Welcome to October. And should we mention Rita? September was quite incredible. Our website should be live later this week - we'll be sending out an announcement as soon as it's live. We need all the volunteers we can get to help the victims of these two disasters, and we'd love to have all of you join us! And, let's hope that October doesn't live up to predictions.
On to happier thoughts – news item after news item in the IT world talks about the increase in hiring. This is reflected in job posts and advertising, and in the increasing use of software. IT is going through many changes in the software world, and one of the biggest is the growing move to open source software. "Open source" means more than just providing the source code to users of the software, it also includes development methodologies and tools. We're starting to see "open source development" as a skill in job requirements. This is the topic of this month's technical article.
The schedule for the remainder of 2005 is below, or view the complete schedule on the Website:
CSTA Web sessions:
November 1,2
December 1,2
CSTA classroom sessions:
October 18 - Atlanta
October 27 - New York City area
November 9 - Cincinnati (NEW AREA)
November 15 - DC area
December 6 - Raleigh (NEW AREA)
December 15 - Chicago
UITJ (Understanding IT Jobs) Web sessions:
November 2
December 2
TR Web session:
November 17
Keep in touch . . .
Back to top
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Databases
Open source software typically comes from a group of geographically dispersed, unpaid, and personally interested, developers. One person starts the process by posting questions, plans, ideas, etc. on technical discussion boards. As other techies get interested, they reply and join in the project. Several principles then apply:
• All developers are co-developers, have access to the source code, and can submit additions, code fixes, bug reports, etc.,
• The first version of the software is released as early as possible to entice co-developers,
• Software is developed by builds – frequent integration of new code,
• There are always at least two versions of the software – a working version with many bugs, and a more stable version that is relatively bug-free. Developers can download either version – the buggy version (called development version) has more features, but more problems,
• Software must be highly modular to allow for parallel development,
• Some decision making structure must be implemented to resolve conflicts.
Open source development is a move away from traditional top-down development methodology to one that assembles applications from existing components. In order for this type of development to work, development methodologies are important. CVS (Concurrent Version System) is a commonly used tool with open source development. It provides version control and manages team development allowing multiple users to change the same file at the same time. It does this by storing all changes in a shared directory which allows developers to restore the software to any point in time. This allows geographically dispersed developers to make changes to software without affecting the work of others. If changes cause conflicts, these must be resolved before making any change permanent. CVS is available as a free download, and is included in most Linux systems.
Eclipse is growing more popular. Eclipse is an open source community whose projects are focused on providing an extensible development platform and application framework for building software. Eclipse provides extensible tools and frameworks that span the software development lifecycle, including support for modeling, language development environments for Java, C/C++ and others, testing and performance, business intelligence, rich client applications and embedded development. Eclipse began as an IBM project, and was turned over to open source, so IBM has been working with these techniques for a long time. In fact, in 2005 IBM adopted a hybrid development model called Community Source that combines the best elements of the open source model with traditional programming practices. Its goals are to support global component development and promote collaboration and reuse of technology – all of which are part of the open source movement.
Open source development often refers to the LAMP stack. This is developing software to run under Linux, on Apache web servers, using MySQL databases, and PHP/Perl/Python programming languages. Of course all of these tools are open source. LAMP is actually being suggested as an alternative development option to .NET and J2EE, although most users are actually using all three technologies. This leaves out the Microsoft tools, and the term WAMP (Windows instead of Linux) has been coined. Wine (Wine is not an emulator) is an open source project that enables Windows applications, such as Word and Excel, to run on Linux and other operating systems. This is being accomplished by rewriting Windows functions in native C that can be compiled for any environment.
Open source has become so popular that there are now several organizations devoted to hosting open source projects. Apache is undoubtedly the best known, and many of Apache's projects are heavily used, starting with the Apache Web server which is used by 65% of all Web sites. The Apache Software Foundation is an incorporated, not-for-profit organization of members. Apache provides the servers, license agreements, and the support of the Apache community. Projects are many and varied, and are controlled by the development group working on them. Another host is SourceForge.Net, which hosts over 1000,000 open source projects. It's owned by OSTG, Inc. ("Open Source Technology Group"), who is owned by VA Software. VA Software produces the SourceForge collaboration software that powers the SourceForge.net Web site, so all three names are connected.
Oracle president Charles Phillips delivered the opening keynote address at the LinuxWorld trade conference in August, 2005, and in it he said open source experienced 32 percent unit growth and 31 percent revenue growth in 2004. Open source development is growing even more as companies are using the tools and techniques for even proprietary development projects.
Back to top
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. We've got a horse whisperer and a dog whisperer. Now there's a car whisperer. What is it?
2. Which of the following does not belong?
a. federated database
b. federated identity
c. federated query
d. they're all three different things.
3. Is BPM (Business Process Management) application software or data management software?
4. Are Eclipse and open source the same thing?
5. Which of the following does not belong?
a. Agile modeling
b. DSDM (Dynamic Systems Development Method)
c. Iterative development
d. Lightweight development
e. RAD (Rapid Application Development)
Back to top
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New IT Hires = New Training |
As IT hiring picks up, so does training. Enrollments are increasing, and we want you to make sure you are aware of our discount policies. We offer two discounts for people attending public classes:
• Anyone who takes CSTA, either over the Web or in a classroom setting, can take UITJ or TR for ½ price anytime within the next one-year period following the CSTA enrollment.
