- TechRepublic Author Biography
I am an all purpose IT person. If there's a generic job title in IT, I've probably had it, most likely more than once. Programmer, systems administrator, DBA, PC tech/repair, Help Desk, webmaster, web designer, web developer, applications developer, network engineering. Somehow I have managed to get my thumb stuck...- more about Justin James »
TechRepublic Resources
- Can Microsoft win over enough developers to change the paradigm?
- Over the last few months, I have written about some of the changes occurring in the development landscape. Some of the other writers in TechRepublic's Programming and Development space have also been approaching the same topic with hands-on articles, such as Tony Patton's recent piece on Silverlight 2.0, and Peter...
- Tags: Developer, Mobile, Vision, Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Windows, Productivity, Strategy, Operating Systems, Software, Management, Justin James
- Blog posts 2008-05-13
- Can presentation layer abstraction ever replace desktop and Web apps?
- Persistent "Holy Grails" in the world of computing are the various methods of abstracting the presentation layer of applications. The current incarnation of this tendency has the HTTP network protocol as the common theme. Let's take a look at this history and see what the chances are that the current...
- Tags: Java Application, Desktop, Web, Application, HTML, Microsoft Silverlight, HTTP, Applet, ActiveX, Channel Management, Programming Languages, Java, Middleware, Marketing, Software Development, Software/Web Development, Enterprise Software, Software, Justin James
- Blog posts 2008-05-03
- 10 reasons your star programmer may be looking to leave
- Top programmers are not easy to find. It takes time to cull through dozens, if not hundreds, of resumes to find the magic combination you want, and it takes hours to perform interviews. After all of that, you still need to jump through hoops to make sure that your best...
- Tags: Job, Employee, Environment, Programmer, Development Tools, Software Development, Software/Web Development, Justin James
- Blog posts 2008-05-01
- Microsoft's Parallel Extensions Library: Making multithreading easier
- Microsoft is working hard to release the Parallel Extensions Library, which is a library of objects designed to speed the development of multithreaded applications. The library contains two major advantages over traditional .NET multithreading techniques. The Parallel Extensions Library encapsulates many existing concepts into prepackaged and tested...
- Tags: Parallel, Developer, Microsoft Corp., LINQ, Multi-threading, Parallel Extensions Library, Data Parallelism, PLINQ PLINQ, Justin James
- Blog posts 2008-04-21
- Microsoft's mainline products 'break' many development paradigms
- At last week's Microsoft Heroes Happen Here event in Charlotte, NC, I got the chance to ask Microsoft Senior IT Pro Evangelist Blain Barton a handful of questions about systems administration, development, customer feedback, and more. My first question was a tough one: How is Microsoft addressing...
- Tags: Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows 95, Operating Systems, Software, Justin James
- Blog posts 2008-04-15
- Microsoft Evangelist Blain Barton discusses systems administration
- On April 8, 2008, I went to the Microsoft Heroes Happen Here event in Charlotte, NC. I registered late, so I was only able to attend the IT Professional track aimed at systems administrators. (I was hoping to also sit in on the Development track.) It was...
- Tags: Mobile, Microsoft Corp., System Administration, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Advertising & Promotion, Operating Systems, Software, Marketing, Justin James
- Blog posts 2008-04-14
- Hear how Mainsoft is opening options for .NET and Java developers
- Mainsoft provides tools for running .NET code on the Java platform. I interviewed Mainsoft's Vice President of Technology, Eyal Eliahu Alaluf, via e-mail about a variety of subjects, including: managing a team on different continents (Mainsoft has offices in the United States and Israel); working with .NET code within the...
- Tags: Java Developer, Mainsoft, JVM, CLR, Eyal Eliahu Alaluf, Mono Open Source .NET Framework, .NET CLR, .Net, Programming Languages, Java, Application Servers, Middleware, Software Development, Software/Web Development, Enterprise Software, Software, Justin James
- Blog posts 2008-04-08
- Project failures may soon carry legal risks for programmers
- Project disasters come with the territory in IT. Some observers (including me) pessimistically believe that the majority of IT projects fail to meet their original goals. All too often, "descope and declare victory" is the only possible way to end a project. Part of the problem is that, regardless of...
- Tags: Project, Lawsuit, Information Technology, Programmer, Programming, Programming Project, Development Tools, Strategy, Software Development, Software/Web Development, Management, Justin James
- Blog posts 2008-04-02
- 10 reasons your star programmer may be looking to leave
- Top programmers are not easy to find. It takes time to cull through dozens, if not hundreds, of resumes to find the magic combination you want, and it takes hours to perform interviews. After all of that, you still need to jump through hoops to make sure that your best...
