YottaSniglet

Supended

2005-01-28T13:17:00.000Z

I have not posted anything regularly on this blog so I'll officially suspend it. I will later continue or create another blog but I'll say something here.

Exception Management Application Block

2004-10-04T19:34:00.000+01:00

I've been using for the past hours Microsoft's Exception Management AB. It has nothing to do with what I expected it to do.
I was expecting a way to typify exceptions, layer them and possibly take some actions upon it but I was so wrong.

This application block simply "registers" the exception with publishers. It almost seems like configuring a logging block, it fealt awfully similar to using log4J and configuring it.

I didn't like it and I surely don't recomend it to anyone!

Introduction to Algorithms

2004-09-06T14:51:00.000+01:00

I found an online version of the most definitive and important book about introduction to algorithms. This masterpiece has almost every foundation necessary to get into the world of Algorithms and altough I have the book itself for almost a year, I haven't had time to read it appropriately.
You can buy it from Amazon here or read it online here.

IBM's "Ponder This"

2004-08-23T17:10:00.000+01:00

Every month IBM poses a complex - at least for me - math problem for people to solve. They are normally interisting problems but I don't have the math knowledge to solve them.

Maybe you can, check it out here.

Visual Studio Team System's Web Test

2004-08-23T17:05:00.000+01:00

Visual Studio Team System will cause a revolution in the way groups work with .net technology.
A neat little feature is Web Testing. It allows to record and perform test to our webpages simply and efficiently without all the problems we had with Application Center Test.

Check out this post by Josh Christie.

SQLExplorer plugin for Eclipse

2004-08-17T12:30:00.000+01:00

I've been using the SQLExplorer plugin for Eclipse, a JFacedBC-based database navigation tool, for the last month and it rocks.

I've been working in different places and with different database vendors - MS SQL Server, Oracle and Informix - and some software implicates inter-operating all these vendors.

The UI of this program allows me to develop my java programs and mantain active connections to all databases - actually allow connection to virtually any datasource - and see my table, test my query. All of this well integrated in my eclipse workspace. Really worth a try.

https://sqlexplorer.dev.java.net/

Back to blogging

2004-08-17T12:27:00.000+01:00

Vacations have ended for more than 2 weeks now and I'm back to the regular pace at work.
I will also try to post more regularly some things

Topcoder - Programming Contests

2004-08-02T18:26:00.000+01:00

TopCoder is the world's largest Online Programming Contest organizer. I've been competing there for almost a year and I can only say that it is very very very interisting for anyone trying to gain some algorithmic knowledge or simply for people trying to challenge themselves.

There are non-paid competitions on a weekly basis and multiple competitions a year (Open, Colleiate challange, etc.) with really large amounts of money involved. In each round of a competition each contestant has 75 minutes to solve 3 problems - a easy (250 pts), a medium (500 pts) and a hard (1000 pts). As time goes by the points of each problem decreases.
After this phase, there is a short intermission followed by a challenge phase where each player may see the code other players in the same room wrote a challenge it against the reference implementation. After all this, a series of system tests is ran.

It really is easier to just drop by the geekiest site on the web without slashes or dots :)

Back from some short vacation!

2004-08-02T18:19:00.000+01:00

After being totally wasted with work in the last couple of weeks I took a week off with some friends to rest and have some fun.
I'm back now and will try to keel the blog updated.

Unit Testing support in Visual Studio 2005

2004-06-14T15:43:00.000+01:00

I'm joining Peter Provost's petition for Unit Testing support should be included with all versions of Visual Studio 2005 and not just with Team System.

It's completely incredible how one can leave out unit testing as an integrating phase of software development. It doesn't matter if my team is following XP programming, unit testing is part of the coding phase. Like someone commented, choosing not to include unit testing capabilities nowadays is like choosing not to include a debugger in all VS 2005 versions.

C'mon Microsoft, don't make me loose the fatih in what seems an excellent line of products.

