February 2005 Newsletter
He is richest whose joys are most simple. –Henry David Thoreau
In a pond koi can reach lengths of eighteen inches. Amazingly, when placed in a lake, koi can grow to three feet long. The metaphor is obvious. You are limited by how you see the world. –Vince Poscente
There is absolutely no inevitability as long as there is a willingness to contemplate what is happening. –Marshall McLuhan
Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. –Albert Schweitzer
It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome. –William James
Intellectual "work" is misnamed; it is a pleasure, a dissipation, and is its own highest reward. –Mark Twain
Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action. –Benjamin Disraeli
While a lot of pundits are focusing on "business/IT alignment"
initiatives, this author promotes moving beyond alignment into having IT
understand the fundamentals of the business that they serve in order to improve
IT results.
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=56800058
Whether you are eliciting requirements from a business user or
interviewing a job candidate, asking questions is one of the most important
jobs of the IT professional. This
article discusses the difference between "closed" and
"open" questions and provides tips on effectively asking questions.
http://www.computerworld.com/developmenttopics/development/story/0,10801,97281,00.html
This article gives a good, general overview of middleware and how it
works with some examples using RPC.
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=345781
A practical look at what business users want and expect from IT and how
to smooth out some of the bumps in the road when users and IT
"collide".
http://www.computerworld.com/printthis/2004/0,4814,89556,00.html
Many top managers see passion as an underutilized component of the
technology workforce. They believe that
proper management of this passion is a competitive advantage.
http://www.cioinsight.com/article2/0,1397,1743856,00.asp
ActiWATE is a free web application testing application. While I don't know much about it's functionality, it is well documented and the site provides some excellent example scripts.
http://products.actmind.com/actiWATE/index.html
Journal article that discusses analytical comparison of testing methods and how to use risk-based approaches to determine appropriate level of testing.
http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/287164.html
Increased awareness of security vulnerabilities with applications and addition of regulatory mandates is bringing application testing out of the shadows and into the forefront of development.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1751587,00.asp
This is a complete online version of the classic text from Eugene
Blanchard about all topics in the data communications and networking
arena. The text includes 63 chapters
with such topics as RS-232 serial communications up to TCP/IP and related
protocols.
http://www.techbooksforfree.com/intro_to_data_com/
This online tutorial on HTML provides a hands-on approach to learning the
language. The tutorial as structured a
series of beginning and advanced "minichapters" which cover the
various topics thoroughly and in easy to grasp manner. The tutorial is also available as a
downloadable package.
http://www.davesite.com/webstation/html/
This site provides downloadable/printable quick reference "cards"
for many programming and IT topics, including Java, CVS, vi, Linux, Oracle,
UML, XML and more. The cards are
provided in Adobe PDF format.
http://www.digilife.be/quickreferences/indexe.html
This introductory book chapter on object-oriented analysis and design
(OOAD) gives a nice overview of the concept and includes an easy-to-understand
example. In addition, it introduces UML
as a standard way to do OOAD.
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=360440
Listening is a critical skill in any job. This author gives some suggestions on the importance of listening and how to improve your listening ability.
http://www.mackay.com/cols/011605.html
An interview with Andy Hertzfeld who was one of the inventors of the Apple Macintosh computer in the early 1980s and who tells the story in a recently-released a book called Revolution in The Valley. The discussion provides some interesting insights into entrepreneurship in the computer industry.
http://news.com.com/2100-1082_3-5521058.html
A recent survey indicates that employees are less engaged in their work, which ultimately affects the performance of an organization. The study suggested focusing on seven areas to engage workers, including tools and technology and a better work/life balance.
http://www.industryweek.com/DailyPage/newsitem.asp?id=6475
This article highlights the most important achievements in the history of the microprocessor from even before the original Intel 4004 to today's 64-bit processors and beyond.
http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/pa-microhist.html
This site provides downloaded graph/grid paper in PDF format. Many different types are provided including 1 cm, 0.1", 1/12", dot, and hexagonal. You can even create your own custom format.
http://www.incompetech.com/beta/plainGraphPaper/
This special report collection of articles explores the rapid development of VoIP as a viable business technology over the past year. It includes a number of case studies showing the advantages and pitfalls of VoIP.
http://www.computerworld.com/networkingtopics/networking/report/0,,01172005,00.html
Gmail Drive is a Windows shell extension that allows you to use your Gmail account as an external storage device. Since it is a shell extension it integrates into Windows Explorer and acts just like another network drive. With Gmail Drive, you can store up to 1GB of files (depending on how much is used for e-mail).
http://www.viksoe.dk/code/gmail.htm
This little utility allows you to capture all SQL transactions executed on your client against an Oracle database. Requires SQL*Net or Net8 on the client.
http://www.aboves.com/products/statement_tracer_for_oracle/
TinyResMeter is just what its name implies: a very small resource meter. Don't let the size of this no-install resource meter fool you though; it is very powerful and configurable. It can show uptime, disk usage for local and network drives, RAM and CPU usage, and much more. Likewise, it is dockable to the edge of the desktop and can be placed always on top.
http://perso.accelance.net/~pesoft/trm/us_trm.html
This completely free version of the MS Visual C++ compiler includes command-line version of C/C++ compiler and linker, C and C++ runtime libraries, C++ Standard Template Library, .NET Common Language Runtime (CLR), and sample code. The site includes links to articles on how to use the toolkit and other examples.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/visualc/vctoolkit2003/
TeeTree Office is a simple, free flow-charting and diagramming tool. It provides templates for simple geometric diagrams, flowcharts, and UML diagrams. Diagrams can be exported to common graphic formats, such as BMP, JPG, GIF, and PNG. Certainly not as powerful as Visio, but the price is right!
http://www.steema.com/products/teetree/office/overview.html
Who couldn't love a company whose slogan is "We do stuff."? This site is an excellent parody of the marketing doublespeak so prevalent on the Internet. Too funny!
Remember all of the fads from days gone by. Here's a list of many of them from the 1920s to present. Those 1980s fads hit a little too close to home! :)
This online, Flash-based game lets you take our your work frustrations on a "virtual boss". Some of the dialogue is hilarious. (Note: This game is from a site trying to get you to buy Universal Studios vacation packages.)
http://www.iwantmyvacation.com/bashtheboss.html
This is an online, open content collaborative effort to document the history of computing from even before the machines we know as "computers" up to the present. Categories of the "exhibits" include the companies behind the computer revolution, a timeline, hardware, software, and more.
http://www.thocp.net/index.htm