Apr 29, 2009

Time to port some Windows XP drivers to Vista 64

Not the project I dreamed of, but it is still nice having to learn the innards of the newest Windows versions and x64 development.

Before anything else time to upgrade the DDKBUILD script to the newest available which covers kernel-mode development for Windows Vista and 2008 Server.


Put simply ddkbuild.cmd is a must-have for drivers' development, as it makes integration with VS2005 viable, newer versions of VS may also benefit but as I'm stuck with that version I don't know.

Apr 28, 2009

Sneer Summit was very nice!!!

We've discussed core technical issues like the component model abstracted around "Bricks", with some AOP-like cross-cut concerns added as "Natures". This was in Java.

Them some discussion on data-model separation. Currently it is tied to the component model, by defining POJOs that flow in-and-out the Brick mandatory public interface.

Them meta-programming, to substitute current "Nature", run-time injection of behavior with more debuggable Macros, but as that means using another language (Boo migrated to JVM as Boojay) it is not clearcut if the Sneer coders will go down this route.

After suffering some "Rock Band"-ness, I swayed to the sovereign games development session, where discussions just kept the big question unanswered, what kind of game would be a sucess in a Sovereign landscape.

Finally, we got back to the final all-voices discussions on the merits of pursuing such a project and how to make it effectively grow up. Most people feel that a killer app is needed, and that portable protocols should be defined to enable developers not to be forced to use Java or more generally just some specific language/platform to develop Sovereign pieces and apps.

I, for example, still prefer to implement my sovereign bits in C#,Boo, or probably some Mono-based DSL I'll cook in the vein of Intentional Programming or Reinvention Of Programming

Apr 24, 2009

Preparing for the Sneer Summit

Tomorrow night, I'll fly to Curitiba to participate in the Sneer Summit, that will happen on Sunday (Apr 25).

Have been reading all the basics on the subject (again and deeper), except the java code.
The subject is Sovereign Computing.

Probably some crazy idea will jailbreak out of my head, while there. Hopefully...

Apr 8, 2009

Java support in Google's App Engine and Mono and Sneer

I've been reading and watching the videos from Google's Campfire One, about the new features they've added to App Engine, specially the Java support, and got thinking of some possibilities when throwing Mono in the picture:

  1. We can see if they have interest in having Mono support in the App Engine, meaning basically to be able to host ASP.NET apps in there. That entails customizing the core libs/APIs using Mono as the VM and the libraries source, and also developing a plugin for Visual Studio (and maybe Monodevelop/Sharpdevelop) to give ASP.NET devs (WebForms and MVC) the same integrated experience they've provided for Java devs using Eclipse
  2. We can help Keerthi's proposal to GSOC for implementing a clone of Azzure take off, and integrate it into Monodevelop, and perhaps Visual Studio. The advantage here being that we would have an open-sourced cloud implementation, that more people can host, even as an in-house solution.
  3. We can retarget the Java in App Engine ideas from Computing in the Cloud, to Computing in the Crowd (Sovereign Computing),  it even keeps itself in the Java realm for the Sneer implementation of SC.
  4. Sneer.NET could offer something akin to Azzure
  5. We can drop all but the main concepts and have some Mono-based Cloud Implementation.
Well possibly some other permutations are also viable.
I've just thought to get the ball rolling on discussing those dreamable projects.

First reading an old Spolsky essay

The Iceberg Secret, Revealed (2002) dabbles in that pesky space between managers and programmers, where the success or failure of a project is slowly forged day by day.

As I've experienced myself some of those misadventures I agree with him on most things, except on the critics to Extreme Programming.

Corollary Two is historically proven true in my life, but that is easy, and to a lesser degree corollary One is very true also.

But number Five seems a bit too short-sighted: yes, you absolutely need to have the application/site good-looking when showing it off, but that MUST be backed with really useful and usable features, or after the 'wow!' factor dissipates it won't grow beyond the early-adopters crowd, and probably will also be abandoned by them.

Apr 6, 2009

I've been invited to the Sneer Summit

Sovereign Computing is the concept, Sneer is the reference implementation (in java, mostly, I believe).

Marvelous 'Go' player Klaus Wuestefeld is the man behind that vision. He and some other friends of mine are gathering together some 20 solar days down the time stream on the nice city of Curitiba, and they've invited me to share my craziness on the subject.

I'll try to fly down there and have some fun and perhaps let some useful idea escape from their prison in my mind through my lips.

I've officially asked permission to my wife and kids to stay away from them on a Sunday, and they gave me the green light so, unless monetary matters hold me, I'll be there.