ranting and raving about (the sad state of) information technology
Note that it looks slightly similar to Java code but is less verbose because the decorator pattern is not (mis)used as it is in Java. -Bruce Eckel, adobe dev net
I love it when people editorialize in tutorials. Particularly here where he’s giving a dig to a design pattern.
Scripting languages often have the weakness of silent failure, which pays for the “robustness” value. Configuration-based “languages”, particularly XML (the latest magic cool-ade) ones have a similar silent-failure weakness.
Flex 3.0 adds these two together plus a minimal amount of available documentation, provides loads of power, but also a huge Achilles heal of super silent failure. This makes developing a huge pain in the ass.
I’ve currently developed a front end of Flex to hit a wsdl-defined web service. It can’t seem to navigate “complex” data objects coming across the web service. By complex, I mean an object that contains an object that has basic values for properties.
Is there a simple way to solve this problem? I don’t know. When Flex is navigating XML data it can go arbitrarily deep (I assume, I’ve only gone two deep), but ween it’s dealing with its native objects it barfs.
And I have no idea how to resolve, or track down this problem.
Edit: Finally did fix the problem. The DataGrid needs to be customized to manipulate complex data. So, the data was there, but the UI element failed the task.
The things you see asked in a technical context that would be quite humorous for an outsider looking over your shoulder.
From Adobe’s product information page about back-end support for their front-end Flex product.
LiveCycle Data Services ES (previously called Flex Data Services) software provides a comprehensive set of data-enabling features for using data in Flex or Ajax based RIAs that revolutionize the user experience. A powerful data services architecture and programming model enable RIAs to synchronize data between client and server to produce optimal customer engagement experiences with less code, less risk, and faster time to market. LiveCycle Data Services ES also opens up powerful new services to rich applications including document and form server processing, workflow, and more. Start building applications today with free LiveCycle Data Services ES Express, a single-CPU production license.
Marketing hype has never been more eloquent. To top it off, this is an entirely 100% Java product, and it comes with three different installers (Windows, Solaris, Linux) with Mac conspicuously absent.
I installed the subset of it (Blaze DataServices) from the Windows package - worked fine. Four Jar files and one XML file. Bozos.
Chased a bug down today, a simple one really. But first I had to load in the source code for the hibernate persistence (i was trekking through PersistentSet). Then I had to dig up the Java 1.5 (5.0?) source from the Apple developer site so I could chase through AbstractCollection and HashSet to find out one of my equals() methods was being a very bad boy (always returning false).
Changed one line of code from that three hours of work. That’s how the code flows.
return true;
This is only marginally “tech” related, but I think you may know my pain.
For about a month I was scouring the Houston Craig’s List for tech jobs (which sucks, by the way). I set it up in my RSS feed, and basically used it as an opportunity to mark posts as inappropriate (training courses), miscategorized (not Houston), or overposted (daily post for SAP job - likely to fuel the belief that the training courses were needed).
One was questionably miscategorized: Houston and Louisiana. Both cities or both states, I’m not sure which. But they just couldn’t manage to spell the state correctly. Thus I sent (Sept 27), and ultimately received (Nov 6) the following:
Subject: RE: Systems Engineer
Date: Tue, 6 Nov 2007 11:19:32 -0600
From: “Jeremiah Collier” <jeremiah.collier@facilitekservices.com>
To William S. GrahamI need you to send me a word version of your resume please
—–Original Message—–
From: William S. Graham
Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2007 2:06 PM
To: job-433175069@craigslist.org
Subject: Systems Engineer** CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY — AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY
** Avoid: wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home
** Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping
** More Info: http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.htmlI’m assuming the job you are posting is in Houston, Texas OR
Louisiana? (which is not spelled “Lousiana” or “Luissianna”).
(since it was posted in houston.craigslist.org)-Your Craig’s List Editor
——————————————————————
this message was remailed to you via: job-433175069@craigslist.org
——————————————————————
I’m not sure if anyone’s even seeing this thing, yet, but it’s certainly not ready for prime time. I haven’t gotten anywhere close to fixing the look of this thing. And I’m dorking around with it a bit. (learning CSS) All in my spare time. So, please pardon the look (not to mention the lack of real content), as I bootstrap this thing.
-Mgmt
This was my favorite exception that was thrown at me today:
javax.persistence.PersistenceException: org.hibernate.MappingException: Could not determine type for: java.util.List, for columns: [org.hibernate.mapping.Column(otherNames)]
at org.hibernate.ejb.Ejb3Configuration.buildEntityManagerFactory(Ejb3Configuration.java:720)
The type was very clearly stated as List<PersonName> otherNames. I’m sure there’s either something obvious I’m missing, or it’s broken. Regardless it will surely cost me hours in the morning.
@OneToMany() annotation. Luckily didn’t take me long to find.
Don’t you get the feeling that
Everything that’s right is wrong again…‡
On October 8th, 2007 I took a new software design job. I haven’t done software for money in 6 years, 6 months, and 7 days; InLine Software closed it’s doors on Feb 1, 2001.
My reasons for leaving tech were many. My reasons for staying out were many. My reasons for returning were many. My mind is abuzz with thoughts of past, present, and future, particularly relating to my work.
Technology has changed much since I have gone (or almost not at all, depending on your vantage), just as it did when I was active in the industry. It’s an odd perspective, jumping back into the pool. So I’ll try to provide my perspective on things, however worthwhile or otherwise they may prove.
Read, or don’t. Respond, or don’t.
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