September 2008
Cloud computing with Linux and Virtualization
One of the most important ideas behind cloud computing is scalability, and the key technology that makes that possible is virtualization. As you might expect, Linux plays a huge role, learn why there's a penguin behind that Cloud computing silver lining.
Tap into the Google Geocoder Web service
See for example how the musical group Nine Inch Nails created a geographical download data display, of its new release "The Slip", that it produced using Google Earth and KML. This brilliant concept hints at the possibilities available with Google's Geocoder.
Build Ajax-based Web sites with PHP
PHP has been around for quite a few years. It's commonly used as a server-side scripting language to develop Web-based applications fairly quickly and with good results. This article provided you with an introduction to writing Ajax-based front-end code with back-end PHP scripts faster than if you write all of the code yourself.
August 2008
Avoid bad PHP designs with these patterns
By using these 5 established PHP patterns, you benefit from common design constructs that allow you and others to avoid the hard lessons of design ideas that don't work out. They also makes your code more readable and maintainable.
Making use of Google App Engine
The Google App Engine (GAE) makes it easier for you to forget all about managing pools of application servers. Take look at how easy it is to get started with the Google App Engine (GAE). This article walkes you step-by-step through building an Ajax mashup using Eclipse and the deployment it to the GAE.
DOM scripting makes me cry - jQuery makes me smile
by 1 otherjQuery is a JavaScript library that helps simplify your JavaScript and Asynchronous JavaScript + XML (Ajax) programming. Unlike similar JavaScript libraries, jQuery has a unique bag of tricks that allows you to express common complex code succinctly. Learn about the jQuery philosophy, discover its features and functions, and use it to perform some common Ajax tasks much easier.
Build a fast, and very functional UNIX Web server
Get a detailed, step-by-step approach to installing and configuring a development or test Apache Tomcat server. Along the way, pick up helpful tips on how to build and administer your Web or application server in a UNIX environment.
Allow users to use your Web App in their own language
The mother tongue of most of the people in the world is not English. It might be a widely used language like Chinese or French, or a rarely used language like the Bask language or Yiddish. These people, regardless of their English skills, may be potential clients; the only problem is how to reach them. See how to Internationalizing Web applications using Dojo. This article presents a way to design, implement, and test the translation aspect of i18n.
Smarter Ajax forms with jQuery UI Tabs
Learn to transform a multistep checkout process from a series of sequential forms into a single-screen interface using Ajax and jQuery UI Tabs. The tab interface you will build provides visual cohesion to your form process, turning a series of disconnected form pages into a slick tabed interface with a window-shade effect.
July 2008
Feedback needed on new developerWorks layout
Take a look at the beta release of the new developerWorks website layout. This new design is more streamlined and provides community-generated content and features in a dynamic and context-sensitive manner. The developerWorks website needs to know what you think of this beta release, so it can continue to make improvements based on your feedback.
March 2008
Using Java to find the needle in the DNA haystack
Genetics databases hold extremely large amounts of raw data. The human genome alone has approximately 3 billion DNA base pairs. To search through all this data and find meaningful relationships within it, molecular biologists are depending more and more on efficient computer science string algorithms. This article introduces you to three such algorithms, all of which use dynamic programming, and advanced Java algorithmic technique that solves optimization problems from the bottom up by finding optimal solutions to subproblems.
February 2008
Analyze your content and build a specialized DTD
You might wonder "I have some content that might be a candidate for topic specialization. What's next?" This tutorial walks you through the design, implementation, and testing of a DITA topic specialization. After reviewing some sample content and mocking up some DITA versions, you'll create the DITA specialization DTD, revise the samples to conform to it, and then test them by creating XHTML versions of the sample documents with the DITA Open Toolkit to make sure that everything is in place.
Craft Ajax applications using JSF with CSS
Learn several Web techniques based on the DOM APIs, Ajax, and Cascading Style Sheets. This article shows you how to hide and display optional JSF components without refreshing a Web page, how to implement client-side validation that is executed in the Web browser, and how to develop a custom component that displays help messages for the input elements of a Web form.