Framework for Java Database Connectivity from IBM

2004-06-09T12:19:00.000+01:00

IBM AlpahWorks launched today a Framework for Java Database Connectivity that complies with JDBC 1.0. It's seems interisting because each query is transformed into an internal representation of the framework. Execution plans are then generataded and only after data is retrieved/set in a optimized way.

Something to try.

FODA - Feature-Oriented Domain Analysis

2004-06-08T15:23:00.000+01:00

The FODA methodology ia a very interisting methodology for all portuguese programmers :)

Jonas 4.1 released with J2EE 1.4 Support

2004-06-08T15:12:00.000+01:00

Jonas is a J2EE Aplication Server that "supports EJB 2.1, J2EE CA 1.5 with a JMS connector for JORAM, JACC 1.0, it embeds Tomcat 5 or Jetty 5, the J2EE management model is exposed through the MEJB. JOnAS 4.1 now integrates JOTM as transaction manager and provides a new classloader hierarchy. A lightweight database is now embedded within JOnAS, making it a ready to use application server, at least for "non db intensive" applications."

It's not certified by Sun yet, but will probably be sometime soon.

Some pointers

2004-06-08T11:13:00.000+01:00

- News: Microsoft has launched their Java resource center. It's main purpose is to assist java and .net developers to interoperate between the two platforms. Check it out here.

- Currently using: Jalopy. It's a java formatting open-source project. Served has command-line stand-alone or IDE plugin (JBuilder, eclipse, etc.) has a lot of functions. It is, however, a little bit outdated because it's author has lauched a commercial version of the project and has left this one orphaned :(

- Reading: An article about the advantages of the Itanium 2 support for .NET and Java and An Introduction to Programming Outlook 2003 Using C#

Microsoft User Interface Process (UIP) Application Block 2.0

2004-06-03T23:33:00.000+01:00

The UIP application block for .NET is a license free, easy to use framework for developing both web and win apps. Haven't read the guide yet but it seems to be great help for companies and developers that haven't got a broad code base or defined practices. It offers a solution based on best practices and industry accepted patterns.
Really, really worth a look!

Check it out here.

Morning roll

2004-06-03T10:06:00.000+01:00

A few pointers:
- Good example of a Visual Studio 2005 new feature: Code Snipplets. Much like Live templates in IntelliJ IDEA or templates in JBuilder.
- Jonathan Shwatrz from Sun about Sun's new pricing policy.
- Noticed that Windows Media Player 10 beta is released.

Visual Studio 2005 and more

2004-06-03T00:24:00.000+01:00

I've been reading lot's of stuff about the new Visual Studio 2005. It will support efficient code formatting, refactoring and unit testing automation among other things.
One of the features I saw at DevDays here in Portugal was a class modeler, much like Borland Together that connects modeling and coding bidirectionally. This integration is much appreciated from my part.

However, the big news is the so called Visual Studio Team System. It's a set of tools and multi-view IDE for different roles of a team that is used in the entire process cycle. This means that, for example, an architect designs the classes, the developer imediately has access to them - integrates with VSS - and the tester can test the classes as soon as they are done.
It has different views of the IDE, depending upon the user's role: Architect, Developer, Project Manager or Tester.

You can read more at the official website. Here is a bunch of related links.
The Visual Studio Team System team runs a blog here.

Celestia, space simulator

2004-06-02T22:37:00.000+01:00

Celestia is an open-source project that simulates the behaviour of our know Universe.

The program is based on real data and behaves according with real parameters so the movements are quite spectacular. You can just run around the galaxy, follow your favorite planet then hop to the nearest galaxy.

Just download it and run the demo to see what you can do. It also accepts scripts for all sort of things.

Get it from the project's homepage.

European emptyness

2004-06-02T13:15:00.001+01:00

I read somewhere this interesting idea: "Why not ask european union candidates about software patents?"

In Portugal thought exchange is getting near the absolute zero. I have not heard politicians talk about software patents or about the EU Constitution or about imigration policies .... nothing. It all boils down to transforming this elections into an oportunity to evaluate the internal work of the government.
Why do the comunists continue to challenge the Union's agricole policy and don't show people the good work they've done in the european parliament during the last period?

