TweetFollow Us on Twitter

January 94 - SoFAWA Notes

SoFAWA Notes

John MacVeigh

In unintentional homage to MADA's home office, WAMADA did not have an October meeting. Our November meeting, "organized" by yours truly, was a rather sedate affair, but we did manage to accomplish one important piece of business. Following, once again, the lead of the home office, we changed our name from WAMADA to SoFAWA, resulting in our new motto: 'So near, and yet SoFAWA'.

And along the same lines, our discussion at the meeting was about the possibilities and practicalities of the coming revolution in programming. Well, promised revolution. It is unlikely that next year will be another year of technical "consolidation". While companies may indeed be consolidating (note the recent agreement between Next and Sun), the number of platforms and system software choices should expand. RISC chips, in particular, provide the horsepower to emulate non-native software at acceptable speeds. Multiple operating systems will be available on multiple platforms, reducing the barriers that have given us our current OS fiefdoms. Running a Windows app. on top of Solaris on a PowerPC machine will be like buying a Nissan built in Ohio, or a Chevy built in Canada. As consumers, we've got it made. But as programmers, what will we be making?

Desktops machines with GUIs, networks, and access to large pools of corporate data are creating a market for high level tools that make it easy for people to selectively pull that data out and make some sense of it. Visual Basic was mentioned as one such tool, and a good one, at that. Why wait for the MIS department to do it for you when you can do it yourself? Well, as programmers have known for some time, once you begin coding a process you also begin, usually unintentionally, codifying rules and relations about that process. If you sort a report by assuming the date always starts in the eighth column, how do you keep the department that makes that report from breaking your code when they "improve" their report? Anyone reading a journal named FrameWorks already knows the answer to that question.

So, it seems that the economics of hardware development will lead, at least temporarily, to a variety of operating systems, which, in turn, will demand the development of frameworks to help keep everything working together. The increasing size and bandwidth of networks will help fuel the demand for tools that can make use of the information sloshing around out there. Frameworks, then look to be the foundation of a lot of programming jobs in the future. Apple, for example, is promoting OpenDoc as a model for future applications: one where documents are composed of embedded data blocks, each created by an independent (but conformant) application. Technically, it satisfies the requirements for future high level tools, but what is the business model? I think that a good part of the framework market will be "getting it right". That is, your true value added is the model that you are implementing, not the implementation itself. Large companies will continue to hold market share by providing large sets of inter-related frameworks, while small companies will continue to profit by more accurately modeling the needs of vertical markets. Hmmm, doesn't sound much different than what we have now.

Of course, we've been hearing this sort of plan for the future for quite awhile. But, to be a bit self-congratulatory, the members of SFA are a bit ahead of the curve anyway. A year from now the flood of new possibilities should become evident to enough people that the "herd instinct" will lead to a sudden switch-over to OLE, OpenDoc, Taligent, and similar framework-based systems. That said, I'll admit that I'm not yet ready to catch this next wave. How about you?

If you're in the D.C. area, and interested in object oriented programming and rhetorical questions, give SoFAWA a visit. We meet the third Wednesday of every month, beginning around 7:15 p.m. For information on the next meeting, and directions, send a message to JEFFRIES.L on AppleLink, or call Leslie at (301) 340-5126 during business hours (EDT). If you leave her an e-mail address, she can place you on her mail list for SoFAWA meeting announcements.

 

Community Search:
MacTech Search:

