http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/?joel Joel on Software]]> Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:31:39 GMT Fog Creek Software FogBugz 6.1.41 http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?joel.3.789036 Mr. Smith: I have been working with J2EE enterprise application for the past 3 years and it's always the case that we're using entity > DTO, DTO > entity, and mapping files to map to database tables. I consider myself who is still trying to fathom the intricacies of J2EE architecture. I know that this becomes quite a bit of work for a change that is small, and for larger development it can be quite confusing and frustrating when you run into problems.

Recently, I have read books on EJB3 and some online articles that talk about how this approach is not productive and makes the application unnecessary complex. Mostly, they are talking about mapping entity directly to the front-end and no need of DTO to carry data for you.

What I want to know, how can you go with only the entity approach for enterprise type application. Especially, when you have multiple methods in your mapping files for full, partial, or any weird scenario that you may have for keeping the objects as light as possible.

Thanks. ]]> Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:22:43 GMT http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?joel.3.788825 brone: I'm looking for a website/blog type affair that I think was the site of somebody who used to post here. Damned if I can find it though... can anybody help?

As far as I can remember: the guy posted under a normal-sounding name, though it was by his own admission a pseudonym. His blog detailed his employment at a smallish software company that he had recently joined with the specific intention of working his way into a higher position, his musings on the extent to which particular pseudonymous colleagues and directors would help or hinder him, and various other thoughts on his overall plan.

Any assistance will be gratefully received! ]]> Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:40:24 GMT http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?joel.3.788780 Patrick From An IBank: All - I'm about to purchase a new PC. While I'm not going bargain basement, I'm also not going top end.

Dell has 2 PCs of interest:
PC A -
Processor: Intel® Pentium® dual-core E5300 (2MB L2, 2.6GHz, 800FSB)
Memory: 3GB2 DDR2 SDRAM3 at 800MHz- 2 DIMMs

PC B -
Processors: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E7500 (3MB L2, 2.93GHz, 1066FSB)
Memory: 2GB2 Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM3 at 800MHz- 2DIMMs

Yes, PC A is about 150 bucks cheaper. But, it does have more Memory. So what is truly the better value?

As far as PC use, nothing fancy. Email, a few docs, Web Cam, and simple Card Games. I might install Visual Studio, but no heavy game play.

Thoughts? ]]> Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:56:45 GMT http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?joel.3.788668 Bill Lumberg: A few days ago I was contacted by a recruiter about a dev position, and am waiting to hear back from him. Then today, I was emailed by a different recruiter and we scheduled a phone conversation for tomorrow, and based on the job description and location I am 95% sure it's the same position. How should I proceed? Should I tell the second recruiter that I have already been considered for the position by another recruiter? Is there any way I can play the two recruiters against each other to my advantage? One concern I have is that if the hiring manager realizes that two recruiters are both referring me to him, he might worry that he'll have to pay both of them instead of just one, and will reject my application for that reason. If it makes any difference, this is a full time position, not a contracting gig. ]]> Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:03:19 GMT http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?joel.3.788557 Contractor: we had cubicles which were fine until today. Management has decided to go with an "open office" concept. So we go from a cube with adequate space to literally a bunch that is not big enough to even stretch your legs. There are no walls and no privacy at all.

They want better communication... I am going to have to go out and spend $300 on white noise headphones just so I can get some work done. This is a very social team and people don't shut up all day long.

The desk I have no is about the size of the desk I had in Junior High. ]]> Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:54:21 GMT http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?joel.3.788492 Daren Scot Wilson: I'd like to relocate to the west  and am getting a few nice tugs on my job-fishing lines out there.    The best possibilities are with non-profit or government organizations unlikely move fast.  It may take another two months before I'd start employment.  In the meantime in Florida, I'm living on unemployement, making only enough for survival, with no savings. 

What's are practical financially effective ways to earn money in the short term to fund the upcoming relocation, first payment for an apartment, etc.  using software development (maybe along with physics, electronics and visual arts) skills? ]]> Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:19:29 GMT http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?joel.3.788471 sunub: After I graduated I had many technologies listed on my CV.
I really liked my university, becase we did try lots of different stuff.
There were bits of assembly, networking, C++, java/struts, C#/.Net, SQL.

