Tue, 13 November 2007 Episode 77: Fault Tolerance with Bob Hanmer Please go to se-radio.net for the new website and the new feed. Direct download: seradio-episode77-faultToleranceWithBobHanmer_pt1.mp3 Category: guest/technology -- posted at: 3:02 PM Comments[0]

Sat, 3 November 2007 Episode 74: Enterprise Architecture II Guest: Wolfgang Keller Host: Alex Enterprise Architecture is already common practice in most Fortune 100 companies. As the topic is comparably young, knowledge about it is not so widespread in the Software Architects Community, who deals mostly with project architectures. In this episode Alex speaks with Wolfgang Keller who has practical experience as an enterprise architect and has written a book on the topic. He is a Partner with BusinessGlue Consulting. They are specializing in the relationship between EAM and SOA. This episode gives a rough overview what Enterprise Architecture actually is touches the standards in the field and also gives hints on the practical work of Enterprise Architects. Wolfgang's Book, IT Unternehmensarchitektur The TOGAF Framework COBIT Itil Publicize:      Digg this      Post to del.icio.us      Post to Slashdot Direct download: seradio-episode74-enterpriseArchitecture_II_withWolfgangKeller.mp3 Category: guest/technology -- posted at: 6:30 AM Comments[0]

Fri, 14 September 2007 Episode 68: Dan Grossman on Garbage Collection and Transactional Memory Guests: Dan Grossman Host: Markus This episode features a discussion with Dan Grossman about an essay paper he wrote for this year's OOPSLA conference. The paper is about an analogy between garbage collection and transactional memory. In addition to seeing the beauty of the analogy, the discussion also serves as a good introduction to transactional memory (which was mentioned in the Goetz/Holmes episode) and - to some extent - to garbage collection. The paper on which this episode is based. You should read it to see the full beauty of the analogy Wikipedia on Transactional Memory Wikipedia on Garbage Collection Paper: A unified theory of garbage collection Paper: Transactional memory: architectural support for lock-free data structures Publicize:      Digg this      Post to del.icio.us      Post to Slashdot Direct download: seradio-episode68-GCandTMwithDanGrossman.mp3 Category: guest/technology -- posted at: 1:09 AM Comments[1]

Thu, 26 July 2007 Episode 63: A Pattern Language for Distributed Systems with Henney and Buschmann Guest: Kevlin Henney and Frank Buschmann Host: Markus recorded at: OOP 2007 In this Episode we talked about the new POSA 4 book which has recently been published. We talk to two of the authors, Kevlin Henney and Frank Buschmann (the third author, Doug Schmidt was not available - and he had also been on the podcast a couple of times :-)). The book contains a pattern language for distributed systems. It contains 114 patterns that had been published before by many different other authors. The patterns have been rewritten to form a consistent language. We basically talked through the different sections of the book, which gives a really good overview over the challenges and the solutions of building distributed systems. These sections include From Mud to Structure, Distribution Infrastructure, Event Demultiplexing and Dispatching, Interface Partitioning, Component Patitioning, Application Contrl, Concurrency, Synchronization, Object Interaction, Adaptazion and Extension, Modal Behaviour, Resource Management and finally, Database Access. The book references several other previous works (as listed below). Interestingly, many of these referenced works and authors have also been discussed previously on the podcast. Here are the back references: Domain Driven Design, Eric Evans Messaging Patterns, Gregor Hohpe POSA 2 Patterns, Doug Schmidt Concurrency: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and the interview with Goetz and Holmes Remoting Patterns Part 1 and Part 2 POSA3, Resource Management Here are some of the books and publications mentioned in the discussion: POSA 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Server Component Patterns book, Remoting Patterns book Eric Evans's DDD book Martin Fowler's Analysis Patterns, Patterns of Enterprise Architecture Gregor Hohpe's Messaging book Security Patterns book Jens Coldewey's Database Stuff Publicize:      Digg this      Post to del.icio.us      Post to Slashdot Direct download: seradio-episode63-aPatternLanguageOnDistSystemsWithHenneyAndBuschmann.mp3 Category: guest/technology -- posted at: 12:20 AM Comments[5]

