Dick@Work: This week's episode
Just posted: For your sunday comic pleasure.
Check out Episode 5 at here.
Cartoon Comic
Add comment October 30th, 2005
Archive for October, 2005
WS-Stardate: The Saga Unfolds?
You must not miss what Captain Bray posted,
here and here, to relate (in another way) to what I was trying to say in my previous post. Very funny, Captain Bray!
Humor
WebServices Software
Standards Specifications
Add comment October 24th, 2005
SOA: Standards Overload or Real Freedom?
One of the things I often hear about Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), when compared to past architecture styles, is how it is based on industry standards
and sets you free from all kinds of burdens related to integration and interoperability. But, just the mere number of standards and specifications that one has to consider when attempting to SOA is mind numbing. I happened to chance upon one of Thomas Erl’s (I realized later he has many similar) websites called specifications.ws which shows a (stained-glass-like) mosaic of standards that can put you in a kind of a trance or even a coma if you are not careful. I do like his attempt at distinguishing first and second generation web services. Not only are there many many standards/specifications to consider, you also have to consider:
- Which ones are specifications (not yet standards) by one or more vendors?
- Which ones are specifications (not yet standards) submitted to standard bodies?
- Which ones are specifications ratified by the standard bodies as industry standards?
- Which ones (standards or specifications) overlap (some do) and which to choose / use in such cases?
- And worst of all, there is not a single place to go to for these standards!
On that last note, some of the several standard bodies you run into when investigating SOA standards are W3C, OASIS, DMTF, BPMI, WFMC, IETF, Liberty Alliance, to name a whew! And you will definitely not miss the WS-I effort underway to develop and publish interoperability profiles (not standards) based on accepted standards in the industry. (Note:WS-I is not a standards body.)
In reality there is not any holistic standard for SOA. And I seriously doubt there ever can be, will be such a holistic standard. Although there seems to
be an effort underway at OASIS to create a SOA Reference Model, you won’t learn much about how to do SOA and how all the standards relate in typical SOA environments.
Anyway, after reviewing several specifications and standards, I am exhausted. I am working on putting together a list of all relevant standards and specifications and will publish my take on all this sometime soon.
Meanwhile, if you have any words of wisdom, I am listening.
SOA Software
Standards Specifications
Add comment October 22nd, 2005
Dick@Work: New episodes
Posted a few more episodes of Dick@Work last night to lighten your friday. Enjoy!
Add comment October 21st, 2005
SOA: OO and SO - How You Gonna Get There?
It
is encouraging to see James Gosling blog
about Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA). It is encouraging because:
- We are not alone in this confusion about the overlaps and differences between
all things in SOA. - Hey! It is James Gosling talking about SOA!
I agree with James that there is a camp that things SOA and OO are distinct
camps. To me SOA is a goal and Object Orientation (Design/Programming/Modeling)
is one of the fundamental ways to get there. SOA is the destination and the
journey, and OO is the vehicle to get there in good shape. I say in good shape
because you can still get there without using OO, but you might not be in as
good of a shape as you would have if you had used OO.
For example, say you want to go from point A to point B and you have a choice
between using different modes of transportation (car, bicycle, skateboard, Segway,
on foot, etc.). Which one would you use? What? You want to know how far you
are going? Ok. Let’s say you are going to the next block to meet a neighbor.
What do you use? What if you are going a few blocks to get a carton of milk
from a neighborhood store? What if you are going the same few blocks but to
get your groceries for the whole week? What if you are going a few hundred miles
to visit your family? Would you use a skateboard or a Segway to travel a few
hundred miles to visit your family? (Not unless you want to make a new world
record). Now, would you choose to use the same mode of transportation for all
of these? Of course not. [If you do, you need to go back to the beginning and
read again until you get it right. :-)]
Why not think about SOA the same way? If SOA is the goal, the destination,
and the journey, then which means (modeling, design, programming, language)
would you choose to get there?
