Danny’s Blog

In Holland we have a yearly development contest called “Development Tools” (formerly RAD Race). In two days, several teams consisting of two coders build an administrative application according to fixed requirements, with database access, forms, reports, the works. The contest was originally organized for 4GL RAD tools, but in recent years Java teams have entered [...]

Following up on my recent post on Ruby and Rails’ enterprise-readiness, we might want to rethink any strategies comparing or opposing Ruby with Java. Don’t get me wrong: Ruby is a breeze where Java is a mouldy draught; Ruby is a butterfly where Java is an ostrich; Ruby makes you smile where Java is often [...]

In the recent, rather entertaining discussion between James McGovern and the rest of the world, about Ruby and Rails being enterprise-ready or not, a lot of emphasis was placed on the speed of development that Ruby and Rails may offer. Anne Zelenka correctly stated that speed of development isn’t all that important in an enterprise [...]

For me, one of the principles of programming has always been: “Use the programming language best suited for the job; and if there is none, create a new language.” I believe this is directly related to the idea of Domain Specific Languages (DSL) that are all the rage right now. Creating a new language that [...]

Thanks to the North Western winds continuing to sweep over the island, the temperature has dropped to about 12 degrees. The boulevard where our hotel is situated is almost empty: this morning we went for a stroll there but we were hit full on by the storm; this is where it reaches the island first, [...]

There’s a storm coming from the Northwest, bringing dark clouds on the horizon over the sea; causing the waves to come crushing down on what rocks they have left here on Malta; spraying the salty water in my face and mixing it with the tears that the same wind is blowing out of my eyes. [...]