It's ridiculous.

7-million digit prime number

2004-06-02T13:15:00.000+01:00

The number is 2^24036583 - 1

8)

Apache's Geronimo J2EE container anounced as an official project

2004-06-02T12:27:00.000+01:00

Geronimo is the Apache Foundation J2EE container project. From it's embryonic state some controversy has surrounded this project due to the conflict with JBoss for alleged copied source code.
The rationale behind this new and now official project is to provide a standards compliant j2EE Container with a BSD like license witch they feel is a gap in availlable offers today. They are obviously working towards gaining Sun's J2EE certification.

Anyway, very good news! I only wished I had more time to be involved in a project like this.

Check the project's page.

Java 1.5 beta 2 released

2004-06-01T17:49:00.000+01:00

Java 1.5 b2 has been released . The new fweatures can be checked here

You can download the not so small package for here:
Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition 1.5.0 Beta 2

Oracle joins Microsoft's developer program

2004-05-21T11:03:00.000+01:00

CNet notices that Oracle has joined Microsoft's developer program. This means that DBMS will integrate aa lor smoothelly with Visual Studio.
This will augment the programming efficiency of a large number of developer currently working with .net/Oracle DBs allowing to debug database applications under Visual Studio.

This agreement, along with some other unsual cooperation agreements for Microsoft with other main companies (SAP, Sun, etc.) comes to me as a surprise because Microsoft's SQL Server is a competitor of Oracles's Xi RDBMS and has gained some of it's market in the last years.

It is however very good news as it seems to symbolize a greater focus for integration of Microsoft's part.

DevDays

2004-05-17T11:21:00.000+01:00

DevDays conference will occur on the 27th May in Estoril, Portugal.
I'll be there :)

Sistema de blogs da Assembleia da República

2004-05-15T14:13:00.000+01:00

Portugal's Republic Parliament has lauched their Blog System in what seems to me an unprecedented idea.
However only one member of the parliament, the most obvious one, has adhered to this system. Dr. José Magalhão seems to be the only member of the Parliament who cares about Information Technologies.

Sun Java Studio Creator

2004-05-15T14:00:00.000+01:00

I was rather surprised with Sun's new Rapid Development IDE, Sun Java Studio Creator.

It's main objective is to allow visual development, having certain similarities with Visual Basic's interface, in a fast and easy way. It's mainly oriented towards developing JSF (Java Server Faces) interfaces.

The programming challenge is reduced to programming in a VB style. Put your components where you want them and affect actions to each of them. One interesting feature is the navigation interface, where you see your pages in a reduced aspect ratio with its components, and you can drag a component to another page creating a link associated to the action of clicking that component.

In what concerns the act of coding it's not a hell of a thrill, so I would only advice it to build interfaces. Besides that, it's memory footprint is really heavy as most IDEs are (except IntelliJ IDEA).

Sean Penn !!

2004-03-01T14:52:00.000Z

Sean Penn won the Oscar for Best Performance by a Male Actor in Leading Role and really deserved it! Congrats to one of the greatest actors of his generation.

A good oportunity to earn some money

2004-02-26T01:53:00.000Z

Angry Coder, as they say "The 1st eZine built with asp.net", pays you from $50 to $100 for technical and/or non-technical .NET related articles. Maybe I'll write one someday, once I have a little more time for my own ;)

A little history

2004-02-26T01:49:00.000Z

Get the exclusive, the complete, the unique ... ok, this is not TV Shop. Just check Wired for a compreensive article about Google.

Spring - J2EE Aplication Framework

2004-02-26T01:32:00.000Z

Spring is a J2EE Framework focusing on relieving the developer from fastidious and repetitive coding. It uses the Model-View-Controler (MVC) model, offers data access and transaction abstraction.
Overall it's a container for all your business objects - however the authors emphasize that it's modular nature allows a developer to use only the components he wishes.

Seems to be insteresting but I'm not quite following were this fits. Is it a EJB substitute. I'll have to read a little more.

