Wed, 22 Dec 2004 0:01 UTC
In a recent post by Tim Bray, a Technology Director at Sun Microsystems, he describes a “summit” held in which the leading developers of popular dynamic languages were invited to Sun to spend the day discussing issues in and surrounding the use of their languages and the projects created to make them work on the Java platform. I speak mainly of Jython (Python on Java) and Groovy (a mixture of Python, Ruby, Smalltalk, and Java).
Attending this summit were people from the Perl camp—Larry Wall and Dan Sugalski (Parrot)—and the Python camp—Guido van Rossum, Samuele Pedroni (Jython), and Sean McGrath. James Strachan of Groovy was present, as well as Graham Hamilton, Gilad Bracha, Martin Buchholz, and Tim Bray of Sun.
Specifically, the topic at hand dealt with these languages that are designed to run on the JVM (Jython and Groovy) and how Java can be made in such a way to make it easier to allow dynamic languages to run on it. I found it particularly interesting in light of my recent article on Parrot and the Pint compiler for running PHP on Parrot.
What does a future with a cooperative Java that’s language-agnostic and runs popular dyamically typed languages mean for the future of these languages? Probably not much since the languages themselves won’t change—only the machine that runs them. Yet, I found myself wondering what this means for the future of Parrot. Imagine a JVM with the ability to run Python, Ruby, Perl, and even PHP. This doesn’t go as far as one interpretation that PHP would become Java, but rather each language maintains its own identity, yet they’re all sharing the same living space—in a sense, they become roommates.
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Tue, 21 Dec 2004 0:00 UTC
From the book description:
“Over 12 million Internet domains worldwide use the PHP language to power their websites. If you are a programmer included in this group, or would like to be one, you should pick up a copy of PHP Unleashed. The definitive guide in PHP programming, PHP Unleashed thoroughly and authoritatively covers the release of PHP 5, as well as advanced topics not found in other books. It begins with a detailed summary of the basics and then quickly moves on to more advanced topics such as working with data, outputting graphical data and building complete applications. Whether you’re an experienced programmer and new to PHP, or an experienced PHP programmer but new to PHP 5, this is the one PHP book you need in your library.”
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Sat, 18 Dec 2004 17:31 UTC
On Thursday, December 16, the Firefox full-page ad finally ran in the New York Times. In fact, they apparently received enough donations to take out a full, two-page ad.
Some people have criticized SpreadFirefox.com, saying that the ad failed to attack Microsoft Internet Explorer and instead served as a Firefox “ego trip.” I, however, think that the point of advertisment isn’t necessarily to blast other products but to boost the image of your own, and that’s just what this advertisement does—in a nice, tactful manner.
My name, as well as the name of my wife (Liz) and dog (Ashley), is listed among the fine print of the 10,000 names listed in the ad. I’ve taken the PDF of the ad, enlarged it, and grabbed a shot of our names. Here they are:
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Fri, 10 Dec 2004 15:05 UTC
From the introduction:
“Several months ago, Ben held a conversation with a fellow programmer about the relevance and performance of PHP-GTK. The fear, said he, is that PHP-GTK is too slow to run robust desktop applications. ‘Yet, how can this fear be plausible when so many already use PHP for robust Web-based applications?’ Ben retorted in his infinite wisdom. He went on to exclaim, ‘What PHP needs is a Virtual Machine—something like the Java Runtime Environment that all end-users can easily install to run PHP applications!’ ‘That’s why I’m placing my bets on Parrot,’ was the astute programmer’s reply. And thus began Ben’s long journey in which he traveled far and wide across the Internet searching for references to Parrot and the rumored project in which PHP is being formulated to run on Parrot. In his article, Ben takes a speculative look ahead to PHP 6 and the Parrot VM.”
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Tue, 7 Dec 2004 9:31 UTC
PHPCommunity.org has adopted a rudimentary set of policies and procedures. This adoption is a step in the right direction to get the early momentum of the community moving again. Included is a “silence is acceptance” policy and a 72-hour rule for decisions. In addition, those proposing actions must be ready and willing to carry out the tasks of fulfilling the proposal.
It is now a year since the project was officially announced, and I’m happy to see the flame rekindled, so to speak. I think that the implementation of these policies, along with a sense of renewed fervor for the project, will help to push the community forward to start producing a Web site that provides world-class resources. It’s only a matter of time now before the site goes live. Here’s to hoping that that time is short and this recent drive for activity doesn’t die out.
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