Now I've been working as a programmer for almost 5 years. Most oif the time doing C# and SQL development. While I feel i still could program in other languages (perl, java, or C) I don't know the libraries as well as .NET framewor and I my expereince with C# and SQL is incomparably bigger than any other technology.

Is it ok, to list only C# and SQL on my CV.
Also what if did some, byt very little C in my current job. Should I list it on my CV? ]]> Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:58:54 GMT http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?joel.3.788415 delta_alpha: I recently posted this question on the Dice boards and received a recommendation to post here for professional answers:

seeker.dice. com/olc/thread.jspa?threadID=19166&tstart=0


If anyone is a professional web developer or web designer, can you please comment on your thoughts on the state of your industry?


1. What are the hurdles to breaking into it?

2. Are the professionals actually being challenged by the "home" devs and designers?

3. Are many large and small companies actually turning to these $2 an hour freelancers from India and if so, how do you intend to compete?

4. Is there still room for a lot of creativity on the job or, like most things in IT, are things relatively standardized and routine?

5. What do you enjoy most / least about your profession?

6. Salary surveys on various jobsites indicate a relatively stable and decent salary - is this true from your experience?

7. How much time outside of work do you spend keeping up with the technologies?

8. Is it still fun?


Anyone with a professional background in web development and design is encouraged to comment.

Thank you. ]]> Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:35:06 GMT http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?joel.3.788337 WayneM.: So here's the current situation:

I was working at the company I've mentioned several times in the past on the discussion boards; the one that was insanely cheap and had no processes whatsoever.  My boss started a secondary company which he got me to do some work with; during this time his partner approached me with the option to go and work for his consulting firm, but through that continue to work on the startup.  The alternative was to get laid off from the initial company as they're struggling to stay afloat and felt that my salary was too much (despite being about $20,000 less than it should be).  Since I have a fair amount of bills to pay, I had little choice but to take the offer as the other option was unemployment.

Now, I work directly for the partner although I'm still responsible for the startup; on top of this my old boss, since he's co-owner of the startup, still thinks of me as the "IT Guy" and expects me to still do work for his wife's business (the one I left), and my current boss is billing them via his consulting company.  I've also found that the startup has, surprise surprise, little process apart from "get some crap out there" and the original business model has changed as to make the code, despite it being only 3 months old, nearly unmaintainable and it keeps changing.  My current boss's idea is to give everything over to an Indian company called "WebWerks" where he can get a senior developer on the cheap (or rather, someone who claims to be a senior developer).  This is his business plan - to have me be a systems analyst, coordinate things with the Indians, help him with specs and keep the application running smoothly, while all development is handled by an Indian team - he plans out full releases of the software in only a week (and the old boss of course wonders why things take more time than he thinks it should) when they should take 2-3 weeks, and claims this is because of the "businesses' requirements" which basically means they're overselling what it can do to convince people to go along with it or partner with it.  He, like his friend my old boss, has many additional startups and keeps talking about one that's sort of like the BestBuy rewards program and about to be funded by Sony; he's kept me wondering about my paycheck because he keeps asking me to wait for this project to be funded.  I had thought this would be a move in the right direction since this guy seemed to know how software is handled since he has a consulting firm, but he and my old boss both seem to be trying to get this company going out of desperation,  not the desire to have a good product (the old boss moreso because his wife's business might not survive the coming months).

Obviously, I have updated my resume and have it out there to see what other opportunities are available.  I'm also brushing up on my .NET skills.  I have to admit I always thought the old saying "birds of a feather" was a joke, but I guess I found out otherwise.

I'm not sure how to handle this situation if I do find another opportunity.  The old boss will probably throw a fit because it means that I won't be supporting his wife's business or his startup; he already bitches to his partner (current boss) because I don't drop whatever I do whenever his wife asks me do something - this despite the fact I'm not obligated to do ANYTHING for them.  My current boss is a nice guy (or he puts on a great show if he's not) but keeps talking about his other ideas and how if I give him a few months then "[I'll] be set for the rest of [my] life.".  The problem is that the current startup is moving in a direction that I feel is a huge mistake, and to be frank I don't want to get caught up in it when the shit hits the fan.  I'm tired of trusting my current boss because all he's given me so far is lots of hype without any delivery, and he's dead set on giving everything for his consulting company and all of his startups to India to save a few bucks and keep the main company "lean".  I'm sitting here at the end of a pay period and hoping that he'll give me a check by Monday so I can pay my car payment, and whenver I ask him he just assures me to give him time to finalize a round of VC funding.

