Seeking answers...

How much should IDE's and dev tools do things for us? Is it not enough they tell us methods when u have an object and keep a dot? Is it not enough that they hog a whole load of resources, making 1 GB a mandatory to use IDE's, by doing real time compiling and validation? As a part of the WSDL-S annotation tool, we had an interesting discussion where people were asking for an already user helping tool, to do more. The purpose is to allow a user to annotate a WSDL with concepts from ontology. The interface is slick with nice drag n drop. Eclipse technology was used extensively and really well. But still there are people talking about making it idiot proof. What happens when a XML tag is missing? Should you not highlight it and yada yada yada? Highlighting is acceptable but then anything more would overkill. Like asking the user, should I add a matching tag or should I remove the tag. C'mon people, we are talking about people developing things here not clicking and joining.

Yes, to enhance productivity we need to make tools more robust in errorhandling. But idiot proof? Thank you, but idiots should not code.It is enough we have enough systems that break down on install and take down whole of pricey stuff with them. By making good coders create systems to support the morons, we are asking for crap to be created. Guys that use objects like limitless credit cards and talk with authority about how java is slow. Guys that leave loose pointers and cry foul MS sucks. Not that I advocate either Windows or Java, but these are common cribs heard often around. All this in the garb of productivity enhancement. Do we seek to make creating better apps faster or more and more of crappy apps? I am seeking answers and I need help.

What can a geek guru do to make your life better?

It is no news that the Tsunami left a good part of South Asia in high waves of terror. Srilanka was worst hit and well, what does a software geek guru do to help in this crisis? Read about the Sahana project. You can read about it at Sanjiva Weerawarana's blog page. His geekness can be seen in Apache Axis, SOAP and on and on and on... but his initiative to use his skill when there was a need, makes us wonder about our own responsibilities apart of writing lines code and dreamin ' ol' big stuff in life. There is always some difference we can make towards problems back home, rather than just read off a few web sites and keep commenting about them. Something to think about and act on ... More info on Sahana at Sourceforge.

Grow on with Google

It is as if Google responded to my post... Just as I was thinking about the whole maps fracas, I read this http://www.google.com/apis/maps/.
Here they go. Google is more the PARC as I had always believed until I, in a spell of attack by Satan, swayed. I am now playing around with this API and it is so far so good with nothing spectacular yet... Javascript is so awe-fully cool....

It as nice July 4th weekend and we did burst some crackers and watched South Park endlessly. It was fun...

I am now excited with the METEOR-S project I am a part of... I will start blogging on that and some more of WS and SOA stuff I come across as interesting...