Thursday January 13, 2005

Disorderly RSS

In Syndicating Ordered Lists in RSS Dare outlines the problems with Netflix's RSS feeds. Some of this is due to the feeds being "incomplete", some due to problems in RSS. I wanted to add the comment that Yahoo's Buzz Index, at least the Movers and Leaders, share the same problems.

Finally, Dare throws in a little poke at Atom and a desired "RSS parity." I'd like to mention that such parity, not necessarily desired by all, is just a baseline, not a primary objective. Solutions to the RSS problems raised here have been discussed, particularly a mechanism by which to retire/delete entries . I don't recall if this made it into the spec (and I don't have the time at the moment to investigate) but there was general support for the concept.

And entry rankings/ratings/sorting have also been suggested for Atom, but deferred to extensions. RSS supports extensions (and the Atom-Syntax list has been hashing out extensions, ad nauseum), so Netflix and Yahoo could easily enough fix this problem. Hopefully the light Dare has shined on Netflix's RSS (and mine on Yahoo Buzz) will prod them into producing compliant and meaningful feeds.
( Jan 13 2005, 01:41:48 PM ) Technology Permalink [Trackback]

Tuesday January 11, 2005

Microsoft is mean to little old ladies! Tim Bray said it, not me.
( Jan 11 2005, 08:51:44 PM ) Entertainment Permalink [Trackback]

Navigation Blindness

An interesting article on how users perceive navigation elements (or don't). While they don't use the term, it seems "context" related linking would score higher in usability.

Interestingly, the Related Postings section at the end links to Why Primary Navigation Must Die, which advocates 'breadcrumbs'. What's "interesting" about this is that Navigation Blindness pans breadcrumbs as useless and possibly harmful (distracting).

One of the things I've been pondering for some time is how to integrate an "Upload Image" link into Roller's Edit Weblog page.
( Jan 11 2005, 04:30:20 PM ) Technology Permalink [Trackback] [Link]

Wednesday January 05, 2005

6A and LJ sittin' in a tree...

So, the rage-of-the-day is that Six Apart may acquire Live Journal. What I enjoyed was flipping through the comments on Om's post. There were the "oh my gahd! This is great!" comments, but more interesting (I thought) were the "this is a bad idea" trackbacks.
( Jan 05 2005, 10:26:45 AM ) Technology Permalink [Trackback]

Friday December 31, 2004

Meet me in St. Louis

Actually, in Denver. I'll be there on company business January 9th through the 11th. I'd like to get together with any Java/blog people in the area and "hoist a few". I'll be in the Greenwood Village area, to be more specific.

UPDATE: Unfortunately the trip has been postponed until next week.
( Dec 31 2004, 11:51:20 AM ) Personal Permalink Comments [2] [Trackback]

Tuesday December 21, 2004

Software isn't like mouthwash

Obviously. While gargling this morning it occurred to me that software is about the only product that really dictates *how* you are allowed to use it. Then in my aggregator was this piece on EULAs. Of course my statement is likely overly simplistic; I'm sure there is some other product with restrictive licensing, but what?

Anyway, I also thought it made an interesting title. "Software isn't like mouthwash", roll that over tongue for awhile.
( Dec 21 2004, 12:00:47 PM ) Technology Permalink [Trackback]

Saturday December 18, 2004

SourceBeat, for magazines

Joe Ottinger is disappointed with the Java Developers Journal again. Carl Fyffe suggests that Joe, Charles Miller, Matt Raible, Alan Williamson, and some others band together to create a new magazine.

While I know little to nothing about publishing, it put me in mind of the following idea. Perhaps the SourceBeat (SB) guys could help out. They've already got a subscription model, they've already got a stable of good authors. They recently managed to get their titles produced in hard-copy for sale on Amazon, so they've an established relationship with a printer. Maybe they should spin-off a periodical, "Source Beat Monthly", which *could* include updates from their author stable. Then those who have purchased a SB title without the subscription could instead subscribe to the magazine.

I would think they wouldn't want to limit it to just SourceBeat content, but include other authors and topics not covered in X-Live books. This would provide value for those who have purchased an X-Live subscription as well.

Just a thought.
( Dec 18 2004, 11:54:45 AM ) Technology Permalink Comments [4] [Trackback]

Thursday December 16, 2004

I'm A Functional Idiot

Ever since Rodney Waldhoff created the Jakarta Functor project I've been trying to figure them out. I thought I had some idea of how to use them, though not a thorough enough understanding for actually applying the concepts/code. So when I found a link to Abhijit Belapurkar's article Functional programming in the Java language I checked it out.

I thought Abhijit did a descent job of explaning functional programming concepts. But then he started demonstrating it. I didn't quite follow his examples of "you're already using it", though I felt I understood. Then he started demonstrating with the Jakarta Functor library. Once he got to "expression composition" I was lost. The example of a BinaryFunction wasn't bad, but part of his explanation seemed backwards (to me) as applied to the code:
  new CompositeUnaryFunction(calcTax, calcDiscountedPrice);
The calcDiscountedPrice functor is supposed to be executed before the calcTax functor. I haven't looked at the Functor library in a couple years, but does it evaluate the right argument before the left argument?

Then we get to "binary composition". I have to say that this one threw me completely. Maybe the example just needs more whitespace or something, but I cannot keep track of all the *Function classes. Most likely its the fact that I haven't internalized "unary" vs "binary" (I know, 2 vs 1), but the exposition following the code had my mind glazed over. Perhaps if the author presented the code in chunks, each followed with explanatory text, it'd be easier to follow. As it is I cannot keep track of which Function is being discussed.

I'm not a CompSci major, not even a minor, so it's quite likely that I just don't have the educational background to appreciate this topic. But this isn't the first article I've read on the topic (though it is the first in over a year). Still, I likely need a refresher or a more 'freshman' level article.
( Dec 16 2004, 08:02:13 AM ) Technology Permalink Comments [4] [Trackback] [Link]