My resume doesn't list this since I wouldn't know how to explain it anyways (My boss at Company X was going to fire me to avoid paying my salary but his partner at Startup Y offered me a job working for Consulting Company Z,  but I'm really working on Startup Y and doing side work for Company X, but being paid by Consulting Company Z, which is paid through Startup Y and eventually by Startup A when Startup Y's co-owner gets Startup A funded? - wow typing that doesn't even make sense to me.) but still lists that I'm at the old company.

Yes, I just needed to rant about this.  I'm trying to think of a good way to leave if I get something better without seeming like I'm screwing them over.  My theory is that my current boss will understand, but try to convince me to stick with him because Startup A is going to change the world (like I said, it's basically similar to Best Buy Rewards points, but available from things like artist websites and able to check it from anywhere, instead of going to a particular website - he wants it to end up like some form of alternate currency where you can pay with X number of points that you earn by clicking on advertising links), while my old boss will rant and rave and act like a spoiled brat and probably curse me out; in a bit of funny news someone at the old company (I'm sure it was his wife) had the nerve to hint that I may be trying to sabotage them, presumably because I don't answer to their beck and call now. ]]> Fri, 13 Nov 2009 23:14:36 GMT http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?joel.3.788300 RestlessOne: This is kind of interesting. These two guys wrote software that enabled Madoff's ponzi scheme. The SEC is sueing them. Maybe we'll find out more in the coming days.

From the NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/business/14madoff.html?_r=1&hp ]]> Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:12:00 GMT http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?joel.3.788271 wauter: I suspect that this kind of 'meta' post is likely to be removed, but what the heck, I'll give it a try anyway. This forum has always been high-quality and a great place to discuss software issues,  of which the most interesting ones start from a JoS article poking around in some 'common wisdom' or whatever.

But one thing has always bugged me: why is there no link at the bottom of each article saying 'discuss this article' that points to a first, automatically - or even manually, whatever, it takes 2 seconds - created article with the post's title as subject.

Joel must know this, because he once implemented this very thing trough reddit, but when that didn't work out he also threw out the baby with the bathwater. It is very convenient to easily find comments related to a specific article, especially if it is not a recent one (I'd love to read some comments on his 'biculturalism' classic for example, and no I won't google it, he owns his own forum NAMED Joel On Software darn it) .

Of course, there's always many ad-hoc threads popping up, discussing one point of an article or whatever, and this is fine, but it's no excuse.

Thanks for listening to my rant - even if you're just the moderator erasing it :-) ]]> Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:36:22 GMT http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?joel.3.788177 Contractor: I am an oracle DBA and have been for 10 years. Well Oracle went and upgraded their support site. They basically made a site that NO ONE had issues with "better". They basically just made the interface prettier.

It doesn't work. There are 100s of posts on Oracle listservs from DBAs like me who can't get in to support. Like most DBAs I have open tickets with Oracle. They actually told me they could not performance test this before going live. (they sell performance tuning experts at $300-400/hour).

yes we can call. But calling and waiting on hold for 30-40 minutes just to tell a support person to update my ticket (it won't be the support person handling the ticket) or to tell him to forward me the update on the ticket.

They are asking to get sued. Large parts of the world run this database. Major banks run this product. If their system goes down and they have trouble getting support Oracle is in real trouble.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9140613/Users_call_new_Oracle_support_portal_a_fiasco_?taxonomyId=1

This  makes my life difficult. Since I have to work longer hours to deal with this.

just griping. BTW, if your DBAs are grumpy cut them some slack. This is a real pain. ]]> Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:30:03 GMT http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?joel.3.788058 Anindya Mozumdar: Google creating a new programming language -

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/11/google_go/

Thoughts? ]]> Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:28:47 GMT http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?joel.3.788040 Michael L: if I have a sketch with 130 points connected with short lines, it takes 10ms to draw it on a C# control on the Paint event. That's usually fine, but if I want to resize it with the mouse, and the mouse is moving fast, it starts looking ugly (basically, just blank temporarily). Worst comes to worst, I will just get rid of this "in flight repainting of resized sketch" feature. Nevertheless, before I do that - maybe there is some magical, easy to use API that I could use in my app that can do the same sort of painting that C# controls do, only 100 times faster? ]]> Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:29:13 GMT