http://reviews.web2announcer.com/ Web 2.0 announcer top stories for reviews en Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:28:29 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2675793 unknown@DZone.com People tend to complain about the Microsoft monopoly, but they forget that they depend on the company by the name of Google ;-)! Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:28:29 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2675793opinionreviewstrendsweb 2.0Programming http://web2announcer.com/go/2675484 unknown@DZone.com The always enjoyable Jeff Atwood wrote an excellent discussion about regular expressions that everyone should read. Having seen many times where a developer will write a full blown parser instead of a regular expression, it's critical every developer spend a little time learning regular expressions. It goes without saying that the more code you write the more bugs you have. Regular expressions aren't too hard, but like anything else us developers deal with, you do need to take the time to learn the basics so you can scale that learning curve. Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:44:46 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2675484methodologyreviewsProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2675485 unknown@DZone.com I am a contented Subversion user, so took a look at the changes. Top of the list is “merge tracking”, though it is described as “foundational” which means that although the basic support is there, there is performance and feature work which remains to be done. From the user’s perspective, the difference is that branching and merging is just easier than before, as explained by Ben Sussman: Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:33:33 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2675485reviewsusabilityProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2675081 unknown@DZone.com There is a lot of discussion around Microsoft’s object-relational efforts right now. There are a couple of key issues:
 Is Microsoft really committed to Linq to SQL, or is it shifting its attention to Entity Framework? 
 Is Entity Framework being pushed out before it is ready? A “vote of no confidence” open letter along those lines has been signed by over 300 including more than a dozen MVPs (Most Valued Professionals), experts in Microsoft data technologies. Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:18:51 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2675081MicrosoftreviewsProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2674136 unknown@DZone.com Almost holiday time, time to tidy up all work. Recently I moved to Tortoise SVN for all my source control needs. Getting that to work was not that difficult, but to keep it up and running for my set of Visual Studio solutions took a little more effort than I had hoped. The enormous amount of "hidden" files tools like Resharper, nHibernate and VS itself leaves on your disk takes a lot of maintenance. Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:59:59 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2674136reviewstoolsProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2672865 unknown@DZone.com Charles Petzold was kind enough to send me a copy of his new book, The Annotated Turing: A Guided Tour Through Alan Turing's Historic Paper on Computability and the Turing Machine. "Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty -- a beauty cold and austere, like that of sculpture." Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:12:30 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2672865booksreviewsProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2672614 unknown@DZone.com Any webmaster knows the importance of a good FTP program. A good program is typically advertised as a commercial software application with an associated commercial cost. While this is true in some cases, such as FlashFXP and CuteFTP, there are many options out there that provide great functionality at at an even better cost: free. I have listed 5 of the best below. Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:54:35 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2672614opinionreviewstoolsProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2670849 unknown@DZone.com Well it’s actually 126 resources now, thanks to all the people who added resources in the comments.
 Update: This article has been translated into Brazillian Portuguese by Rafael Marin.
 This article has also been translated into Spanish by Diana at Artegami.
 This article has also been translated into Italian by Matteo at Rails On The Road. Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:05:11 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2670849reviewsusabilityProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2670585 unknown@DZone.com Over the last few weeks, I've written a lot about how to write good User Stories. You can see them all here: Writing good User Stories.
 
 User Stories are a simple way of capturing user requirements throughout a project - an alternative to writing lengthy requirements specifications all up-front. Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:49:00 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2670585methodologyreviewsProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2668328 unknown@DZone.com We’ve put together a list of 30+ must-have Firefox 3 extensions that we know you’ll enjoy, whether you’ve upgraded to Firefox 3 and are looking for something new to add to your browser, or have yet to make the upgrade and are looking for a reason. Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:08:50 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2668328reviewstoolsProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2668068 unknown@DZone.com Now, right this very minute, you can learn pretty much everything there is to know about Dojo thanks to 3 newly published books. Writing a book on Dojo is hard in the way the writing a book on Python is hard: there’s so much to talk about, where do you start? Thankfully each of the books takes a different tack, talks to a different audience, and as a result I think the entire spectrum of web developers is pretty well served. Quick summary of the three books by Alex Russell. Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:28:56 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2668068booksframeworksjavascriptreviewsProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2666976 unknown@DZone.com When I first encountered agile software development, I found it hard to understand. Okay, I might not be the brightest person you've ever met! But I'm not stupid either, I think Sun, 29 Jun 2008 16:16:47 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2666976methodologyreviewsusabilityProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2665511 unknown@DZone.com I've been reading Jeff Friesen's Beginning Java SE 6 Platform, From Novice to Professional for a couple of weeks now. I thought that David Flanagan's "JavaNut" series form O'Reilly were the best sources to learn Java and get up to speed with changes from each Java release, boy was I for a surprise with Jeff's book. Sat, 28 Jun 2008 17:35:12 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2665511booksjavareviewsProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2664063 unknown@DZone.com What's a great developer?
 
