bucketman writes "Saw this book at Chapter's and bought it and read it straight away. I've been kind of sitting on it for a month or two because my reaction to this book was so strong that I kind of wanted to see if time would mellow it. Well, it hasn't and I'm ready to post now. Note that this book has already been reviewed on Slashdot once, but I've decided to send in my review anyway, as it presents more detail as well as an alternate point of view and might be of interest." Read on below for bucketman's take on the book (and the methodology).

Andy Tai asks: "Extension languages are designed to be embedded in applications to support customization of the application behavior. Common scripting languages, like Perl and Python, are fairly 'large' with powerful run-time engines and libraries and are widely available and 'script' writers usually assume their stand-alone existences in the deployment environment. However, if one is looking for a language that's small enough so its source can be embedded in the distribution of and built as part of the application, Python and Perl may be 'overweight.' For the real lightweight choices there are Lua and Tinyscheme. Are there others? What are people's preferences and opinions regarding lightweight extension languages?"

taviso writes "In celebration of 'multiple virtual desktop window manager for the X Window system' FVWM's tenth birthday last year, the developers announced a contest to design a new logo for the project. The votes are in, and the winner has been announced. For some time the meaning of the "f" was lost, and 'feline' was one of many suggestions in the FAQ. The original meaning is described in a history of FVWM. FVWM is a remarkable piece of software - if you havnt seen some of the things you can do with it check out some of these screenshots."

simulate writes "There have been several postings about outsourcing and offshoring in the past few weeks. Is outsourcing just a fad? In Outsourcing Programmers is Bad Strategy for Software Companies author Michael Bean compares offshoring to the enthusiasm for Internet startups in the Nineties. He claims that outsourcing programmers is bad for companies not because of the programmer layoffs, but because technology companies lose their capacity to innovate. Offshoring is a mistake when technology companies confuse operational effectiveness and strategy." I don't think the comparasion to Dot Bombs is entirely accurate - the trend to globalization overall has been going on for decades. Still interesting piece.

teambpsi writes "BusinesWeek Online has an opt-ed piece on the trend in offshore programming pricing going up, with domestic rates going down. As a contractor, I've seen the downward pressure on contract gigs now to rates lower than what I was charging over five years ago. Dell Computers recently announced that it was bringing its customer service back on-shore, I wonder if this might be the start of some bigger trend -- maybe 'buy american' could be our new battle cry ;)"

Paul68 queries: "I am looking for an RPC mechanism for a project. Granted, there are many to choose from, yet there seem none that meet my requirements! When one has toyed with the requirements the solution generaly becomes obvious. So, yeah sure, I can set out and create the next RPC mechanism, but it is a lot of hassle. But does the world need yet another OORPC, or have I simply not looked in the right corners?"

honestpuck writes "Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and NCR made Unix computers I first started to program for a living. Back then when someone said 'script' they meant a shell script, generally for a Bourne shell." Even if the definition of "scripting" has grown somewhat, honestpuck argues, the old meaning still has merit and use. Read on for his review of the latest edition of Unix Shell Programming.

An anonymous reader reports that version 4 of "ReiserFS will be released in first quarter. Complete rewrite will support Atomic writing. 2-5 times faster. File corruption will be a thing of the past. Lindows.com is paying for part of it."

An anonymous reader writes "This article discusses various ways data gets into your program, emphasizing how to deal appropriately with them; you might not even know about them all! It first discusses how to design your program to limit the ways data can get into your program, and how your design influences what is an input. It then discusses various input channels and what to do about them, including environment variables, files, file descriptors, the command line, the graphical user interface (GUI), network data, and miscellaneous inputs."

sennomo asks: "Years ago, I was told that I needed a degree to get a programming job anymore. So, I went to college. A couple of years and thousands of dollars later, there was still no job for me, in spite of my all-powerful B.A. in C.S. The most common explanation I get is that jobs are being exported out of the country. So, I've decided to export myself. Moving to higher ground, so to speak. I have heard a few others discuss this, but how many are actually trying it? And how is it going for them? Are there any hotspots for American expatriate programmers?"

jarich (Jared Richardson) writes "Many people will remember Andy Hunt and Dave Thomas's The Pragmatic Programmer (Slashdot review) as one of the better books on real-world best practices. It was a watershed book for many developers. However, The Pragmatic Programmer assumed a certain level of familiarity with some of the basic tools of the trade. For many readers, this simply wasn't a valid assumption, so Andy and Dave have started on a set of prequels to PragProg, called Starter Kits." Richardson reviews below that series' introduction to the Concurrent Versioning System, better known as CVS.

