According to this paper, Mozilla 1.3 implements IE's DesignMode feature. This sounds great except there are enough differences to give web developers headaches. It's a typical boneheaded design decision I have seen Netscape/Mozilla make so often. If they were serious about beating Microsoft at their own game, they should first adopt the "embrace and extend" strategy.
Month: June 2003
Struts 1.1 RC2
Taking the last step toward the final release, Jakarta Struts team released Struts 1.1 RC2. Links at Jakarta sites are currently mixed up, so go here for the binary and the source. According to the release plan, next release will be final. As to when the final version will be released, the plan only say imminent. I think their definition of the word imminent is likely to be different from the Eclipse team.
Betting on Apocalypse
What a cheery morning news: British Scientist Puts Odds for Apocalypse at 50-50. Somebody forgot to mention the time span.
I am taking bets on the cause of Apocalypse at 1 million to 1 odds. That's right. For each dollar you send me, I'll send you $1 million if the world ends in the way you think it will. There is no limit to how much you can bet. Members of religious orders and people with psychic powers may also participate. Cheating is also allowed. You can't get better odds than this anywhere anytime.
Spread the word everyone and don't forget to tell our Nigerian friends who would just love a great deal like this.<grin/>
Counting Pages
One simple way to measure a search engine's effectiveness is to count the number of "Next Page" queries. More effective a search engine is, lower the ratio of the number to the total number of queries. Monitoring changes in the ratio should signal changes in effectiveness. If Google is indeed being negatively impacted by blogs, the ration should be increasing, meaning more people are not finding what they are looking on the first page.
Blog and Tamagotchi
Remember the Tamagotchi? Little plastic toys containing a virtual pet that you have to constantly feed and play with? I never had one myself but I was amused by my son's short addiction over a Tamagotchi.
Reading Esther Dyson's Blogger's block reminded me of Tamagotchi. In a sense, blogs are like Tamagotchis because you have to keep feeding it to keep it alive.
Java News
Hibernate 2.0 final version is out. Download at SourceForge. 2.0 adds "powerful new query language features, JCA support, and much more." I played around with 1.0 versions and it was pretty simple to use. I wouldn't recommend it for enterprise applications, but it has proved it's worth in small projects. Roller, a java-based blog server, switched to Hibernate and improved performance significantly.
Java Web Services Developer Pack 1.2 is out. WSDP is basically a web services platform for Java developers, meaning no production use. While it has latest versions of production-quality XML packages, significant number of packages are Early Access versions. For example, it comes with Alpha version of Tomcat version 5. Expect some blood in your hands if you want to play. As for me, I have butcher's hands when it comes to technologies.
Return to YAML
Years ago, I co-founded a subgroup of XML-DEV, called SML-DEV, along with a substantial number of XML experts to work on simplifying XML and XML-based specs. SML-DEV group is inactive now, but while it was active, some members of SML-DEV started working on YAML (YAML Ain't Markup Language) and eventually formed an independent group, led by Clark Evans of Axista, to concentrate on YAML.
The YAML has now come a long way and now they have a score of implementations along with a mature spec. I recommend you to check it out.
Simon St. Laurent writes in YAML Ain't Markup Language:
Long ago, YAML was "Yet Another Markup Language", part of the activity which emerged from the SML-DEV mailing list's work on XML simplification. They've changed the name and sharpened the focus on serialization, wisely severing their ties to markup practice per se, which covers a much broader set of issues.
Sunday Insults
As promised, here is this weekend issue of Sunday Insults. There are only three this week, but I am hoping the number will pickup as time goes.
A freakish homonculus germinated outside lawful procreation. - by Henry Arthur Jones via misanthropyst An educated man's insult; best when spoken lightly to barbarians while smiling.
Stop your foul whining, you filthy piece of distented rectum! - from Red Dwarf via Nrrrdboy A classic; to be spoken with feeling.
Bury your head as far in the sand as it is up your ass. - Mark Pilgrim A beach insult.
My favorite for this week is, of course, rectumus insult from Red Dwarf. You can hear the insult spoken by Rimmer (WAV file) from Red Dwarf. Don't forget to send in your best insults any way you can.
No More Bad Mojo
I deleted my Bad Mojo post because I want to smile more. Post like that feels like a mental wedgie.
PageRank Noise
Today, I had an urge to look at Safari WebCore source code. Since I can't satisfy this sort of urges by raiding my refrigerator, I googled. And googled. And googled. I googled until I threw my hands up in disgust.
Two months ago, I found WebCore source code easily enough. Direct link to Apple's WebCore pages used to be on the first page of results for "WebCore". Now, it's lost among pages after pages of links to news, discussions, and blogs about WebCore. Google better fix this before 'google' becomes synonymous with 'getting lost' or 'being buried under an avalanche of junk'.
Oy! I feel googly today.
Update: Direct link to WebCore Source Code to make it first as Már Örlygsson suggested.
Don Park's Weekly Habit 