http://www.sutrotech.com simple things simple, complex things possible... Sat, 14 Feb 2009 19:42:58 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en One of my current projects has been building a framework for automatically provisioning and deploying servers into the Amazon EC2 cloud. So, I have scripts that ask Amazon to start an EC2 instance, wait for Amazon to tell me that they are 'running', and then try to SSH into the instances to do things ... http://www.sutrotech.com/2008/07/slacker-elves-in-the-amazon-cloud/ Along with SQLsheet, I'm open sourcing another library that I've written: lodi (Local Dispatch). A lot of my work lately has relied on generating XML using templates (I'm using Velocity). The XML is mostly used to either drive an ETL process, specify some XHTML to get rendered, or to configure some ... http://www.sutrotech.com/2008/03/lodi-010-released/ There are a number of JDBC-Excel drivers out there, but most seem to be nearly abandoned. Moreover, they all either use native pieces, are read-only, or do disconcerting things with in-memory databases, none of which work for me. So, what is a self-respecting hacker to do besides write their ... http://www.sutrotech.com/2008/03/sqlsheet-010-released/ While I can't think of anything much more boring than blogging about blogging, I will do it just briefly because here there might be a few useful bits of information here that are useful... I just switched from MovableType 4 to WordPress and am overall very pleased. It's faster, cleaner, ... http://www.sutrotech.com/2008/03/switched-to-wordpress/ I have long had this irritating problem with .properties. It goes something like this: I like to use .properties files for configuration unless there is a compelling reason to use something more complicated. I'm pretty uptight about using constants in my code. This includes using constants to refer to ... http://www.sutrotech.com/2008/03/propjoe/ In developing data integration applications for Windows users, it's really important to provide them with the most Windows-like experience as possible when it comes to installation, starting, and stopping the server. This has long been a painful topic for Java developers. (Don't even get me started about Java WebStart... :) ) My applications ... http://www.sutrotech.com/2008/01/create-a-custom-exe-to-launch-tomcat/ Fyodor Kupolov has released a 1.0 beta of his Scriptella ETL framework. I downloaded it and integrated it into my applications - so far so good. I blogged about Scriptella a while ago. It's a simple and elegant framework for declaratively manipulating result-set style data (typically but not necessarily from a database). ... http://www.sutrotech.com/2007/11/scriptella-10-beta-released/ I've been using ant as a scripting language for assembling and deploying the new CFOsoft.com website. A few embarrassing typos later, I realized it would be nice to also be able to spellcheck it in the same process. A quick google search turned up Rob Mayhew's AntSpell task. It works as advertised, no muss no ... http://www.sutrotech.com/2007/11/painless-spell-checking-in-ant/ My current project involves a lot of transforming and migrating database data, so some kind of ETL framework is called for. I spent some time researching the various Java ETL offerings and surprisingly found there is not a whole lot out there. Fortunately, I did find one which is meeting ... http://www.sutrotech.com/2007/07/scriptella-etl/ UPDATE 10/27/08: JPA FAIL! So, Mr. Patrick Linskey, who knows something about such things, points out that the standard actually does provide a framework for dynamic PUs: javax.persistence.Persistence.createEntityManagerFactory.  You still have to plug in vendor-specific properties, but this is a much better way to go.  I'm not actually sure how I ... http://www.sutrotech.com/2007/04/dynamic-persistence-units-in-ejb3/ Just stumbled across Charva. I love it. I just wish I could think of a reason to use it. http://www.sutrotech.com/2006/12/time-to-dust-off-the-ol-vt100/ BROADCASTING LIVE! Scary, huh? It's you on the internet! Well, not really - its just looping back locally. But still. I blatantly stole this cool trick from this guy. (For those not on an iSight equipped Mac: the above box shows the video feed from the ... http://www.sutrotech.com/2006/12/smile-macbook-users-youre-on-camera/ There have been a million blog postings this year weighing the pros and cons of the various web frameworks now available. It's a bit overwhelming to wade through it all, so I'm going to try to provide a nutshell summary of my take on the three that I've evaluated recently: Seam, GWT, ... http://www.sutrotech.com/2006/12/java-web-frameworks-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/ I hate Objective C but I can't stay away. I put together a little Preference Pane for the Mac that puts a random quote in your login window. It's basically a pretty wrapper around the old fortune program. You can get it here. Lemme know if it works ... http://www.sutrotech.com/2006/10/introducing-iquip-10/ Back in January, I experienced the dreaded Deaded Lower Ram Slot Problem on my 1.5ghz PowerBook. Well, it seems to have happened again. Not sure exactly when it happened, but it may well have been right around the time I upgraded to 1.4.8. But it also has been running hot for ... http://www.sutrotech.com/2006/10/return-of-the-disappearing-ram-slot/ Josh Bloch has always been my favorite deity in the Java pantheon. He's never said or written anything that I didn't find shockingly reasonable. He's one of the few folks willing to get up and talk in pragmatic terms about the importance of good API design. He believes the compiler is his friend. ... http://www.sutrotech.com/2006/05/javaone-josh-bloch-is-my-hero/ Spent last week at JavaOne, spending some time now to blog a couple quick thoughts about it. Overall, and as reported elsewhere, the energy level was quite a bit higher than in recent years. Attendance was quite good. I saw an inordinate number of 'Java couples' strolling about with matching orange backpacks. About ... http://www.sutrotech.com/2006/05/javaone-its-done/ A big thread on The Daily WTF has opened up on the topic of tri-state booleans. A majority of folks seem to be rushing to the defense of today's offender, who has introduced a constant named NOT_TRUE_OR_FALSE into his code. This kind of abuse is very common and has always ... http://www.sutrotech.com/2006/02/not_true_or_false/ According to IMDB, these are the "10 Best Pictures" and "10 Best Popcorn Movies" of 2005. I'll bet you can't guess which list is which in 10 seconds or fewer. For an added challenge, three movies in each list have been whited-out. Give up? Click-drag your mouse over ... http://www.sutrotech.com/2006/01/the-short-tail/ Who carees about the new MacBooks? Check this puppy out: Yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about! The best thirteen bucks I've spent in a while - a portable laptop pad that helps keeps a powerbook cool protects surface of the table and the PB's underside provides a handy swivel motion produces a slight tilt ... http://www.sutrotech.com/2006/01/coolpad-cool/