Bombcar asks: "I'm going to be installing an EPIA mainboard in my car, using a DC-DC power supply. It is mainly for playing music, but it has the potential for so much more. I know I can get LCD displays, and I know that various sensors are made for automobiles, but I want to combine both these with the computer. Most car sensors are analog, so does anyone know of an easy way to interface with analog (and perhaps some digital) sensors? Anything used would have to be able to stand up to the rigors of automobile use. The EPIA board has 4 serial ports, a parallel port, and some USB ports, along with a PCI slot. I plan to use this for display purposes only (not control any important vehicle functions), but am also leaning towards some 'fun' improvements, such as playing certain songs when the pedal is floored."

gletham writes "This article gives details of a nifty project where the developer shares his story of the development of an IrDA keyboard driver packaged for the Nokia 3650 phone. It supports the Pocketop and the Palm Wireless Keyboard. Source code is available for download and even better, the driver has also been ported to the P800 as well... very cool!"

An anonymous reader writes "A new open source project aims to build a VPN router that supports all major routing protocols on a standardized hardware platform running embedded Linux. The "Linux Router Project - LR101" started in mid-2003 and plans a first release in January 2004. It is based on a dual-NIC VIA EPIA mainboard and a Travla case, along with Red Hat 8, zebra, FreeS/WAN, IP-tables, an other open source software, all compiled from source."

mseaborne writes "So, why should anyone be interested enough in XForms to want to read XForms Essentials in the first place? Well, if you make your living sweating over hot JavaScript and HTML, fighting against technologies never really intended to help you write even fairly simple forms that require such mundane, work-a-day functionality as cross-field validation, data prepopulation, or even reliable data typing; then XForms may be for you. If there are forms you would love to deploy over the Web, but they are too many, or are too complex to even attempt with HTML 4, then for you too, XForms could be the answer." Mark is also an interested party in XForms' success and improvement; he says he "joined the XForms Working Group after all the hard work had already been done." His review continues below.

j0hnyb1423 writes "Have you ever wanted to be able to connect to that stackless Snort or Hogwash box without walking over to it and plugging in a monitor and keyboard? Well, at last here's your answer - noiptun. Yes, it requires an IP stack to be compiled into the kernel but no IP addresses necessary on the real interface(s). And if stealth IDS setups aren't your bag, then you can at least use it to browse /. without having an IP bound to your linux workstation."

An anonymous reader writes "Blender, the open source software for 3D modeling, animation, rendering, post-production, interactive creation and playback, has been slowly improving towards the real professional solution level. Check out the current features and get wild about it! A new comprehensive manual version 2.3 has been under works and is shipping next week. Order one now and support the development of this great open source software! Pre-orders before December 31st get a discount."

Frank writes "This paper documents the test results and analysis of the Linux kernel and other core OS components, including everything from libraries and device drivers to file systems and networking, all under some fairly adverse conditions, and over lengthy durations. The IBM Linux Technology Center has just finished this comprehensive testing over a period of more than three months and shares the results of their LTP (Linux Test Project) testing."

WillOutPower writes "Sun is inviting Cray (of supercomputer fame) and IBM (needs no introduction...) to join and create a new intermediate run-time language for high-performance computing. Java's bytecode, Java Grande, and Microsoft's IL language for the Common Language Runtime, it seems a natural progression. I wonder if the format will be in XML? Does this mean ubiquitous grid computing? Maybe now I won't have to write my neural network in C for performance :-)"

Makarand writes "According to this article in The Economic Times (India) Software companies in India are embracing the trend where source code for the software being bought or sold is kept safe with an escrow agent with carefully drafted agreements. This allows the buyer to get hold of the source code in cases where software was licensed from a start-up which has now folded or a breach of contract regarding the maintenance services that were agreed upon can be proven. The source code is automatically released upon the occurrence of any of the events mentioned in the escrow agreement and the buyer will be able to study the source code and continue to provide support services for the software bought without relying on the employees of the software supplier."