 An email went around recently asking a few people what they thought constituted a successful developer.
 
 My first thought was: did you mean successful or were really asking what is a great developer - since we all know a few lousy developers that have been very successful right? But that'd be just nit picking... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:08:26 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2664063opinionreviewsProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2663811 unknown@DZone.com In this article Babita provides a brief overview of JavaServer Faces (JSF), its components, life-cycle, and its advantages over so many frameworks and technologies like JSP, Servlet, Struts, etc. You will learn each step involved in the life cycle of a JSF application with the help of detailed explanation and source code. Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:27:52 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2663811javareviewsusabilityProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2663543 unknown@DZone.com Here are 10 good reasons to apply agile development principles and practices... Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:41:43 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2663543methodologyopinionreviewsProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2663499 unknown@DZone.com We know that maintenance is 90% of the software lifecycle, and 90% of the cost. We know that our systems need to be flexible, reusable, and maintainable. Indeed, that’s why we spend so much of our time trying to get the design and architecture just right. Because we all know that good design and architecture is the key to flexibility, reusability, and maintainability…right? Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:57:23 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2663499opinionreviewsProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2663348 unknown@DZone.com Every serious user of the Firefox browser has his or her own favorite Firefox extensions. Since last week’s release of the official version of Firefox 3 quite a few stories have been turning up around the web on extensions tuned specifically for the new version. Here are a few good examples of extension coverage done in recent days. Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:37:27 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2663348reviewstoolsProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2663142 unknown@DZone.com An athlete doesn’t instantly compete in the Olympics simply because she pumped her Reebok sneakers. A musician doesn’t instantly play Mozart symphonies just by listening to one of his masterpieces . A general doesn’t win a war simply by watching a war movie. All these examples have an intrinsic way of dealing with self-realization and application Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:22:15 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2663142opinionreviewsusabilityProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2662648 unknown@DZone.com LightWindow is a JavaScript framework based on Prototype and Scriptaculous. If you aren’t familiar with these two amazing resources, it is definitely worth your time to become familiar with them. They are two of the most useful resources available for Web 2.0 developing. LightWindow takes the combination of those two frameworks and adds some really cool things to it. Fri, 27 Jun 2008 03:00:17 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2662648frameworksjavascriptreviewsweb 2.0Programming http://web2announcer.com/go/2661646 unknown@DZone.com We recently released the beta version of OpenVersion and we decided to announce it officially on dzone. We have a new idea of an open source model, which is a win-win-win situation for all the parties involved (developer, users, open source community). What do you think about it? Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:44:53 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2661646Newsopen sourceopinionreviewsProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2661493 unknown@DZone.com I thought that I might write a quick review of every self-help book ever written all right here in this one little article. Simple enough. I love the easy jobs. Surely it couldn’t be that hard, could it? I figured that maybe I could take the important lessons from every self-help book I’ve read and every life experience I’ve endured, condense all that into fifty key points and save everybody a whole bunch of reading time. Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:28:07 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2661493reviewsusabilityProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2660411 unknown@DZone.com I was just reading Jeff Atwood's recent blog article Department of Declaration Redundancy Department
 
 He makes the case that writing code without static typing is easier to read, and "Anything that removes redundancy from our code should be aggressively pursued -- up to and including switching languages." Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:24:09 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2660411other languagesreviewsProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2659621 unknown@DZone.com Great empires often fall from within. 
 
