Archive for 2006

Performance Analysis of PONOs, Typed DataSets and Generic DataSets

December 9, 2006 1:45 AM

It won't take much to find a conversation with a bunch of .NET architects sitting around having a beer discussing why ADO.NET DataSets are good or bad compared to PONOs (Plain Old .NET Objects) and if DataSets are better whether the effort spent maintaining a Generic DataSet based application is less than the effort required up front in designating the schema for the Typed DataSet. My opinion is PONOs are the way to go, but too many people have written about this debate and I don't intend to be another. If you Google enough, you can find a wealth of discussion around this matter. In this blog posting, I talk about a performance test I have conducted that shows the difference in timing in the instantiation/creation and DB data mapping between PONOs, Typed DataSets and Generic DataSets.

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posted by Matt Van Bergen

Open Source Business Model

November 29, 2006 10:33 PM

In the past year the open source business model has intrigued me. I have used open source based software in the last 6 years here at CityTech in my role as a principal consultant, using some of the great frameworks, APIs, applications, etc. for various commercial projects. I have been nothing less than pleased with the quality and flexibility provided. After reading various articles, listening to several podcasts and talking to various executives, I now get how and why the open source software business model will work and succeed for both the vendor and customer.

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posted by Matt Van Bergen

SOA - What is it again?

November 27, 2006 2:11 PM

SOA - What is it? In the past two years I have been asked multiple times by both technical and business people alike one question more than any other - “What is this SOA thing?” I think this is a common question because the marketing and press folks have done a very good job of muddying the water when it comes to tagging every piece of software as SOA-enabled, SOA-certified, etc.

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posted by Jeff Brown

Does your SOA Need to Drink SODA?

November 22, 2006 12:43 AM

In the past year I have seen SOA (Services Oriented Architecture) gain momentum with our clients. In this post, I offer my perspective of how an SOA can evolve organically in an enterprise after the basic infrastructure has been put in place. Too often I see a project plan that shows the development of a new, custom enterprise type application as a deliverable, and then I see about the same size (or bigger) effort for providing an "interface" or "service" to the organization's SOA to be consumed by other enterprise application(s). I believe that if the custom application is designed the correct way from an architecture standpoint, the effort of exposing an interface or service into the custom application's business logic/action can be much simpler of an effort which can truly enable payback for SOA enterprise initiative. I introduce what is a new industry acronym SODA which stands for Services Oriented Development of Applications as a possible catalyst for moving an enterprise's SOA initiative forward enabling faster pay back on investment.

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posted by Matt Van Bergen

Portal and Web Content Management (WCM) System Integration

November 17, 2006 3:00 PM

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posted by Shane Johnson

It's all about the Portal!

November 13, 2006 10:00 PM

I just got back from Boston last Friday as I attended the Shared Insights: Portals, Collaboration & Content Conference. It was a small conference (around 150-200 people) that extended over 4 days. Although it was small, it was quite informative with some really good speakers (especially Zach Wahl & Dale Tuttle from a company called Project Performance Corporation).

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posted by Bill Gloff

Web 2.0

November 10, 2006 10:39 PM

I think when most people here the term “Web 2.0″, they immediately associate it with the next generation of technologies for building web applications, perhaps a rich internet application (RIA) that leverages AJAX for asynchronous callbacks to the server instead of refreshing the entire web page on every click or some other richer UI type technologies such as using Flex or Laszlo to generate Flash presenting a rich user experience. This was exactly my thought too. I quickly learned that Web 2.0 is not a technology or even a set of technologies. It is something that I would call a social revolution and it is not coming, it is here. Examples of Web 2.0 in practice today include blogs, YouTube, MySpace, Google Calendar, etc. All of these offerings provide a collaborative space for expressing ones’s identity in a social context.

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posted by Matt Van Bergen

Welcome!

November 6, 2006 4:00 PM

Welcome to my blog! As a senior software consultant (for Citytech, Inc.) in the Windy City, I come across a lot of things that I’m looking forward to sharing with the technically inclined community. I’m very passionate about technology so it should pretty easy to present some useful information as well as some insight to technology current events, new languages and frameworks, and personal experiences that I endure on a daily basis. Stay with me, and I will hopefully make it worth your while!

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posted by Bill Gloff