- Project Page
- Article about Spring

I'm back

2004-02-25T02:20:00.000Z

I've started working in August 2003 and since then I've stopped updating my blog. I'll try to do it more often from now on.

Microsoft launches new mice and adds tilt functionality

2003-08-10T23:03:00.000+01:00

Clubic.com has some pictures of Microsoft's new mouse - including one in leather:

BBC says that they will also introduce a tilt functionality to the mouse. This means that the user can now scroll verticaly and horizontaly only with the mouse.
The importance of this feature may be arguable but may be usefull in specific aplications.

Two interesting platforms

2003-08-10T22:39:00.000+01:00

There are two interesting web application platforms that I've seen articles about and some buzz. Mason and Zope are diferent meaning that Mason is based on html and Zope is a more mature project based in Python.

An interesting article about Zope can be read here.

Ooooohhh

2003-08-10T06:34:00.000+01:00

I can see some daylight. This means "Sleep Now".

I Go ... Sleep Now ... zzzzz

Adobe adopts product activation

2003-08-10T06:33:00.000+01:00

Adobe completed the tests for their product activation technology.
They will follow Microsoft's way with the Office Suite to ensure that losses due to copied software are minimized. the test were done with Adobe Photoshop 7.

My question is: Is it worth the trouble ?
Everyone gets the software it desires, product activations are cracked mainly in mainstream software applications such as Photoshop and only a few non-professional users can give themselves the luxury of spending a fortune to get one of the world's biggest software gems.

Morphon CSS Editor

2003-08-10T06:26:00.000+01:00

I've been looking at Morphon CSS Editor in the last hour and it looks neat. It's free software, java based and multi-platform.
There's also Morphon XML Editor, also free, but I'm an XML Spy junkie.

Blog functionality in Microsoft Frontpage 2003

2003-08-10T06:20:00.000+01:00

Dan Gilmour got a few answers from MS about future blog functionalities in their software.
This is the answer he got

Blog functionality is delivered inside Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003. You can use these capabilities inside FrontPage 2003 to customize and provide blogging functionality to Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003. To contribute to a blog created with FrontPage 2003, all you need is a regular browser. But to make design updates to the blog, you do need FrontPage 2003.

As for SharePoint Portal Server 2003, the blog feature is not available in the product. However, you can use FrontPage 2003 and blog Web Parts will also likely be made available via third parties. Finally, please keep in mind that inside SharePoint Portal Server 2003 discussion threads with dates are delivered right out of the box.

Everybody talks about the same things

2003-08-08T05:48:00.000+01:00

I've entered into the blogging scene recently and there are two themes that seem to be recursive showing up at almost any tech oriented blog. These themes are RSS (and RDF) and URI design.

RSS seems to be the "Alma Mater" of the cyberspace. The blogging phenomena created an entirely different cyberculture. Actually, it originated multiple sub-cultures organized in neighbourhoods without loosing cohesion in the so called blogosphere.
A new dialect was created and I faced myself with expressions I had never seen before: blogosphere, "bellysphere" (this is used in portugal - umbigoesfera - to denominate blogs that are nothing more than personnal diaries), syndication, RSS, trackback, pingback, permalink, etc.
This terms are not necessarily originated from blogging communities but are quite merged in this environment.

I like reading blogs, but they must encompass some shred of intelligence (mine probably doesn't have it but I'm not pretentious about it). I enjoy technical blogs like Simon Willison's blog or a random choice from Weblogs@asp.net, humurous ones such as portuguese Blogue dos Marretas or Gato Fedorento or general ones such as Scripting News.

There's also a number of different platforms where to place and evolve one's blog. When I started this I thought blogger.com was about it because most of the portuguese blogs are implemented with this framework. It was some days later that I found MoveableType and Radio.
I'm now in gathering strength and time to move my blog to a more capable framework so that I can gt backtrack, syndication and the stuff with the funny words ;).

I have a doubt that remains in my head. Why use RDF in some places and RSS in others. RDF, in the way I see it, is a bit more generic that RSS.
I start to see all kings of applications using RSS, such as instant messaging services and stuff like that ... humpf !