 The death knell for Visual Basic is premature, but it's true that VB has deviated from its original vision as an "Application Construction Kit" for the masses and has lost significant market share as a result. Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:58:29 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2659621other languagesreviewsProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2659372 unknown@DZone.com Reflections upon working for myself from the 3rd week in. Wed, 25 Jun 2008 08:48:36 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2659372NewsopinionreviewsProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2658960 unknown@DZone.com Fin asked a few of us inside and outside Microsoft for tips in becoming a successful developer. I’m not sure that she expected the deluge (or verbosity) of responses – I think she only had about 300 words to fill in total – she asked 15 people so it turns out 20 words each was the target. I’m going to post my full response here and will link to the others' if they post their full responses as well. Wed, 25 Jun 2008 01:38:22 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2658960opinionreviewsProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2658576 unknown@DZone.com Make no mistakes, this is not another undocumented "feature". This is a breach of public trust. Your browser is tracking EXACTLY what you have told it not to track or retain. I love using Firefox, but this revelation has set me to taking a serious look at other broswers for personal use, as should anyone who is concerned with personal privacy. Tue, 24 Jun 2008 20:24:28 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2658576opinionreviewsProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2658131 unknown@DZone.com For those not familiar with Remember the Milk, it is a to-do task management app. However it's not just another todo app - it is an extremely well written app that truly encapsulates the essence of Web 2.0 and has been one of my favorite Ajax apps from the time they first launched in 2005. Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:26:43 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2658131ajaxjavaopinionreviewsProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2657774 unknown@DZone.com Part 3 of the look at WCAG 2.0 is going to look at the handful of criteria which make up Level AA. Here then, are the lucky 13. Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:04:34 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2657774reviewsstandardsusabilityweb designProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2657345 unknown@DZone.com “Was hearing Jeff Sutherland talk about the Nokia test , a test developed by Nokia to test whether you’re doing Iterative development or not , and if yes if you’re really doing SCRUM. Tue, 24 Jun 2008 07:18:53 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2657345methodologyreviewsProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2656982 unknown@DZone.com The article reviews 10 GTK applications which don't come with the GNOME desktop environment: GIMP, Banshee, Inkscape, Firefox, Deluge, XChat, OpenOffice, VLC, LinuxDC++ and Geany. Tue, 24 Jun 2008 02:46:43 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2656982reviewstoolsunix-linuxProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2656425 unknown@DZone.com Java comes with a very few built in look and feels. In this article we shall see various free and a few commercial look and feel libraries that you can use to spice up your swing applications. Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:32:23 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2656425javareviewsusabilityProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2656211 unknown@DZone.com “I’d love to do it, but I can’t fit another thing into my schedule.” How many times have you heard that—including out of your own mouth?
 
 And mostly this oft-repeated phrase is a true statement: Surveys show that most Americans feel starved for time to do the things that matter to them. All around the world, “crazy busy” is a code phrase for doing what it takes to be successful. Mon, 23 Jun 2008 19:46:58 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2656211reviewsusabilityProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2655562 unknown@DZone.com "There is no algorithm that has all of these properties, and so the choice of the optimal sorting algorithm depends on the application." Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:17:12 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2655562reviewsProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2655109 unknown@DZone.com Just like its predecessor, SQL Server 2008 is taking its sweet time to actually ship. However, unlike its predecessor, it won't just be a "worthwhile upgrade". It will kick ass. Mon, 23 Jun 2008 05:41:08 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2655109databaseMicrosoftreviewsProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2654776 unknown@DZone.com Welcome To Firefox 3! The third major release of the much-acclaimed Firefox web browser is out. Although slightly belated, this release actually is another important chapter in open source history: Firefox 3 is truly much better than its predecessors (yes, all of them!). Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:37:08 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2654776opinionreviewstoolsProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2654629 unknown@DZone.com Two of the most popular Linux browsers were unveiled this month after years of development -- the open source Firefox 3 and the proprietary Opera 9.5. Opera's launch a week before Firefox was like any other launch, unlike Firefox's much publicized world record attempt. But Opera 9.5 is no less revolutionary than Firefox, matching its open source rival feature for feature, from security-related enhancements to improved multilingual text rendering. Sun, 22 Jun 2008 20:43:06 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2654629reviewstoolsunix-linuxweb designProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2654603 unknown@DZone.com Desktop users, developers, and reviewers all had their download managers aimed at the Firefox Web site Monday to grab Firefox 3 as soon as it launched and also help Mozilla set a world record. World record or not, the latest Firefox release is a world-class Web browser. It looks impressive, renders text and images better than its predecessor, and helps you browse safely. But while it delivers pages faster by cutting down crucial milliseconds, its memory footprint (in unscientific tests) is still as big as a yeti. Sun, 22 Jun 2008 20:21:18 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2654603reviewstoolsweb designProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2654049 unknown@DZone.com I recently had an email exchange with someone asking me about how to approach writing their own WYSIWYG editor control for web applications.
 
