The economics of Software

Found this blog entry on the Economics of Software.

Technorati Tags: Conrad Roche, Blog, Economics, Software.

Deferred loading in tabs in Firefox

Submitted this request for Deferred Tab loading to the FireFox bugzilla.

The problem essentially is that when you do "Open in Tabs" from a bookmark folder or have multiple pages ('|' delimited) in your home page; the urls are loaded simultaneously. Woudn't it be better if the first site loaded and then after some time (say a second) the second site loads in the second tab. So while you read the first site, the next couple of sites load. This would especially be helpful if you load a lot of sites, like I do, using the "Open in Tabs" option.

Effective Java

An excelled book by Joshua Bloch. I found it very informative ... if you've worked with C++ - its like the Annotated C++ Reference (which is the best C++ book I've read) - jam packed with information.

Some of the chapters of Effective Java are online - and are a must read:

1. Chapter 5, "Substitutes for Missing C Constructs" which talks about typesafe enums. [pdf version]

2. Chapter 3, "Methods Common to All Objects" [PDF]

3. Chapter 6, "Methods" [PDF]

4. Chapter 7, "General Programming" [PDF]

DOAP: Description of a Project.

First we had the FOAF (Friend of a Friend) and now we have DOAP!

Edd Dumbill has written a series of articles (part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4) at developerWorks in which we develops an RDF vocabulary for describing open source software projects.

Here's how the DOAP project is described in DOAP -

<Project xmlns="http://usefulinc.com/ns/doap#"
xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
xmlns:foaf="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/">

<name>DOAP</name>
<homepage rdf:resource="http://usefulinc.com/doap" />
<created>2004-05-04</created>

<shortdesc xml:lang="en">
Tools and vocabulary for describing community-based
software projects.
</shortdesc>
<description xml:lang="en">
DOAP (Description of a Project) is an RDF vocabulary and
associated set of tools for describing community-based software
projects. It is intended to be an interchange vocabulary for
software directory sites, and to allow the decentralized
expression of involvement in a project.
</description>
<maintainer>

<foaf:Person>
<foaf:name>Edd Dumbill</foaf:name>
<foaf:homepage rdf:resource="http://usefulinc.com/edd" />
</foaf:Person>
</maintainer>

</Project>