Fri, 6 July 2007 Episode 61: Internals of GCC Guest: Morgan Deters Host: Arno This show takes a behind-the-scenes look at compilers and their inner workings, using the Gnu compiler collection (GCC) as an example. Arno interview Morgan Deters, covering all steps from the parsing of different programming languages to machine independenet optimizations and generating processor specific binary code. Aho, Sethi, Ullmann: Compilers: Principles, Techniques and Tools (the Dragon book) The Gnu Compiler Collection (GCC) Publicize:      Digg this      Post to del.icio.us      Post to Slashdot Direct download: seradio-episode61-internalsOfGCC.mp3 Category: guest/technology -- posted at: 3:15 AM Comments[9]

Tue, 26 June 2007 Episode 60: Roman Pichler on Scrum Guest: Roman Pichler Host: Alex This episode features Scrum, a very popular Agile software development framework. We interview Roman Pichler, a Certified ScrumMaster Trainer and independent consultant. Roman explains the principles behind Scrum, its roles and its key practices. He also answers FAQs. This episode continues our track on software development processes discussing an additional Agile method. You can find out more about Scrum here: The Scrum Alliance Web Site Ken Schwaber, Mike Beedle: Agile Software Development with SCRUM, Prentice Hall, 2001 Ken Schwaber: Agile Project Management with Scrum, Microsoft Press. 2004 Ken Schwaber: Scrum et al. Google Video Roman's Web Site Roman is currently writing a book on Scrum in German that provides more in-depth information of the topics discussed in the podcast. The book will be available in autumn 2007 published by d.punkt (Heidelberg, Germany). Publicize:      Digg this      Post to del.icio.us      Post to Slashdot Direct download: seradio-episode60-romanPichlerOnScrum.mp3 Category: guest/technology -- posted at: 1:46 AM Comments[2]

Sat, 16 June 2007 Episode 59: Static Code Analysis Guest: Jonathan Aldrich Host: Markus This episode is a discussion with Jonathan Aldrich (Assistant Professor at CMU) about static analysis. The discussion covered theory as well as practice and tools. We started with an explanation of what static analysis actually is, which kinds of errors it can find and how it is different from testing and reviews. The core challenge of such an analysis tool is to understand the semantics of the program and reduce its possible state space to make it analysable - in effect reconstructing the programmer's intent from the code. The user can "help" the tool with this challenge by using suitable annotations; also, languages could do a better job of being analysable. The conceptual discussion was concluded by looking at the principles of static analysis (termination, soundness. precision) and how this approach relates to model analysis. The second more practical part started out with a discussion of how Microsoft successfully uses static analysis in their Windows development. We then discussed some of the tools available; these include Findbugs, Coverity, Codesonar, Clockwork, Fortify, Polyspace and Codesurfer. To conclude the discussion of tools, we discussed the commonalities and differences with architecture visualization tools as well as metrics and heuristics. Part three of the discussion briefly looked at how to introduce static analysis tools into an organization's development process and tool chain. We concluded the discussion by looking at situations where static analysis does not work, as well as at the FLUID research project at CMU. Jonathan's web page Findbugs Coverity CodeSonar Clockwork Fortify Polyspace CodeSurfer Publicize:      Digg this      Post to del.icio.us      Post to Slashdot Direct download: seradio-episode59-StaticCodeAnalysis.mp3 Category: guest/technology -- posted at: 1:25 PM Comments[2]

Sun, 27 May 2007 Episode 57: Compile-Time Metaprogramming Guest: Laurence Tratt Host: Markus Recorded at: JAOO 2006 This episode is about compile-time metaprogramming, and specifically, about implementing DSLs via compile-time metaprogramming. Our guest, Laurence Tratt, illustrates the idea with his (research) programming language called Converge. We started by talking about the importance of a custom syntax for DSL and took a brief look at the definition of DSLs by a chap called Paul Hudak. We then briefly covered the disctinction between internal and external DSLs. More to the point of this episode, we discussed the concept of compile-time metaprogramming, and the language features necessary to achieve it: in converge, these concepts are called splice, quasi-quote and insertion. We then looked at how the Converge compiler works, and at the additional features that are required to implement DSLs based on the metaprogramming features mentioned above. Using an example, we then walked through how to implement a simple DSL. Looking at some of the more technical details, we discussed the difference between the parse tree and the abstract syntax tree and at different kinds of parsers - specifically, the Earley parser used by Converge. In multi-stage languages (i.e. languages that execute programs and meta programs) error reporting is important, but non trivial. We discussed how this is done in Converge. We finally looked at how to integrate Converge's expression language into your DSL and how to package DSL definition for later use. The last segment look at the process of implementing a DSL in converge and about some of the history and practical experience with Converge. Lessons learned from building Converge wrap up the episode. Hudak's definition of DSL The Converge Language The concepts of compile-time metaprogramming, and another link on this topic How the converge compiler works Parse Tree vs. Abstract Syntax Tree Early Parsers Publicize:      Digg this      Post to del.icio.us      Post to Slashdot Direct download: seradio-episode57-compileTimeMetaprogrammingWithLaurenceTratt.mp3 Category: guest/technology -- posted at: 2:45 AM Comments[10]

