Examples of rough edges in .NET I pointed out are removed in the next version of .NET framework (aka Whidbey).  It will come with concrete classes that reduces provider-specific dependencies.

Don't expect magic though.  Provider-specific SQL syntaxes are not going away anytime soon.  While storing SQL statements in external configuration files is the obvious solution, there are associated security risks.  Digitally signed configuration files offers some protection, but it's a hassle to implement and takes away much of the power of configuration files.

I am looking at System.DirectoryServices namespace right now.  It looks to be equivalent of Java's JNDI package.  I am not yet sure how it handles in-memory objects (i.e. data sources) bound to the directory service.  Still moving.

Looking around the .NET Framework, I am impressed by what is there already and the amount of effort need to build such a framework.  Great deal of .NET is familiar because its design has been influenced by and stolen from Java.  There is no shame in stealing good designs IMHO.  There are some innovations as well which I am sure Sun will return the favor with by incorporating into Java.  If innovation is the butter of technology, mimicking is the bread.

However, there are some curious holes in .NET like the System.Data classes which I feels is superior to JDBC in some respect yet lacks built-in data provider abstraction classes.  To use a data source, one has to instantiate data provider specific classes like SqlConnection, OdbcConnection, or OracleConnection.

While one could write their own abstraction layer, most .NET programs I have seen chose to be hardwired to specific data provider implementation (typically Microsoft SQL Server).  Given that huge amount of design efforts went into .NET, it's a complete mystery to me why they ignored this obvious shortcoming.

BTW, if you want to avoid hardwiring your program to specific data providers, you might want to look at Brian Ritchie's data provider abstraction layer which he contributed to the Mono project.  I would have designed it a little differently and went a little further like abstracting data provider specific exception classes, but it's good enough to get you started.

It's Friday again and a weekend of tinkering is about to start.  This weekend its ASP.NET.  For a Java programmer, programming in .NET is like a being dropped into a parallel universe where similarities breeds confusion.  Imagine the mental state of a man who straddles two parallel universes and you got a good picture of an engineer who programs both in Java and in .NET.  Onward!

Diego Doval wrote:

I simply don't understand why, if we are building communication tools, it appears that there's a lot of talk back and forth, but no real communication is happening. – the atom discussion heats up again

I am ashamed, Diego, for I am guilty as well.

Tomcat 5.0.16, first stable release of next generation Tomcat engine, is out.  Woohoo!

I have been using Remote Desktop Connection for Windows Server 2003 and I am hooked.  In comparison, remotely managing Linux servers through SSH console is swiming in mud.  I particularly love the ability to access local drives and devices from the remote server desktop.  No more SFTP sessions.  To copy some files, I just drag and drop from local folder to remote folder.