Christmas Eve

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Spending time with family, getting ready to head home for a quiet night, ready for tomorrow.

I hope you have a happy holiday, no matter what it maybe.

May there be peace on Earth. Good will towards all.

Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas.

Lord, make me an instrument of Your Peace, Where there is hatred, let me sow Love; Where there is injury, Pardon; Where there is doubt, Faith; Where there is despair, Hope; Where there is darkness, Light; And Where there is sadness, Joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not So much seek to be consoled, as to Console; To be understood as to Understand; To be loved as to Love; For it is in Giving that we receive; It is in Pardoning that we are pardoned; It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Vacation reading, it’s all Groovy

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Groovy: Embedding Groovy

Groovy: Groovy Beans

Groovy: Groovy and JMX

Groovy: Using Spring Factories with Groovy

Groovy: Dynamic language beans in Spring

JavaWorld: Creating DSLs in Java, Part 1: What is a domain-specific language?

JavaWorld: Creating DSLs in Java, Part 2: Fluency and context

JavaWorld: Creating DSLs in Java, Part 3: Internal and external DSLs

JavaWorld: Creating DSLs in Java, Part 4: Where metaprogramming matters

IBM developerWorks: Functional programming in the Java language

IBM developerWorks: alt.lang.jre: Feeling Groovy

IBM developerWorks: Practically Groovy: Stir some Groovy into your Java apps

IBM developerWorks: Practically Groovy: Unit test your Java code faster with Groovy

IBM developerWorks: Practically Groovy: Reduce code noise with Groovy

IBM developerWorks: In pursuit of code quality: Programmatic testing with Selenium and TestNG

Groovy Zone: GroovyShell and memory leaks

Apache: GroovyUtil.java

Code To Joy: Zen and Groovy’s Expando

Code To Joy: Simply Groovy (How to gain Competitive Advantage on Weiqi Gao’s Friday Java Quiz)

Code To Joy: Groovy’s -e and friends: The Command Line for Java Developers

Code To Joy: Groovy 201: How to Win a Bar Bet on Copy-Paste

Code To Joy: myTunes: Groovy and JFugue

Code To Joy: JFugue and The Charm of Computing

Code To Joy: Zero to RMI with Groovy and Spring

A Public Scratchpad: The Future of Groovy Interoperability?

Test Early: Spring’s so Groovy

Spring documentation: Chapter 24. Dynamic language support

JavaBeat: Integrating Spring and Groovy

Martin Fowler: “Will DSLs allow business people to write software rules without involving programmers?”

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Martin Folwer: BusinessReadableDSL:

I do think that programming involves a particular mind-set, an ability to both give precise instructions to a machine and the ability to structure a large amount of such instructions to make a comprehensible program. That talent, and the time involved to understand and build a program, is why programming has resisted being disintermediated for so long. It’s also why many “non-programming” environments end up breeding their own class of programmers-in-fact.

That said, I do think that the greatest potential benefit of DSLs comes when business people participate directly in the writing of the DSL code. The sweet spot, however is in making DSLs business-readable rather than business-writeable. If business people are able to look at the DSL code and understand it, then we can build a deep and rich communication channel between software development and the underlying domain. Since this is the Yawning Crevasse of Doom in software, DSLs have great value if they can help address it.

With a business-readable DSL, programmers write the code but they show that code frequently to business people who can understand what it means. These customers can then make changes, maybe draft some code, but it’s the programmers who make it solid and do the debugging and testing.

This isn’t to say that there’s no benefit in a business-writable DSL. Indeed a couple of years ago some colleagues of mine built a system that included just that, and it was much appreciated by the business. It’s just that the effort in creating a decent editing environment, meaningful error messages, debugging and testing tools raises the cost significantly.

Related:

The Fishbowl: Dear XML Programmers…

defmacro: The Nature of Lisp

Inquirer: “Witness the world of college admissions at perhaps its greatest point of divergence.”

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Inquirer: “Toward college without a map Lack of counselors leaves students adrift.”:

In Philadelphia, former school district CEO Paul Vallas tried to give students a fairer shake by covering the cost for them to take on-line and face-to-face SAT classes from private companies.

But the classroom SAT prep was halted in 2006 as a budget deficit opened, and the online course was dropped this year, also for lack of money.

Top city and school district officials said last week that, despite budget restraints, they would restore funding for SAT prep classes. They are also planning a call-in center for students to get help on college admissions.

…Superintendent Arlene Ackerman said last week she was stunned upon arriving in June to find how little time counselors spend on college and career guidance and is redirecting their priorities.

The dearth of services is painfully apparent to Philadelphia Futures and White-Williams Scholars, nonprofits that help promising district students get to college.

“Students in the comprehensive high schools must badger their overworked counselors for everything they need in the college admission process,” said Joan Mazzotti, executive director of Philadelphia Futures.

“They do not have the luxury of being badgered by their counselors.”

Overbrook High Principal Ethelyn Payne Young said the outcome was obvious.

“Some of them end up maybe not going anywhere [to college] or not going to where we know they really could go. . . . When you don’t have enough resources, enough manpower to touch every kid, you lose some. You lose many.

Tech layoffs soaring

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The troubles in the economy come closer and closer to home. Via TechCrunch: “Tech Layoffs Surge Past 100,000” – but hey, at least you’re not a journalist or auto worker – because if you were – it would be your fault right? (without context – that sarcasm wouldn’t make any sense – I don’t mean that AT ALL – but some pundits seem to think that’s the God’s honest truth). The economy is hurting everyone across the board far and wide. In an age where information flows as freely as air – this crash wasn’t avoided and solutions are not forthcoming from our common conversation.

Then again, we can just blame it all on the invisible hand of the economy, right?

NPR is in trouble

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Blame it on changing technology, blame it on the journalists, blame it on shortsighted management, blame it on missing that oncoming glacier, blame it on the economy (everyone is WAY to concerned with throwing stones right now if you ask me) everyone is feeling pain right now and many institutions people rely on are being shook.

NPR: NPR Cuts Jobs, Cancels Programs.

The Greatest “What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace Love and Understanding” talk about community, tech and open source EVER (A repost and re-tweet)

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I shared this previously, but it is worth a repost (many reposts), via Jay Rosen (as does title!). I’d say my entire career has been formed by this effect one way or another. And I am thankful.

When we think about the problems we face today, here is how the Internet provides a participatory platform to help. There’s nothing in here that refutes human nature – it just celebrates an important facet of it: When we gather around communities of interest we care deeply about – we look out for others within that community of interest. The Internet changes the stage for which we can connect across those passions.

YouTube: Cay Shirky on Love, Internet Style: