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Blogs ยป Archive for June 8th, 2005
MySQL Tools Go Native on OS X
While we are on the Apple theme during the annual Worldwide Developers Conference - MySQL has announced a native set of tools for MySQL administrators and developers.
Central to any database deployment are the management tools. Of course the command line is a fine method for standard tasks - however - as database infrastructure grows in complexity or size (or both) so does the demand for a more sophisticated method for the care and feeding of MySQL.
In addition to user, database and system management with MySQL Administrator, MySQL Query Browser adds in a visual environment for building, testing and analysis of queries into your systems.
I prefer using a tool such as query browser to bench test any expanded queries I may be using in a web application or simply as a report writer. Rapid GUI access to a data store is worth its weight in gold.
For most, these new ported applications are extensions of common tools, as MySQL has been supporting Linux and Windows for some time from an administration perspective.
For any developers who have been running MySQL on Macs - this is a welcome addition to the fold.
Safari Veers Toward Open Source
Apple has released the underlying engine of its Safari web browser with an open source project that includes comprehensive access to the CVS repository.
While the ongoing theme is this action was taken due to complaints over a closed development process for the browser, it also is interesting timing with its announced shift to Intel. The Intel-based open source community is vast and surely contributions may contribute toward a better browser as ths architecture shift occurs.
This will help synchronize activity between KHTML developers and Apple. And with Konqueror, Firefox and other open source projects closing in on the goal of complete standards adherence, it may open up the door for Safari to join the club, which recently passed the ACID test.
This also may also crack open the door for some ambitious folk who might want to pursue eventually getting Safari ported to a Linux or Windows environment. Not as far of a stretch as it seems once Apple releases its Xcode framework that will assist in the port from PowerPC to Intel.
The Business of PHP
Perhaps an anomaly in the PHP landscape is, despite the massive adoption of PHP as a software development platform, the relatively small ecosystem of commercial software offerings that exist within it. One might easily put this down to PHP being an open source - and largely free - product. People who use a “zero cost” platform generally have little inclination to pay for software that runs on it.
But as the argument so often goes in the Land of Open Source, we all need to eat and - perhaps failing that - buy iPods and fixed gear ‘cycles. Many of the great software engineering minds tinker on well known projects while getting paid for it. For the rest of us, though, a commercial motive needs to exist somewhere in our day to day activities.
I’d venture that the majority of professional PHP developers (and I use that term loosely; referring to people who earn a living coding PHP) work with / in some kind of client services entity. That is, building PHP web sites and applications on behalf of a client for a fee.
(As a side note, I propose that this may be a cause of the …
Another passenger on the Eclipse bandwagon: Flash?!
Macromedia has joined the growing masses busily porting their top-end development tools to the Eclipse platform.
In a flurry of press releases and publicity on its website, Macromedia this week announced the Flash Platform, which really isn’t anything new — just a, er, flashy reminder of everything that Flash can do.
What is new, and of particular interest to Java developers, is the news that the next-generation development tool (codenamed “Zorn”) to replace Macromedia’s custom-built Flex Builder IDE will be based on the Eclipse platform.
Flex is a platform for rapidly developing Web applications that use rich, Flash-based interfaces generated on-the-fly on the server side, and that interact in real time with server-side applications, typically written in Java. Although this is an amazingly slick and powerful development environment, I think it’s safe to say that uptake has been slow among Java developers, who are typically reluctant to leave their development tools of choice to try a custom IDE.
Moving Flex development to the Eclipse platform will not only put the technology directly in the sights of millions of Java Web developers, but it will also enable them to continue using their favourite Eclipse plugins as they build …
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