The following is an informal comparison of SO and
OO and how things fall in or out of place:
| Compare | Service Oriented | Object Oriented |
| What is it? | Modeling, Design, Architecture | Modeling, Design, Architecture, Progamming (Languages) |
| Exposes | Services | Methods |
| Granularity | Business-Level (Very Coarse) (also see this) | Object/Component-Level (Fine to Coarse) |
| Interaction | Service-Level, Inter-Service via service requests | Object/Component-Level, Inter-objects/components via method calls |
| Interaction Model | Document-based exchanges with services | RPC parameters exchanges with objects/components |
| Programming Languages | You choose - OO Languages (see here), Procedural Languages (see here) |
Java, C++, C#, Smalltalk (see more here) Scripting: Ruby, Python (see more here) |
| Standards | No Holistic SOA standard. Bits and pieces based on Web Services Standards. You have to figure it out on your own. Plenty of competing and overlapping standards and specifications in Web Services space. (also see this) |
CORBA (for language-neutral distributed objects), J2EE (for Java based distributed programming), .NET |
| How to model/design it? | Emerging best practices. No standards yet. | Lots of patterns and best practices. Excellent tools. Mature knowledge base in industry. |
| Overall Maturity | Low-Varies | High |
| Overall Complexity | High - lots to worry about - standards, interoperability, integration, etc. |
Medium to High depending on what you are building |
| Development Tools | Emerging, Varied. | Established Mature IDEs in the market |
| Hype Factor | As high as Mount Everest - but it is not all into thin air |
As low as Death Valley - but it is not all under the sea |
To reiterate what James said,
I quote him: "Proper OO structuring is always a good idea."
Great advice from the wise. I for one am going to follow it.
SOA OO
Software
Architecture Programming
Add comment October 18th, 2005
On Jakob Neilsen's Top 10 Blog Design Mistakes
Thanks to Richard for pointing this out. Being a long time Jakob Neilsen fan, I am happy to see him share his thoughts on blog usability.
I found it interesting that the #1 and #2 on the list is about the identity of the blog/blogger. I have ranted about anonymous blogging before, see this and this, so I am really glad that someone this issue get attention from someone who is an authority on usability.
Anyway, looks like I personally am guilty of #8 (”Mixing Topics”). But, I am not sure I can keep my blog focussed on one topic alone. I don’t really feel like having multiple blogs and I do really want to write on several topics. That is why I named this blog “Whatever…” because I could not decide (still cannot) what the singular focus of this blog should be. So the question is if a blog is about personality or an idea/profession. If it is about the latter, then it is easier to keep the blog focussed to a single or related topics. Professionally speaking, I am passionate about software architecture, design, analysis, patterns, refactorings, programming and related stuff. So I have created these categories on my blog, which I hope will provide the necessary focus for the only 3 people across the world reading this blog anyway. 
Add comment October 17th, 2005
Dick@Work: An Encounter with Blog Comment Math
Sorry could not resist capturing this experience by DHN …
Based on true stories and personal experiences…
Real identities not revealed to protect the guilty!
October 17: Dick@Work is moved to its own site: http://www.dickatwork.com
…
Add comment October 17th, 2005
Introducing Dick @ Work
Based on true stories and personal experiences…
Real identities not revealed to protect the guilty!
October 17: Dick@Work is moved to its own site: http://www.dickatwork.com
Cartoon Comic
Add comment October 13th, 2005
Kitten Rescued, Dog Not Amused!
Look
what we found in a parking lot all alone, hungry and tired….it was a kitten.
My daughter looked at us for a moment, and before I could say anything, my wife
and daughter had already picked that little kitty up in their arms. So, what
was I going to say. But, I had one big worry and she was a 60 pound boxer called
Ally, already at home. We had rescued Ally over two years ago and she
has adjusted well to the family. But, one thing I have learnt about Ally is,
she…um…well…is not fond of cats. Not, not, not! I have seen her chase
the neighborhood cats around. But, too late to think about it.! Because turns
out we are already on our way home because the little fella is hungry and meowing
all the way. The girls even started brainstorming about a name for the kitten
and had one by the time we arrived home. We get inside and immediately Ally
is all agitated to see what we brought home. What the!!! Who the!!! But, Why!
Oh, No!!!!!!
So for the last two days, we have been telling my daughter that the kitty is
going to the shelter. But, everytime the topic comes up, her tears start flowing
instantly and incessantly. She claims that the kitty was God’s gift for her
birthday this week. How can I argue? So, I don’t know how, but we are keeping
the little critter. His new name is Smokey.
He eats, sleeps, plays…much to the annoyance of Ally. He
loves my daughter’s
room, especially the cushion on her chair. But, worst of all,
he makes a cute
little mean scowl whenever he sees Ally and Ally just goes b-e-s-e-r-k. Well,
now we have to work on getting them to be friends!
What are the odds of that
happening? Who knows.
I never thought I would have a cat living with us. Never, never, never. Well,
that’s life.
Add comment October 4th, 2005