• Any company who trains seven people in the same class within a calendar year can train an eighth person at no charge. This discount is available for CSTA, TR, and UITJ.
If you have over seven people to train, consider dedicated training. We can bring an instructor to your office, or schedule training for you over the Web. This training already contains built-in discounts and can be customized for your company.
And another note – enroll early. We added a second Web session of CSTA in October, but that filled quickly and we're now taking enrollments for November. It's going to be an active fourth quarter!
Get in touch!
Back to top
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Servers
Server is one of the worst words in IT. First of all – is a server hardware or software? Well, we all use the term to refer to computers, but actually any computer becomes a server if it's running server software. What's server software? Any software that makes programs and/or data available to other systems. All mainframes are servers, as all run server software. We do, however, all recognize the term as referring to the midsize computers that primarily function as a central manager of programs and data that can be used by many desktop systems.
backup server a system that is used in the backup and recovery of a computer server. Types include:
• cold server is a backup server whose purpose is solely to be there in case the main server is lost. The cold server is basically turned on once to have software installed and configured, and then is turned off until needed.
• warm server is a backup server that is turned on periodically to receive updates from the server being backed up. Warm servers are often used for replication and mirroring.
• server is a backup server that receives regular updates and is standing by ready (on hot standby) to take over immediately in the event of a failover.
RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) Midrange computer. RISC machines are built with chip technology, but speed and storage capacity are equal to midrange computers so they are usually classified as midrange systems. These computers are designed with a specific and smaller instruction set to be more efficient, and are typified by fast speeds and extensive graphic capabilities. They are often called servers as they function in that capacity most of the time. The dominant operating system used with RISC systems is Unix. Originally developed by IBM, but now produced by many vendors. Alternative is CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computer).
server While all mainframes function as servers, the term usually defines an intermediate size computer that can perform the same kinds of applications as a mainframe, but lacks the speed and storage capacity. Some server systems are RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer), but the newest servers are categorized as server blades. Also called midrange and midsize systems.
server appliance Desktop computer designed to be simple to install and maintain. Used in small companies or departments with limited IT support. Hardware and software are bundled together to provide networking, Internet access including FTP (File Transfer Protocol - uploading and downloading), email, firewalls, print services, data services. Can also function as a Web server, and many companies use server appliances to host their Web sites.
server blades Computer architecture. Computer system built by stacking physically small parts, or blades, of a computer system in a rack to occupy less space. Each blade can include processors, memory, storage (disks) and network connections, and all share the common power and air-cooling resources of the rack (also called a chassis). The blades can be switched in and out without shutting down the system (called hot-swappable). Total systems are called blade, hyper dense, or ultra dense servers. Systems built with even more parts are called brick servers. These systems are typically used for applications such as Web hosting and scientific processing which require multiple processors. Produced by many vendors including IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Sun, Compaq, and several start-up companies. Released: 2001.
server farm, Web farm, Web server farm Communications. Internet term. A server farm is a group of computers acting and housed together in a single location. These systems usually include fault tolerance functions and operate as a single computer with the same application. Network switches and routers connect the different servers in the farm and the users of the system. Server farms are commonly used for Web hosting, and by ISPs (Internet Service Providers) that provide Web-hosting services using multiple servers. A server farm is a form of clustering.
server provisioning General terminology that simply means "providing." It's currently used in on-demand computing to describe software that automatically provides resources to applications as needed in real-time. Often used with a descriptive adjective such as "server provisioning" or "storage provisioning."
Back to top
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. The "car whisperer" works with the hands-free Bluetooth systems installed in some cars by linking with a Linux computer and correctly using the installed 4 digit security system knowing that most people don't change it. A group of European security experts (the Trifinite Group) used a special directional antenna that extended Bluetooth connections to about 1 mile and was able to tell drivers passing by to "slow down" or "wave." This was done to show the security weaknesses. The car whisperer could also hear the conversations going on in the car.
2. b) does not belong. A federated database and a federated query are actually the same, in that the federated database is the logical joining of physically disparate databases (in other words, middleware). A federated query is a query that leaves data where it is, but can access data from different sources. In other words, they go together! One is no good, without the other. Federated identity is a concept used in security systems where disparate identities across different systems and applications are joined together.
3. Actually it's both. BPM (Business Process Management) is so tightly tied to BI (Business Intelligence) that it can be considered to be part of knowledge management. On the other hand, application software can be defined as any software that is directly used by non-technical people, and BPM fits this definition also. It really doesn't matter which category you put a term in, as long as you're comfortable with your understanding of the product, concept, technology, etc.
4. No. Eclipse is actually a community of developers who do create open source tools, but Eclipse provides extensible tools and frameworks that span the entire software development lifecycle. Eclipse covers modeling, language development environments for Java, C/C++ and others, testing and performance, business intelligence, rich client applications and embedded development.
5. This time they all belong. If you chose d) RAD (Rapid Application Development), you can explain that because RAD is a methodology that is also used outside of Agile, or lightweight, development. But, Agile is iterative, as is RAD, and they're both called lightweight, and DSDM supports Agile and RAD.
Back to top
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SemCo Enterprises, Inc. respects your privacy. We do not sell, rent or share your information with anyone.
|
Forward to a Friend!