New Google Operator

2003-08-08T05:21:00.000+01:00

Google introduced a new operator in their search engine. For now on the symbol ~ in front of the keywork also finds for that word's synonyms.

It's OK.

However I must note that lately their PageRank system seems to be rusty. The blogging community seems to contribute to this because there is a large number of links between the sites and the most well known blogs receive lot's of links.
Knowing that this bloggers normally write about general topics, it's normal that when you're looking for a piece of news you get a personnal weblog instead of an institucional journal, tv or whatever site.
For example, if you search for "Schwarzenegger for governor" you get an entry to Jeremy Zawodny's blog.

Your Guide to Looking Busy at Work

2003-08-08T05:10:00.000+01:00

Probably a little bit nerdy but still worth the read. kuro5hin.org || Your Guide to Looking Busy at Work

The computer has irreversibly changed the workplace. E-mail has replaced memos, Winamp has replaced the portable FM radio and stupid Far Side desktop wallpapers have replaced stupid Far Side wall calendars.

With all these changes, we often overlook the single greatest boon that computers have brough to the employed masses: the ability to look busy.

Won't be there

2003-08-08T05:04:00.000+01:00

Creating a Multi-table DataGrid in ASP.NET

2003-08-08T03:14:00.000+01:00

Check it out here.

Coldfusion MX 6.1

2003-08-08T02:16:00.000+01:00

Macromedia launched Coldfusion MX 6.1, previously codenamed "Red Sky", 3 days ago.
In their press released they give enphasis to performance and migration capabilities.

Performance benchmarks of Macromedia ColdFusion MX 6.1 demonstrate runtime improvements of up to 172 percent over ColdFusion 5, which translates into a better end-user experience and reduced infrastructure costs over time. In addition, dynamic e-mail generation has been dramatically enhanced, enabling users to deliver messages more than 50 times faster than with previous releases.

Pricing starts at $1299 per server.

All my thoughts go to ...

2003-08-08T01:19:00.000+01:00

... the firemen and families of the victim's (15) of Portugal's forest fires. More than 160 thousand acres are gone and it hasn't stopped yet.

European Union gives MS an ultimatum

2003-08-08T01:09:00.000+01:00

From BBC

First, it is accused of unfairly promoting its own media player at the expense of competitors such as Real Player and Apple Quicktime.

The Commission either wants Microsoft to offer a version of Windows without its own media player attached, or offer rival services within its Windows package.

I don't agree with this. It would only require me to download WMP whenever I installed Windows. An Operating System, as in the Microsoft concept, Is supposed to be a bundle that includes a number of applications. The media player is one of them, a quite a good one if I may say.
Wouldn't this be the same as being able to record cd's without 3rd party software, or ziping and unziping files without winzip, winrar, winace or whatever. It's the same to me.

Second, Microsoft is accused of leveraging its dominant position from PCs into low-end servers, the computers which provide core services to PCs in corporate networks.

The EU wants Microsoft to disclose more code to its competitors, to allow them to make sure their systems can work together with Microsoft's rather than being disadvantaged by Microsoft's dominant market position.

This really isn't abusing its dominant position. Isn't it normal for a company to extend it's market.

There is a number of points EU could attack but they don't, this is too vague.

(People are gona call me pro-MS again, and maybe I am ...)

Microsoft Professional Developers Conference 2003

2003-08-07T17:02:00.000+01:00

It's taking place from October 26 to October 30 the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference 2003.

You can check the available conferences here.

The problem is the price, almost $2000 is a bit too much.

I give up

2003-08-05T02:17:00.000+01:00

I gave up developing the "blog community application" I announced due to lack of support and because I have now noticed that there are anough programs floating around the web that offer the same/similar functionalities I was proposing to achieve.

Well, thinking what to do next ... :(

Novell acquires Ximian

2003-08-05T02:14:00.000+01:00

Novell has acquired Ximian in what seems to be a weakening move to the open source movement.

