the user and developer community. It would be even more exciting as we see Java DB used for more and more database courses. I know Sun's Java DB (Apache / Derby) engineers are coming up with some very cool features and applications, too ... For a glimpse of what might be coming up, take a look at Rick Hillegas' "Saucer Separation" presentation given at ApacheCon (Atlanta, Nov. 2007) ... You might also want to check out the upcoming JavaME conference (Santa Clara, Jan. 2008) and check out JavaPolis (Anwerp, Dec. 2007), where there may be up to 4 Java DB related talks, Francois Orsini tells me. So, stay tuned, and, in the meantime, don't forget to check out Orsini's blog!

2007-11-30 01:09:58.0 -- ; Permalink ; Trackback.
apache databases derby java javadb programming technology

Tuesday October 09, 2007

[ Design ] The Radical vs. The Conservative

The system-originating inventions can be labeled radical, the system-improving ones conservative.

Thomas P. Hughes (2004), American Genesis: A Century of Inventions and Technological Enthusiasm, 1870-1970 

James Gosling's Java was a radical invention. It was based on a radical design born out of several grueling decades of industry experiments in software languages and software development. Relational databases are implementations of a radical design formulated decades ago.

By Hughes' definition, a radical invention originates new systems.  You cannot have a radical invention without a system. An invention that neither originates a system nor improves it, may simply be called an experiment, or an exploratory idea.

Radical inventions come rarely and they are based on a radical design which answers to a multitude of converging needs. 

A major grouping of today's radical inventions are based on environmental and ecological designs that create intelligent contact with the environment. I like to call them intelligent scaffoldings, whether of networks, buildings, devices or whatever else it is that we live in or live with---customization to contain and to be contained.

What will attract the attention of system-builders of this and next decade? Given the ravages of war and militarism, only human concerns can be the center of such radical system building.  The best inventions are those that bring peace and prosperity, save us time and economize energy---they are inventions that allow us to focus our attentions on what matters most in life.

2007-10-09 20:37:47.0 -- Comments [2] ; Permalink ; Trackback.
design inventions java systems technology

Sunday October 07, 2007

[ Telecommunications ] From Sony P1i

Blogging from a Sony-Ericsson P1i @ the Sony Style Shop.

2007-10-07 11:52:54.0 -- ; Permalink ; Trackback.
java mobile

Tuesday August 28, 2007

[ Technology ] A Database for Nomadic Users

Listen to Roger Brinkley interview Rick Hillegas about Java DB.

Java DB (Sun's distribution of Apache Derby) continues to prosper.

The potential for deployment in mobile devices and nomadic applications can be tremendous, while its ease of use and deployment continue to make it attractive in client-server modes.

2007-08-28 09:13:57.0 -- ; Permalink ; Trackback.
databases derby java java-db mobile open-source sun-microsystems

Tuesday July 10, 2007

[ Technology ] Database Price-Performance on Sun All Open-Source Platform

More good PostgreSQL and open-source news! 

In the first week of July 2007, Sun announced a very attractive SpecJ2004 result for an all open-source Sun stack, including PostgreSQL on Solaris on Niagara.

Josh Berkus and Jignesh Shah have already written about the recent SpecJ benchmark results. 

The highlights are already given by Josh and Jignesh's blogs: Josh notes the importance of the results in proving the suitability of the Niagara architecture for DB applications and the importance of this result as a proof of SMP scalability. He also notes the significant price difference between Sun and the competition and looks forward to even better SMP performance by PostgreSQL database on Solaris. Jignesh gives some details regarding the DB tuning strategy used. If you want more of the tuning strategy details, you should probably leave him a comment.

Here's a summary of other highlights based on other sources:

• This is the second all open source SPECjAppServer2004 benchmark result and Sun is the only vendor to publish all open source results.
• It demonstrates Sun's commitment to use open source software at all levels of the stack -- including open source databases -- and to bring these price/performance benefits to users.
• An all-Sun, all open source stack comprised of PostgreSQL on Solaris (built off OpenSolaris) on T2000s (with OpenSPARC) with Glassfish gave 89% the performance at 34% the cost of a comparable HP benchmark with proprietary database, application server, and hardware. (Tom Daly provides further details regarding price-performance results.)
  

If you do not know about SpecJ 2004, refer to spec.org. In summary, SPECjAppServer2004 heavily exercises all parts of the underlying infrastructure that make up the application environment, including hardware, JVM software, database software, JDBC drivers, and the system network. The primary metric of the SPECjAppServer2004 benchmark is jAppServer Operations Per Second ("SPECjAppServer2004 JOPS") in either @Standard or @Distributed mode.

Look, also, at Tom Daly's blog for more information on these performance benchmarks and more.