Thu, 17 May 2007 Episode 56: Sensor Networks Guest: Steffen Schaefer, IBM Host: Markus Recorded at: OOPSLA 2006 In this episode we discuss sensor networks with our guest Steffen Schaefer, who is the Technical Thought Leader for Sensors & Actuator Solutions at IBM. The discussion resolves around the TREC device, which can be mounted on containers to track them on their journey over seas, railway tracks and roads. The TREC is a small embedded device developed by Steffen's employer, IBM, that has various sensors and communications channels. In the episode we first talked about container transport in general, and then looked at how the TREC device works - specifically, it's hardware, software and power management. We then looked at the necessary backend infrastructure. The main part of the discussion covered the communication between the device and the backend, using technologies such as Zigby, GSM and satellite communications. We also looked at the middleware infrastructures used, such as the MQtt messaging tool. We closed the episode with a little discussion of the "Internet of Things" and some discussion about embedded software devleopment in general. Note that SE Radio will feature more embedded topics in the future - an introduction to embedded development will be put online soon. information on a pilot project IBM did on tracking containers stuffed with Heineken beer interesting workshop papers from OOPSLA06 workshop on Building Software for Sensor Networks. The paper 'Secure Trade Lane: A Sensor Network Solution for more predictable and more secure container shipments' contains details on technology and architecture of the solution we talked about in this episode rfidjournal.com - great source for any kind of information regarding RFID epcglobalinc.org - cross-industry RFID standards flash demo on How the EPC Network works Sensor Network solutions from IBM Information on intelligent utility networks Sun Spots - small wireless Java programmable devices from Sun MQ Telemetry Transport - Messaging infrastructure for mobile and embedded devices Zigbee Alliance - information on the Zigbee standard Publicize:      Digg this      Post to del.icio.us      Post to Slashdot Direct download: seradio-episode56-sensorNetworksWithSteffenSchaefer.mp3 Category: guest/technology -- posted at: 7:36 AM Comments[1]

Sat, 7 April 2007 Episode 52: DSL Development in Ruby Guest: Obie Fernandez Host: Markus Recorded at: JAOO 2006 In this episode, we're talking to Obie Fernandez about agile DSL development in Ruby. We started our discussion by defining what a DSL is, the difference between internal and external DSLs as well as the importance of the flexibly syntax of the host language in order to make DSLs worthwhile. We then looked at a couple of real world examples for DSLs, specifically, at Business Natural Languages. We then progressed to the main part of the discussions, which centered around the features of Ruby that are important for building DSLs. These include the flexible handling of parentheses, symbols, blocks as well as literal arrays and hashes. We then discussed Ruby's meta programming feautures and how they are important for building DSLs: instantiation, method_missing callback, class macros, top level functions and sandboxing. Features like eval, class_eval, instance_eval and define_method are also important for DSLs in Ruby, as well as using alias_method for simple AOP. Obie's Web Site The slides on which this episode is based Martin Fowler's article on Language Workbenches Publicize:      Digg this      Post to del.icio.us      Post to Slashdot Direct download: seradio-episode52-DSLsInRuby.mp3 Category: guest/technology -- posted at: 12:01 AM Comments[1]

Sun, 18 March 2007 Episode 49: Dynamic Languages for Static Minds Guest: Niclas Nilsson Host: Markus Recorded at: OOPSLA 2006 In this Episode we talk about dynamic languages for statically-typed minds, or in other words: which are the interesting features people should learn when they go from a langauge such as Java or C# to a language like Python or Ruby. We used Ruby as the concrete example language. We started the discussion about important features with the concept of dynamically changing an object's type and the idea of message passing. We then looked at the concepts of blocks and closures. Next in line is a discussion about functions that create functions as well as currying. This lead into a quick discussion about continuations. Open classes, aliasing and the relationship to AOP was next on our agenda. We then looked considered a somewhat more engineering-oriented view and looked at the importance of testing and what are the best steps of getting from static programming to dynamic programming. Finally, we discussed a bit about the current (as of October 2006) state of dynamic languages on mainstream platforms. Niclas Nilsson's blog Jim Weirichâ��s blog The Seaside web framework AsepctR, AOP for Ruby IronPython, Python on .Net JRuby, Ruby on the JVM Groovy Publicize:      Digg this      Post to del.icio.us      Post to Slashdot Direct download: seradio-episode49-dynamicLanguages.mp3 Category: guest/technology -- posted at: 4:11 AM Comments[3]