Create an Ajax mindreader app with E4X and Prototype
Learn to use both E4X and the Prototype JavaScript library to create a simple Ajax mindreader application that plays Twenty Questions and learns about new objects as it goes along. Create a system that takes an existing knowledge base and analyzes it to determine what the user may be thinking.
Avoid bad Ajax user experiences
Where and when to use Ajax in your applications is the focus of this article. It looks at what Ajax makes possible and also examines when the problems caused by using Ajax outweigh the benefits gained. Learn how you can use Ajax to improve your Web sites while avoiding bad user experiences.
The Business Web 2.0 tipping point technical drivers
The current Business interest in Web 2.0 has arisen because of a culmination of positive economic and technology trends. Explore the business and technical drivers behind Web 2.0, the challenges and opportunities presented, and the relationship between Web 2.0 and SOA. Learn how enterprises are trying to capitalize on the current generation of Internet Web 2.0 technologies.
The future of XML
How will you use XML in years to come? The wheels of progress turn slowly, but turn they do. The crystal ball might be a little hazy, but the outline of XML's future is becoming clear. The exact time line is a tad uncertain, but where XML is going isn't. XML's future lies with the Web, and more specifically with Web publishing.
January 2008
Realize the power of RSS in Ajax and Web 2.0 apps
You'll appreciate this article's fully functional PHP code snippets, demonstrating the use of PHP-based server-side functions to develop a customizable RSS feed aggregator. In addition, you'll reap instant benefits from using the fully functional RSS feed aggregator code, which you can download from this article.
Manipulate del.icio.us bookmarks with PHP
One cool feature of del.icio.us is the ability to access your bookmark list through a REST-based API, and integrate this list into your own XML-aware application. The del.icio.us service lets users collect and share bookmarks online. Manipulate these bookmarks with PEAR's Services_Delicious package that interfaces with the REST API of del.icio.us and build customized PHP applications.
Create dynamic Firefox user interfaces
Learn how to use Ajax to download XML data from a Web server, and discover how you can use XSLT to transform it dynamically into Firefox user-interface elements expressed in XML User Interface Language (XUL). By the end of the tutorial, you'll be able to apply the techniques to any XML-based data source used to drive a Firefox application.
Generate Ajax J2EE Web applications with jpa2web
Learn about, try, and contribute to a new open source tool — jpa2web — which generates J2EE Ajax-based Web applications from JPA-annotated beans. Using the ZK framework, the applications generated by this tool allow your users to add, delete, search, modify, and interconnect instances of database-synchronized objects in a friendly, Ajax-based Web user interface.
XML 2007 a year in review
2007 was a productive year for XML. The most sound and fury focused around the standardization of office document formats. But if I had to pick the most important story of the year, I'd be hard pressed to choose between the continuing growth of XQuery, APP, and XForms. All have the potential to radically alter the software infrastructure that underlies the Web. This article looks at the significance of XML in 2007 and peeks forward at what the big stories will be in 2008.
December 2007
Hands on Ajax-Dojo based blog reader development
In this article the authors take you through the step-by-step development of a simple Dojo and Atom-based blog reader. You'll use the Dojo toolkit to develop the application, which will communicate with back-end Atom feeds using the Atom Publishing Protocol. You'll also use the Dojo storage package to keep feed subscription data.
Groovy shortcuts, Project Zero, and the Flickr API
Flickr provides a very useful and flexible API to developers who want to incorporate elements of the site into their own applications, but you can make things even simpler using Groovy scripting and a few lines of Project Zero code. Additionally, the techniques in this article can be applied to other popular sites that combine social networking and data sharing, such as with YouTube, Blogger, and so on.
November 2007
Better Calendars with Google API and XPath
Google Calendar provides an integration application program interface (API) that provides a good solution to many problems concerning the integrity of calendar entries and maintenance. With XPath you can automatically keep a Web site's display of upcoming events up to date by querying the Google data API event feeds. This article shows you easy to use examples of how to use XPath to extract and display Google Calendar data on your Web site.
