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August 25, 2004
Googlefight: BYU vs. Notre Dame
BYU plays Notre Dame in its season opener. I asked Googlefight to predict the outcome. Looks like Notre Dame will take it, at least according to Google. Turns out that even using Mark Pilgrim's method (seeing which keyword kills more kittens), Notre Dame still takes it.
09:31 PM | Recommend This | Print This
Linda and Service Oriented Architectures
The September issue of Dr. Dobbs has an article (PDF) by Ron Bjornson and Andrew Sherman of TurboWorx on the use of Linda in Grid computing. Ron and Andrew both got their PhDs from Yale where Linda was developed by David Gelernter (As an aside, Gelernter is the Yale CS Prof who almost got blown up by the Unibomber.) If you're not familiar with Linda, its a programming model (i.e. it can be added to existing languages) that does interprocess communication using a free-form tuple space. Tuple spaces offer an alternative to message-oriented service oriented architectures like Web-services.
The primary difference between tuple-spaces and message-based system is that message-based systems require a delivery endpoint, or at least need a way to discover one. One process sends the message specifying the task to be done to another process. Tuple-spaces are more like bulletin board systems, where the originating process merely specifies a need and other processes meet that need as they can. Linda was the inspiration behind Jini's JavaSpaces.
This may sound like topic-based pub-sub systems, but there's a subtle difference. In tuple-spaces, processes search the tuple space, using a pattern language, for matches rather than subscribing to a particular topic. Consequently, you can use a tuple-space to implement a topic-based pub-sub system, but not the other way around. In the same way that searching on the Web is a small, but significance departure from Web-based directories, tuple-spaces are a small, but significant departure from message-based pub-sub systems.
Linda extensions are available for most languages. The chief disadvantage of using a tuple-space for creating your next service oriented architecture is that there's not real standard and no, as far as I know, public tuple spaces. This means that you have to have more control over the players in your SOA-based system than you would if you use Web services. Still, tuple-spaces have inherent advantages. Most conspicuous is that they ease the burden in creating fault tolerant systems. Tuple-spaces represent an extreme in loose coupling.
04:30 PM | Recommend This | Print This
Sixth Myths of IT
This InfoWorld special report on the six myths of IT is generating some heat on the Web. I saw it first on the InfoWorld site earlier in the week, but since then I've seen it referenced all over. Here are the myths and realities:
IT Myth 1: Server upgrades matter Reality: Donât pay extra for upgradability; youâll never need itÊ
IT Myth 2: Eighty percent of corporate data resides on mainframesÊÊ Reality: Try 50 percent, or even lessÊ
IT Myth 3: All big shops run multiple platforms Reality: This 'myth' is closer to fact than fictionÊ
IT Myth 4: CIOs and CTOs have a greater need for business savvy than tech expertise Reality: Tech chops matter more than everÊ
IT Myth 5: Most IT projects fail Reality: It all depends on how you define failureÊ
IT Myth 6: IT doesn't scale Reality: Virtually any technology is scalable, provided you combine the right ingredients and implement them effectivelyÊFrom InfoWorld Special Report: Six great myths of IT
Referenced Wed Aug 25 2004 14:20:47 GMT-0600
These would make a good topic of discussion at this Friday's CTO Breakfast.
02:23 PM | Recommend This | Print This
O. C. Tanner in the Agile 100
Salt Lake City based O. C. Tanner has been named one of CIO Magazine's Agile 100. Here's what CIO Magazine said about O. C. Tanner:
Agile software development methodology used to implement more than 1,000 business systems enhancements in one year. IT enhancements to manufacturing, supply chain and customer-facing processes reduced customer calls by half.From The 100 Agile Honorees - - CIO Magazine Aug 15,2004
Referenced Wed Aug 25 2004 07:41:43 GMT-0600
Congratulations to Dave Berg and his team. To see how agile your IT department is, take the CIO Magazine agile quiz.