Software Updates via MacUpdate

Latest Forum Discussions

See All

Top Mobile Game Discounts
Every day, we pick out a curated list of the best mobile discounts on the App Store and post them here. This list won't be comprehensive, but it every game on it is recommended. Feel free to check out the coverage we did on them in the links... | Read more »
Price of Glory unleashes its 1.4 Alpha u...
As much as we all probably dislike Maths as a subject, we do have to hand it to geometry for giving us the good old Hexgrid, home of some of the best strategy games. One such example, Price of Glory, has dropped its 1.4 Alpha update, stocked full... | Read more »
The SLC 2025 kicks off this month to cro...
Ever since the Solo Leveling: Arise Championship 2025 was announced, I have been looking forward to it. The promotional clip they released a month or two back showed crowds going absolutely nuts for the previous competitions, so imagine the... | Read more »
Dive into some early Magicpunk fun as Cr...
Excellent news for fans of steampunk and magic; the Precursor Test for Magicpunk MMORPG Crystal of Atlan opens today. This rather fancy way of saying beta test will remain open until March 5th and is available for PC - boo - and Android devices -... | Read more »
Prepare to get your mind melted as Evang...
If you are a fan of sci-fi shooters and incredibly weird, mind-bending anime series, then you are in for a treat, as Goddess of Victory: Nikke is gearing up for its second collaboration with Evangelion. We were also treated to an upcoming... | Read more »
Square Enix gives with one hand and slap...
We have something of a mixed bag coming over from Square Enix HQ today. Two of their mobile games are revelling in life with new events keeping them alive, whilst another has been thrown onto the ever-growing discard pile Square is building. I... | Read more »
Let the world burn as you have some fest...
It is time to leave the world burning once again as you take a much-needed break from that whole “hero” lark and enjoy some celebrations in Genshin Impact. Version 5.4, Moonlight Amidst Dreams, will see you in Inazuma to attend the Mikawa Flower... | Read more »
Full Moon Over the Abyssal Sea lands on...
Aether Gazer has announced its latest major update, and it is one of the loveliest event names I have ever heard. Full Moon Over the Abyssal Sea is an amazing name, and it comes loaded with two side stories, a new S-grade Modifier, and some fancy... | Read more »
Open your own eatery for all the forest...
Very important question; when you read the title Zoo Restaurant, do you also immediately think of running a restaurant in which you cook Zoo animals as the course? I will just assume yes. Anyway, come June 23rd we will all be able to start up our... | Read more »
Crystal of Atlan opens registration for...
Nuverse was prominently featured in the last month for all the wrong reasons with the USA TikTok debacle, but now it is putting all that behind it and preparing for the Crystal of Atlan beta test. Taking place between February 18th and March 5th,... | Read more »

Price Scanner via MacPrices.net

AT&T is offering a 65% discount on the ne...
AT&T is offering the new iPhone 16e for up to 65% off their monthly finance fee with 36-months of service. No trade-in is required. Discount is applied via monthly bill credits over the 36 month... Read more
Use this code to get a free iPhone 13 at Visi...
For a limited time, use code SWEETDEAL to get a free 128GB iPhone 13 Visible, Verizon’s low-cost wireless cell service, Visible. Deal is valid when you purchase the Visible+ annual plan. Free... Read more
M4 Mac minis on sale for $50-$80 off MSRP at...
B&H Photo has M4 Mac minis in stock and on sale right now for $50 to $80 off Apple’s MSRP, each including free 1-2 day shipping to most US addresses: – M4 Mac mini (16GB/256GB): $549, $50 off... Read more
Buy an iPhone 16 at Boost Mobile and get one...
Boost Mobile, an MVNO using AT&T and T-Mobile’s networks, is offering one year of free Unlimited service with the purchase of any iPhone 16. Purchase the iPhone at standard MSRP, and then choose... Read more
Get an iPhone 15 for only $299 at Boost Mobil...
Boost Mobile, an MVNO using AT&T and T-Mobile’s networks, is offering the 128GB iPhone 15 for $299.99 including service with their Unlimited Premium plan (50GB of premium data, $60/month), or $20... Read more
Unreal Mobile is offering $100 off any new iP...
Unreal Mobile, an MVNO using AT&T and T-Mobile’s networks, is offering a $100 discount on any new iPhone with service. This includes new iPhone 16 models as well as iPhone 15, 14, 13, and SE... Read more
Apple drops prices on clearance iPhone 14 mod...
With today’s introduction of the new iPhone 16e, Apple has discontinued the iPhone 14, 14 Pro, and SE. In response, Apple has dropped prices on unlocked, Certified Refurbished, iPhone 14 models to a... Read more
B&H has 16-inch M4 Max MacBook Pros on sa...
B&H Photo is offering a $360-$410 discount on new 16-inch MacBook Pros with M4 Max CPUs right now. B&H offers free 1-2 day shipping to most US addresses: – 16″ M4 Max MacBook Pro (36GB/1TB/... Read more
Amazon is offering a $100 discount on the M4...
Amazon has the M4 Pro Mac mini discounted $100 off MSRP right now. Shipping is free. Their price is the lowest currently available for this popular mini: – Mac mini M4 Pro (24GB/512GB): $1299, $100... Read more
B&H continues to offer $150-$220 discount...
B&H Photo has 14-inch M4 MacBook Pros on sale for $150-$220 off MSRP. B&H offers free 1-2 day shipping to most US addresses: – 14″ M4 MacBook Pro (16GB/512GB): $1449, $150 off MSRP – 14″ M4... Read more

Jobs Board

All contents are Copyright 1984-2011 by Xplain Corporation. All rights reserved. Theme designed by Icreon.