- Tags: Programmer, Justin James, Development Tools, Software Development, Software/Web Development
- Download resources 2008-05-01
- Common sense tips for developing usable mobile apps
- Developers who work on mobile computing platforms (UMPCs, smartphones, cell phones, etc.) frequently overlook the issue of usability. Part of the problem is that there are no clear usability guidelines yet for developing for mobile devices. There is also such a high level of variability between devices that it is...
- Tags: Touch Screen, Phone, Device, Mobile, Cell Phone, Button, Cell Phone Keypad, Advertising & Promotion, Keyboards, Telecom & Utilities, Cellular Phones, Marketing, Hardware, Peripherals, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Justin James
- Blog posts 2008-03-25
- Video games and the current state of AI
- I finally found time to play the video game F.E.A.R. a few months ago, and I was initially impressed by the artificial intelligence (AI). The enemy soldiers appeared to work together towards a common goal (i.e., finding and killing my character); they seemed to use realistic tactics (such as taking...
- Tags: Artificial Intelligence, Video Game, Video, AII, F.E.A.R., Doull, Games, Personal Technology, Justin James
- Blog posts 2008-03-18
- 10 non-monetary benefits to attract and retain top developers
- When recruiting developers, it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that money is what brings in the best and the brightest. After all, developers tend to receive paychecks a bit beefier than other professionals with similar levels of experience and education. But at the end of the day,...
- Tags: Job, Developer, Project, Team, Career, Benefit, IT Industry, Justin James
- Blog posts 2008-03-18
- HTTP and HTML: The paradox of dominance
- The saying, "When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail," makes me think of the mess that we're in when it comes to the dominance of HTML and HTTP. I tend to be down on the concept of Web applications -- especially...
- Tags: HTML, HTTP, Microsoft Office, Web Application, HTML 5, Justin James
- Blog posts 2008-03-10
- 10 traits to look for when you're hiring a programmer
- Programmers come with a wide range of skill sets, hail from many countries and cultures, and can have differing backgrounds and experiences. Nevertheless, certain qualities can mean the difference between a great programmer and someone who's not so great. Here are 10 things to look for when you're hiring a...
- Tags: Hiring, Programmer, Programming, Candidate, Daycoders, Development Tools, Software Development, Software/Web Development, Justin James
- Blog posts 2008-03-05
- Asirra: CAPTCHAs with a heart
- Every once in a while, I come across a project or piece of software that really puts a smile on my face. About a month ago, I found Asirra (Animal Species Image Recognition for Restricting Access) from Microsoft Research. It is a CAPTCHA system that asks the user to decide...
- Tags: CAPTCHA, Photograph, Computer, Asirra, Justin James
- Blog posts 2008-03-04
- 10 non-monetary benefits to attract and retain top developers
- When recruiting developers, it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that money is what brings in the best and the brightest. After all, developers tend to receive paychecks a bit beefier than other professionals with similar levels of experience and education. But at the end of the day,...
- Tags: Developer, Benefit, Recruiting, Justin James
- Download resources 2008-03-18
- The mouse mentality holds down mobile apps
- The mouse defines, in large part, how we compute -- which is great for most needs. Having that "common ground" in terms of the interface is wonderful for probably 90 percent of the applications out there. The problem is the other 10 percent of applications that would be much better...
- Tags: Console, Mouse, Mobile, Problem, Video Game, Holdup, Mice, Games, Hardware, Peripherals, Personal Technology, Justin James
- Blog posts 2008-02-26
- The challenges of maintenance programming
- The world of programming has changed quite a bit since computers were first developed. One relative constant is the way in which programs are created; specifically, the idea of source code represented as standard ASCII text. It has been decades since we evolved from using hex editors or punch cards...
- Tags: Code, Programmer, Programming, Backstory, Development Tools, Software Development, Software/Web Development, Justin James
- Blog posts 2008-02-21
- 10 traits to look for when you're hiring a programmer
- Programmers come with a wide range of skill sets, hail from many countries and cultures, and can have differing backgrounds and experiences. Nevertheless, certain qualities can mean the difference between a stellar programmer and someone who's not so great. Here are 10 things to look for when you're hiring a...
- Tags: Hiring, Programmer, Justin James, Development Tools, Recruitment & Selection, Software Development, Software/Web Development, Human Resources, Workforce Management
- Download resources 2008-03-05
- 10 signs that your project is about to be cut
- It is an unfortunate reality in the IT industry: A large number of projects are cancelled before they are complete. This would not be a problem if the IT industry were like many other industries, where the labor pool is made up almost exclusively of permanent employees. But the IT...
- Tags: Project, Cancellation, Strategy, Leadership, Management, Justin James
- Blog posts 2008-02-20
Harnessing the power of waves
Planting solar gardens
Fill your car for $1.10 a gallon?