The good news is that this news led me to Mono's page - Ximian's .NET implementation for linux - and, for my surprise, the project is at a rather advanced stage. Most of the main classes in .NET have been implemented and some new functionalities were added.

There is, however, a large number of TODO's and I wait hoping for a larger variety of languages, besides c#, vb.net and GTK#.

Floating-Point Arithmetic

2003-08-02T17:44:00.000+01:00

After experiencing floating-point errors over and over again - mainly at topcoder - decided I'd learn a bit about floating-point arithmetic.
I found a manual called "What Every Computer Scientist Should Know About Floating-Point Arithmetic" and I'll try to read ittransdiagonally.
Problems with NaN's, rounding errors and floating-point standards are the main aspects focused in this 74-page long paper.

XForms example

2003-08-02T04:21:00.000+01:00

There is an endless number of XForms implementations around the Web. I found this little IE 6 plugin that allows it to interpret XForms code.
You can download FormsPlayer and try the examples at their website.

It seems pretty simple. I liked the possibility to bind an XML file to a XForms element (a dropdown) and create relations between dropdowns.

XForms Becomes Proposed Recommendation

2003-08-02T03:50:00.000+01:00

Slashdot notices that XForms is now a Proposed Recommendation by W3C.

From Slashdot:

XForms is the next generation of forms for the Web, and uses an XML-based three-layer model: data model, data, and user interface. XForms uses CSS for device independencence and is designed for integration into XHTML 2, SVG, and other XML-based markup languages.

Here is a list of implementations of XForms.

Light

2003-08-01T01:58:00.000+01:00

Isn't light beautifull ?

ISPs fight RIAA's subpoenas

2003-08-01T01:51:00.000+01:00

About a week ago MIT and Boston College denied to give out information about their students due to incorrectly submitted subpoenas by RIAA. Now SBC, a North American ISP denied giving the names of their users mainly for 2 reasons: all subpoenas were filled in Washington and SBC is in California and each subpoena includes hundreds of names whereas it should be individual.

"Pac Bell is simply recycling many of the same arguments already raised and twice rebutted by a federal court,"

an RIAA official said.

"It's unfortunate that they have chosen to litigate this, unlike every other ISP (Internet service provider) which has complied with their obligations under the law."

I really disagree with RIAA's attitude to personally prosecute individuals. Arresting a person for downloading a music? As a friend of mine would say "This doesn't fit my concept of world"

Microsoft Java Language Conversion Assistant 2.0

2003-07-31T17:49:00.000+01:00

Microsoft Java Language Conversion Assistant 2.0 is a tool that allows you to convert java code into c# code and offers integration with Visual Studio.

One can convert entire projects, applets into user controls, etc. Going to try it sometime.

3DMark03

2003-07-31T17:31:00.000+01:00

Ace's Hardware has an article comparing the performance of a Pentium II 350 with a Radeon 9700 PRO, a celeron 1.4 and a P4 2.8.
The thing is that in 3dMark the Pentium II is able to surpass the others leading to the idea that 3dMark is really based on the performance of the graphics card.
Enough said, take a look at the article: 3DMark03 Performance Factors

Anti-Spam Bills

2003-07-31T17:13:00.000+01:00

An article at Wired focuses on the problems of anti-spam methods when compared with spam itself.

Electronic Frontier Foundation's head counsel Cindy Cohn, for instance, argues that antispam crusaders are forgetting the Internet's first principle -- information flows freely from end to end. Cohn fears that the Internet's openness will be collateral damage in the war against unwanted e-mail.

The stuation is that nobody enjoys getting tons of junk mail but the risk of filtering a wrong e-mail may be big enough to start us thinking about alternative ways to stop spam.

E-mail isn't a toy anymore. If I don't get an e-mailed notice from the federal district court mailing list, it's malpractice

This article also provides a little insight to different kinds of anti-spam programs available namely those based on Bayesian Algorithm's.

