However, this evening I was going to play with some Android development, so I started loading up bits I needed. First on was the Java JDK. I had a choice of 64-bit or 32-bit, so went for the 64-bit version. All was fine and dandy till I tried installing the Android SDK, at which point I was presented with an error telling me that the “Java SE Development Kit (JDK) not found”

Backtracking, I uninstalled the 64-bit JDK, installed the 32-bit version and lo and behind, the Android SDK is now on my machine.

However, when I proceeded to the actual tool I wanted to have a play with, called Appcelerator Titanium, I just hit a brick wall:

Try as I might, I just couldn’t get the darn thing running on my 64-bit platform. I guess I’ll just have to set up a 32-bit VM and get it running from there, but no more time for play today, so I’ll have to shelf it for another day

So, where is it happening? It’s on Wednesday 13th May at 6:30pm at C’est La Vie, a bar/restaurant in Victoria Street:

If you can make it, come along and bring a friend, the more the merrier. It’s open to developers of all ages, regardless of what language you use. Come and join us; should be a fun evening.

I wanted to list a couple of applications that made a difference for me in 2008. Some of these have changed the way I work on my computer, some of them have been instrumental to my knowledge and online experiences. I thought I’d share them here for others to learn about.

• Zemanta – Zemanta is a superb tool that has revolutionised my blogging experience. As you type your blog post it suggests images, hyperlinks, other posts and tags that are contextually relevant to what you’re posting about. A must-have for every blogger.
• Digsby – part of my desktop now. It lets you combine multiple IM clients into one (I use it for GoogleTalk and MSN) and also keep an eye on various social networks (I use it for FaceBook and LinkedIn), as well as a widget for your blog so people can talk to you directly.
• Twhirl – An awesome Twitter client that has also become part of my desktop selection. It makes Twitter a doodle to use, shows a stream of incoming Tweets and lets you retweet and interact with other Tweeters at the touch of a button. Couldn’t live without it.
• WPAuctions – WP Auctions is a WordPress plugin I wrote with Hyder that lets bloggers auction items off their blog without paying any fees to Ebay or any other auction house. It was instrumental in my getting my hands dirty with AJAX and I learnt lots of CSS/Javascript/PHP through building it. So it makes my special list too.
• OIO Publisher – Another WordPress plugin that has made things managing advertising content on my blogs a doddle. It lets you sell, manage and merchandise space on your blog any which way you like. A must for anyone who wants to monitise their blog.
• Firebug – Firebug is a Firefox extension that is absolutely essential for anyone involved in web development. It lets you edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any web page and I just couldn’t live without it.

There you go, some applications that made 2008 great for me. Do you use any of them? What would you add to the list? What should I try for 2009?

• Reach of the platform – the broader the target market, the more effective the platform will be. If you’re writing an application for an obsolete computer, you’re not going to have many customers.
• Growth of the audience – companies who built applications for Facebook as soon as the API was opened up today have millions of potential customers. Always look to the future.
• Value of the audience – value isn’t always monetary, however if the audience cannot grow, sustain itself and generate rewards, your work won’t help you attain your goals.
• Capability to support desired user experience – Choosing a platform without knowing what the capabilities and limitations are could be a surefire route to failure.
• Efficiency of development on platform – The quicker you can get a product to market, and cheaper it is to maintain it, the better.

Some great thoughts there. I particularly like the way those ideas translate to other technologies also, not just web development. Just like outdoor lighting, a consumer is usually faced with a number of choices to achieve the same goals. If you’re building a desktop application, a website, or even a commercial product that has nothing to do with the web, the ideas are still valid. Best go read the post

• Cookie Poisoning
• Hidden Field Manipulation
• Parameter Tampering
• Buffer Overflow
• Cross-Site Scripting
• Backdoor and Debug Options
• Forecful Browsing
• HTTP Response Splitting
• Stealth Commanding
• 3rd Party Misconfiguration
• Known Vulnerabilities
• XML & Web Services Vulnerabilities

The white paper also goes into some advice on how to code defensively and avoid these issues, namely:

• Never trust any information that comes from the client, and never assume anything about it
• It is always easier to secure simple login than complex logic

Although a bit basic, it makes interesting reading. Read the whole? white paper? here.

The initial configuration for the website consisted of two web servers talking to a single database server. Initially this was scaled by adding more web servers, but eventually this maxed out the database. The redesign of the system spread the database load across 3 SQL Servers, a master database with two replicated instances. As the web servers were scaled out, the SQL end was scaled out also, but eventually hit a limit where the I/O on the box was just reaching a physcal limit and the site was also exhibiting problems based on the time it to replicate information to all the children.

This spawned another application redesign, this time building around a concept of vertical partitioning, using different databases for different parts of the site. The performance improvements of this redesign were also compounded by moving the databases onto a SAN, which is more performant that physically attached storage. This worked for some time, but as the performance requirements increased, the coupling between the databases started to become the bottleneck. This prompted another redesign, this time moving to a distributed computing architecture.

Another change aspect that hit the project at this stage was the move from ColdFusion to .Net. This brought about performance improvements, not only because .Net is more efficient than ColdFusion, but also because a rewrite forces developers to rethink their code and design for efficiency. By this time MySpace had over 10 million accounts and was starting to max out the SAN’s I/O capacity prompting a move to a virtualised storage architecture. The next improvement was a caching tier between the presentation layer and the database. In retrospect, the team acknowledged that this was someting they should have done sooner. The final improvement was to most to SQL Server 2005 which brought about the benefit of a 64-bit architecture and the ability to address more RAM. By 2006, their standard SQL Server configuration consisted of boxes with 64GB of RAM, which brought about much better performance.

It’s an excellent article and makes for great reading. If you’re interested in system architecture, check it out

• Sites/applications need to be robust and tested.
• Don’t skimp on your site security
• Never underestimate the user’s capacity for doing something daft

The Spider of Doom – The Daily WTF

I first came across an excellent blog entry by Tom Hollander on how to manage Enterprise Library in your organisation.

Came across this blog entry on Andy Morrison’s blog, that explains just how to do it!

For those new to mobile development, this toolkit includes guidance on getting started with Visual Studio .NET 2003 and the .NET Compact Framework, technical documentation and information to help take your Windows Mobile application to market. For current Windows Mobile developers, the toolkit contains the SDKs, emulator images and technical content for developing managed and native applications for Windows Mobile 2002, Windows Mobile 2003 and Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition.

Enjoy!