Disclosure Statement:
Sun Fire X4200 (6 chips, 12 cores) 778.14 SPECjAppServer2004 JOPS@Standard.
HP rx2660 (2 chips, 4 cores) 874.61 SPECjAppServer2004 JOPS@Standard.
SPEC, SPECjAppServer reg tm of Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation.
Results from www.spec.org as of 7/10/07.

2007-07-10 00:12:06.0 -- ; Permalink ; Trackback.
benchmarks databases enterprise java niagara performance postgresql solaris sun technology

Wednesday May 09, 2007

[ Java ] Soccer {Football} after JavaOne

If you're at JavaOne this week and do not leave San Francisco before Friday night, consider joining me and a few others (from Brazil, Norway, Switzerland, Germany, France, etc.) to play some soccer {football} near the Golden Gate Bridge. It is a great way to have everything you've seen and learned at JavaOne sink in!

I've posted the logistics information on my java.net blog. 

(The above picture originally appeared here.) 

2007-05-09 09:47:29.0 -- ; Permalink ; Trackback.
java javaone sports

Friday May 04, 2007

[ Java ] Blog Entries on JavaOne 2007

At java.net, I will be compiling some blog entries in anticipation of JavaOne 2007 and following the conference (mostly from the pavilion floor).

For a database related topic, you might want to check out Francois Orsini's "Enabling Offline Web Applications with Java DB," where he previews his upcoming JavaOne talk with Zimbra's Kevin Henrikson.

2007-05-04 15:42:24.0 -- ; Permalink ; Trackback.
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Thursday April 19, 2007

[ Technology ] Java Stack in Ubuntu

Beginning with Ubuntu 7.04, you get the full Java stack for Linux gathered in one place. I remember learning about Java first on both Solaris (the Sparc stations sitting in the math department at Berkeley) and on Linux (the PCs in a basement office in the industrial engineering department). The tradition continues into "sudo apt-get"! While I'm writing about Java, I should probably remind you about CommunityOne, the free event during this year's JavaOne.
 

2007-04-19 11:50:58.0 -- ; Permalink ; Trackback.
java linux

Sunday April 08, 2007

[ Telecommunications ] A Mobile Java News Reader for Financial Times

Try it out, starting here and comment below how you like it. Leiki, the company behind it, works out of Helsinki.

2007-04-08 23:50:54.0 -- ; Permalink ; Trackback.
java mobile news reader

Tuesday March 20, 2007

[ Sun Microsystems Inc. ] Gosling on Open Source

James Gosling of Sun Microsystems Inc. talks to CNet about Java and more.

2007-03-20 08:37:16.0 -- ; Permalink ; Trackback.
java open-source software technology

Tuesday January 02, 2007

[ Telecommunications ] phoneME Project Moves On

Developing and maintaining software targeted to hundreds of millions if not billions of devices can become a daunting task, and learning to use the tools of trade can be equally challenging.

Fortunately, when tinkering and development is in the open, knowledge--or should I say "know-how"--flourishes.

Developers learn from each other's work, and users can suggest (and make) useful changes. There is something akin to case law here. Unless cases are written and analyzed in a hierarchy of courts by communities of lawyers and judges, other cases cannot be judged and analyzed on the foundation of existing case experience.

Example: Java ME went open source recently under the guise of phoneME Project. Subversion commit messages can be found here. Discussion forums for phoneME Feature and phoneME Advanced can provide useful information. Some good weblogs to check for phoneME and Java ME are those by Hinkmond Wong, Stuart Marks, Terrence Barr, Mark Lam and Darryl Mocek. 

2007-01-02 19:01:16.0 -- ; Permalink ; Trackback.
java mobile

Monday December 11, 2006

[ Java ] Not Just About Diamonds

JavaPolis 2006 proves that Antwerp is not just about the diamond, the ruby, other jewels or gems. It is also about Java and the Java Community. As a starter, you may want to check out Francois Orsini's Hands-on JavaDB (Apache Derby) Lab.

For more, including on the recent, generally-available release of JDK 6, see here. 

2006-12-11 13:21:04.0 -- ; Permalink ; Trackback.
antwerp diamonds java javapolis

Thursday December 07, 2006

[ Code ] Power Javascripting

jMaki means business with power Javascripting and more, including Phobos.

If you know your stuff, you'll check them out! 

2006-12-07 16:50:53.0 -- ; Permalink ; Trackback.
application java javascript phobos server web

Sunday November 12, 2006

[ Sun Microsystems Inc. ] Watch It

Watch for Java news as "Sun Opens Java"!

Related reports: Wall Street Journal. 

2006-11-12 23:50:18.0 -- ; Permalink ; Trackback.
business code developers java open programming sun technology