Looking for answers

Probably due to the predominant position of a few actors (Google, Amazon, Facebook, etc.), I often feel that all I used to learn about small size systems will soon be obsolete. The current fashionable IT word is noSQL. If you don't have a minimum of IT culture and only read the buzzy articles you could think the SQL thing is dead. After a short analysis, I collected a few answers and mainly understood, both old and new technologies will have a long life, but their opposition really makes us step back and reconsider. First, there is ACID for atomicity, consistency, isolation and durability, the properties implemented by the Database management system (DBMS) to make sure the transactions proceed reliably. Most of the time we use databases of this type in our indoor computing system. But when it comes to distributed ones (many nodes) you've got to understand that a choice has to be made. In 2000, Eric Brewer made a keynote speech at the ACM Symposium on the Principles of Distr...

2010, the browser is a platform. Step by step, HTML5 arrives. Three Googlers present their 20% project: a port of the Quake II engine to HTML5 using the Google Web Toolkit. For more information, please visit Quake2-gwt-port . In the projet page, you read: In the port, we use WebGL, the Canvas API, HTML 5 elements, the local storage API, and WebSockets to demonstrate the possibilities of pure web applications in modern browsers such as Safari and Chrome. The port is based on the Jake2 project, compiled to Javascript using the Google Web Toolkit (GWT). Jake 2 is a Java port of the original Quake II source code, which was open sourced by id software. To make the Jake 2 code work with GWT, we have Created a new WebGL based renderer Ported the network layer for multiplayer games from UDP to the WebSocket API Made all resource loading calls asynchronous Created a GWT implementation of Java nio buffers based on WebGL arrays (to be ported to ECMAScript Typed Arrays ) Implemen...

We are now living in the second decade of the 21st century and having data/services online is not an advantage anymore, but not having it is a disavantage. We used to deploy servers in data centers to make sure our customers have permanent access to our services or to give the sensation that we were always online. Our internal IT infrastructure was changing step by step and the recurrent question used to be: should we based everything around Microsoft to minimise the products' compatibility or should we take the best of every product and support their interaction ourselves? We were living with the philosophy of IT perimeters delimited by security devices even if users were spending their time collaborating with others, sharing their documents by emails located somewhere. Somewhere connected. Today, everything looks different due to our understanding of news trends and the near future: the soon to be soaring energy price, the unavoidable trend of collaboration pushed by social ne...

When you adopt an agile methodology, you first try to apply its recommendations and often you will prefer to make your own dish with these good practices. After a few weeks of practice, you won't get the expected result that the agile guru has predicated you should. Most of the time, you will be told to apply the methodology you choose without changing a thing. The Shu Ha Ri way coming from Aikido is often the concept which is proposed for learning an agile method: Shu : first phase, concentrate on all the recommendations and practices, Ha : second step, now you practice the methodology correctly and start to understand the underlying principles, Ri : you have sufficient experience to make your own decision and adapt the methodology to your specific context. You will also learn, the agile world has not suddenly erupted from the clever minds which produced its manifesto . Instead, these efficient practices have evolved over a century. Toyoda , Taiichi Ōno , Edwards Deming will be...

As a product guy, working on mobile devices, I'm pretty impressed by this demo. Simple, with what you need in your day to day life. Microsoft is back on track. Thanks to Chris Pirillo for the video.

Most of the time, when guys were explaining the role of the software architect to me, I was not able to believe it would be possible to organise software development on such a division of responsibilities. I always feel the architecture is a discipline each member of a team should embrace. The " Design Patterns Quick Reference " from Mc Donaland is really useful because it allows the team to speak about the most appropriate choice in front of this great summary. But a common pitfall with these pattern design concepts is the fact people will over design and move to a solution too complex. One solution resides in the Test driven development principles where after coding the test and writing the code for them to pass, there is the refactoring step. This is the good moment to consider inserting a design pattern. Make things work, then focus on building maintainable code. Sources : Mcdonaldland : mcdonaldland » Design Patterns Quick Reference Davidhayden : Design Patterns and Agil...

Adopt Social media, don't buy but earn attention. Why do you still invest money in marketing areas where you are sure to get nothing in return? Fear of change? While I agree with the presentation "Social media marketing explained in 61 words" by David Meerman Scott, I still do not get how I could apply these concepts to niche markets, like the one I currently work in. Enjoy the show where you'll be explained what is introduced on David Meerman Scott's own blog : " You can buy attention (advertising) You can beg for attention from the media (PR) You can bug people one at a time to get attention (sales) Or you can earn attention by creating something interesting and valuable and then publishing it online for free: a YouTube video, a blog, a research report, photos, a Twitter stream, an ebook, a Facebook page. " David builds his argurment with real examples (links in sources) he has met these last years and jokes about the Gobbledygook you can fi...