Someone recently sent me a link to this project:

http://mtoswiki.com

It sounds like a very interesting idea. This guy has decided that the traditional open source development model isn’t really open enough. He argues that it takes too long to win the trust of many project developers in order to become a contributor. His project aims to open things up so that anyone and everyone can contribute with very little trouble.

He acknowledges that it might not be the best approach for every open source project out there, but that it could be very promising for some.

Anyway, check it out and see what you think.

I’ve been working on a project recently involving converting X12 EDI documents into XML files for integration with the PRO-MAIL warehouse management / fulfillment software. I wanted to post here about some of the tools I’ve employed throughout this project. Initially, I began using TestXSLT, a simple Cocoa XSLT helper app, to begin putting together the stylesheet that would ultimately translate from one XML schema to another.

Another tool I enjoyed using was the <oXygen/> XML editor. I was particularly impressed with the schema browser/editor portion of the software.

Ultimately, the tool I used most, however, was Stylus Studio. Stylus Studio has many great features, but I was primarily interested in their EDI-to-XML conversion utilities. From what I can tell, their EDI utilties are the best available. Anyone who’s ever dealt with EDI can tell you that it’s a PITA to work with, and Stylus Studio makes it easy. (relatively speaking, at least) As a Java developer, I’ve also been impressed with the Java code generation and other Java language utilities available. I was able to accomplish my EDI-XML workflow by utilizing Stylus Studio’s Java API to achieve functionality not available using XSLT alone. One of my favorite parts is that the API is available completely outside of the Stylus Studio application, meaning that you are able to leverage its powerful EDI adapters without invoking the application itself. If you’d like to try it out, the version I have been using is Stylus Studio 2006 Release 2 XML Enterprise Edition and there is a 30-day trial version available here.

Working in XML is almost always challenging, but I also find it very rewarding. It’s such a large bundle of complex, related technologies that it is necessrary to have good tools. The <oXygen/> XML editor is powerful and appears to be a great XML tool for many tasks, but I couldn’t have completed my project without the EDI component of Stylus Studio. I’m looking forward to trying more XML tools and new versions of those I’ve mentioned, and thanks to Stylus Studio, I’m actually looking forward to working with EDI again.

In doing a bit more research on the MOSIX on OS X thing, I discovered this wonderful page which details the many technologies available for cluster and grid computing on Mac OS X. For example, the site describes MPI and OpenMP. There’s a lot of other info on the site that should be useful for those wanting to use Mac OS X for high performance computing (HPC).

With the recent upgrade of my cell phone from the Sanyo 4900 (One of the most reliable and functional cell phones I’ve used) to a new PalmOne Treo 650, I tested my BibleReaderME application on it using the IBM J2ME JVM for Palm OS. I’m happy to report that the application functions very well on the Treo. I’m happy to add another confirmed cell phone model to the list.

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything about my tech exploits, so I thought I’d just mention a bit about one my latest endeavors. I got an iPod nano a couple of months ago and recently discovered iPod Linux. This is a truly amazing project! I’ve gotten my nano to play full-speed, full-color video clips as if it were the new iPod Video. I’ve played chess on it, rendered fractals, and taken notes. I’ve also begun doing a bit of development for it myself, just to scratch an itch, so to speak. I’m actually cross-compiling my own kernel as I write this. If you have an iPod, I encourage you to give it a try, at least if you are a bit technically inclined… it’s not for the novice. (At least not yet)