Algorithms

2003-07-31T03:10:00.000+01:00

I've been (slowly) reading "Algorithms" by Robert Sedgewick and I can say I'm enjoying it.
After getting my degree a few weeks ago, I started wondering what level of competence I had solving problems (not necessarly real-world problems). The result was that I felt I missed some theoretical basis in Algorithms as well in numerical analisys, probability theory, vectors, etc.

Sedgewick's book (he has an entire series of Algorithm books in C/C++/Java) covers most of the classical problems and solutions, namely: Mathematical algorithms, sorting, searching, geometric algorithms, graph algorithms and some advanced topics (Dynamic programming, NP-complete problems, etc.). The book is illustrated by example code in pascal (simple enough so everyone understands) and it is a good reference manual.

Now all I've got to do is finish reading it and practice a little bit at topcoder.

Hell ...

2003-07-31T02:55:00.000+01:00

I'm sick and tired of the entire Open Source Movement. Not because of it's objectives but why just be anti-M$?
I don't support Open Source, I support using the most apropriate technology for a given task ... just that. Now, don't put a sticker in my forehead saying "M$'s Bitch!".

Two good articles about PowerPC 970

2003-07-31T02:52:00.000+01:00

ArsTechnica has published two articles about IBM's latest processor. You can read ther first here and the second here.

Blog Census

2003-07-30T04:37:00.000+01:00

I noticed that portuguese is the second most spoken language in blogs around the world.

What a happy thief

2003-07-30T02:57:00.000+01:00

Just look at the thief's face at The Sacramento Bee.

RIAA lost the WAR !!!!!!!!!

2003-07-30T02:26:00.000+01:00

Read it in UpGrade: RIAA levaria 2191,78 anos a processar todos os utilizadores de serviços de partilha de ficheiros. (portuguese)
Yes! If they star at 'A' I'm not worried ...

PHP5 is coming ...

2003-07-28T19:16:00.000+01:00

Take an in depth view at PHP5. A great article by Harry Fuecks.

TopCoder.Com - Programming Contests

2003-07-28T19:05:00.000+01:00

I've been attending for the last month or so to Topcoder's competitions - with a rather weak performance may I say - and it is a great way to improve a programmer's coding abilities. Try it, specially if you're portuguese. Only 5 portuguese coder are ranked and our country sits in the last position of the ranking. This is probably because the matches start after 2 AM in Portugal.

IE's domintation

2003-07-28T18:58:00.000+01:00

Internet Explorer has a 95.4% market share according to WinInfo. Long live Opera and Mozilla Firebird !

Quake II in C++ .NET

2003-07-28T18:32:00.000+01:00

This is kind of interesting (maybe not :)).

Quake II's code was ported to managed C++ code in .NET by Vertigo Software and it might be interesting to look to. You can download the code from Vertigo's homepage and they've published an article explaining possible problems during compilation of the project at CodeProject.com.

Another blog comunity application

2003-07-28T17:34:00.000+01:00

I'm developing blog comunity application - I think i'll call it "We Blog!" - totally developed in Microsoft .NET and c#. My idea is to offer a closed comunity based application with an imensa expansion capacity. It will include a plug-in systen as well as all normal functionalities of a standard blog - multiple user with assigned permissions in a specific blog, comments, RSS feeds, link categories and other stuff.
I will initially develop a limited number of plug-in's, namely a calendar, the ability to show excerpts of other blog's feeds, news rankings based on comments and votes, etc.

Furthermore, the frontpage of the system will allow a tight coupling of the blogs and give information about recent posts and whatever comes to my mind (ideas and help would be very apreciated).

I will deploy this in an autp-installable executable, as simple as possible - but it's goiong to take a while 'cause I'm still in a design phase and all I've got is a bunch of ideas on how to construct the skeleton of the system.

1st Post

2003-07-27T20:34:00.000+01:00

This is my blog and this is my first post. As you may be wondering, YottaSniglet is a mix of "Yotta" and "Sniglet". Yotta is a prefix of quantity meaning 10^24 and Sniglet is word that should be in a dictionary but isn't. I leave to your understanding the meaning of the complete word.