 Perhaps an interesting academic exorcize, or maybe he has some very specific application but it got me thinking about how many implementations there are out there already ! Sun, 22 Jun 2008 11:23:22 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2654049.netajaxopinionreviewsProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2651352 unknown@DZone.com So, Firefox 3 is out. The curious part in me wants to upgrade, the reasonable part wants to stay with version 2 ("will my add-ins work with v3, yadda yadda"). Even worse, the developer in me wants to install both versions, to see how my projects work on either one. Side by side installation is not really intended by Mozilla. But luckily it's still possible. Fri, 20 Jun 2008 11:10:25 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2651352reviewstoolsProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2651272 unknown@DZone.com In the more traditional world of managing software development projects, it is widely acknowledged that developers can’t test for toffee!
 
 
 Yet Agile Development methods increasingly seem to require or imply that all people in the project team should test, including developers. Fri, 20 Jun 2008 10:03:47 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2651272opinionreviewsProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2651221 unknown@DZone.com The Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar is released as a free plug-in for Internet Explorer 6.0 and above. This article discusses features and advantages in using the Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar. With this toolbar it is now possible for a developer to understand and correct the rendered HTML just as a UI designer would. It has a handful of useful features which makes it possible for even those not trained in HTML techniques to use it to its fullest. Fri, 20 Jun 2008 09:44:29 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2651221reviewstoolsusabilityProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2650892 unknown@DZone.com A quick tour of Rails-Doc.org, the new project which aims to improve Rails documentation in a Web 2.0 way. The article also includes an interview with the creator of the project. Fri, 20 Jun 2008 04:28:00 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2650892reviewsrubyweb 2.0web servicesProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2650581 unknown@DZone.com We continue to review text and source editors for designers and web-developers. After a thorough consideration of WYSIWIG- and source code editors now it’s time to take a closer look at applications for advanced CSS-coding. Reason: while numerous HTML-editors offer more or less advanced CSS-support there are also allround-CSS-editors which offer a sophisticated integrated development environment for CSS-coding. Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:10:25 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2650581css-htmlreviewsProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2650584 unknown@DZone.com I’m going to assume that a fair number of my readers have a website, blog, or other web presence. Many of you have probably built a website or two. I’m going to give you some quick SEO tips that I have found to be most important. Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:01:06 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2650584methodologyreviewsProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2649734 unknown@DZone.com You've spent thousands of hours developing a new software program. Now how do you ensure that your competitors don't copy your program and steal your market? The sad truth is you can't, as Apple discovered when Microsoft "borrowed" its graphical user interface to build Windows and corner the PC operating system market. But there are steps you can take to give you an edge over your competition and make it more difficult for others to copy or steal your work. You can protect your software with patents, copyrights and trademarks. Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:42:31 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2649734reviewsusabilityProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2648388 unknown@DZone.com Last week during my birthday giveaway, SlickEdit was kind enough to donate a copy of their product Slick Edit Tools for VS.NET. Of course, I was unable to keep my mitts off of it and I had to give it a test drive before I gave the license away. Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:51:22 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2648388.netreviewstoolsProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2648352 unknown@DZone.com Agile Software Development is one of the big buzzwords of the software development industry. But what exactly is it? Agile Development is a different way of managing software development projects. 10 Key Principles, and how Agile Development fundamentally differs from a more traditional Waterfall approach to software development, are as follows Wed, 18 Jun 2008 21:55:04 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2648352methodologyreviewsusabilityProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2648264 unknown@DZone.com “We are in an economic downturn but an innovation upturn.” Most people are focusing on the downturn and the dangers it poses rather than on the opportunity for innovation. Most businesses are restructuring and streamlining their operations. Wed, 18 Jun 2008 21:12:30 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2648264opinionreviewsusabilityProgramming http://web2announcer.com/go/2647928 unknown@DZone.com Flash performance and usage is abysmal on current mobile devices that support playback. Mobile device processors — including the iPhone’s — simply aren’t fast enough to handle most Flash-laden sites. Flash Lite, the scaled down standard designed specifically for mobile devices, is even too much for most devices, and isn’t widely used.
 Jens Chr Brynildsen, a Flash expert who maintains a number resources for the standard including Flash Magazine, told us that the iPhone’s processor — a 600+ MHz ARM processor that actually runs at 412MHz — simply won’t pass muster. Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:31:10 GMT http://web2announcer.com/go/2647928Appleflash-flexreviewsProgramming