Thu, 2 November 2006 Episode 34: Enterprise Architecture Guest: Andy Longshaw Host: Markus In this episode Markus and our Guest Andy Longshaw talk about enterprise architecture. More specifically, we talk about some of the patterns in Andy Longshaw's and Paul Dyson's book Architecting Enterprise Solutions: Patterns for High-Capability Internet-based Systems. These includes things like replication, load balancing, monitoring and application management. Andy's Web Site The book on which this episode is roughly based We mentioned the book on Security Patterns We also talked about a paper on Service Composition by Paris Avgeriou Direct download: seradio-episode34-enterpriseArchitectureWithAndyLongshaw.mp3 Category: guest/technology -- posted at: 8:24 AM Comments[7]

Tue, 3 October 2006 Episode 31: Agile Documentation Guest: Andreas Rueping Host: Markus In this episode, our guest Andreas Rueping and Markus talk about documenting software. While this is a topic that many people don't like or consider fun, it is nonetheless very important. Based on his book, Agile Documentation, we talk about various aspects documenting software such as what to document, when to document, which media to use as well as specifically a number of layouting tips for nice documents. Andreas' Web Site His book, Agile Documentation Two of Andreas' patterns papers: The Structure and Layout of Technical Documents, Typography And Desktop Publishing. The layout and formatting of these papers nicely illustrate Andreas' very nice take on document layouting! Note that these papers serve to illustrate the layout and typography aspect - the aspect of "agile" documentation is explained in the book. A really nice German book on typography and layout called Mut zur Typographie (yes the title is a bit strange, but the book is good!) Another great book called Universal Principles of Design: 100 Ways to Enhance Usability, Influence Perception, Increase Appeal, Make Better Design Decisions, and Teach Through Design (yes, the title is a bit long, but the book is good!) Direct download: seradio-episode31-agileDocumentationWithAndreasRueping.mp3 Category: guest/technology -- posted at: 6:43 AM Comments[13]

Mon, 5 June 2006 Episode 18: Resource Management Guest: Prashant Jain Host: Michael In this episode Michael and our guest Prashant Jain talk about patterns for resource management. Efficient management of resources is critical in the execution of any kind of software. Ranging from embedded software in a mobile device to software in a large enterprise server, it is important that the resources, such as memory, threads, file handles, or network connections, are managed efficiently to allow the systems to function properly and effectively. Michael and Prashant discuss various patterns, such as Lazy Acquisition, Caching, Leasing and Evictor and explain when, why, and how to apply them for effective resource management. POSA3, Patterns for Resource Management, the book on which this episode is based Small Memory Software - Patterns for Systems with Limited Memory documents some resouce management patterns especially for memory as resource. Use the Patterns Almanac for finding concrete instances of Caching, Lazy* patterns etc. Direct download: seradio-episode18-resourceManagement.mp3 Category: guest/technology -- posted at: 4:40 PM Comments[5]

Thu, 27 April 2006 Episode 13: Ruby in Practice Guest: Thomas Quas Host: Alex Ruby has been getting more and more attention by the developer community over the last couple of years. Nevertheless Ruby as language and as a plattform is not too widespread. Most developers don't know people who have actually done commercial Ruby projects. Therefore it is sometimes hard to judge if Ruby is just a hype topic or if Ruby can be used for serious projects today. In this episode Alexander speaks with Thomas Quas about a commercial Ruby project Thomas finished a while ago. Thomas shares his insights and practical experiences with Ruby doing a project under strong time pressure. As Thomas has many years experience doing Java projects we also do some high level comparisons between both platforms. RubyCocoa - A Ruby/Objective-C Bridge for Mac OS X with Cocoa Ruby-GNOME2 Scripting Windows Apps Duck Typing Ruby Mixins Pickaxe Book Some information on Ruby 2 Direct download: seradio-episode13-rubyInPractice.mp3 Category: guest/technology -- posted at: 5:57 AM Comments[7]