The Ajax Landscape
Clearing the Misconceptions Surrounding Ajax

By Bjoern Mueller

Businesses today must be able to embrace changing markets faster than their competitors, without being limited by their technology infrastructure. The ability to ensure rapid implementation of new and existing applications to meet new business demands is the key. Traditional web-based graphical user interfaces (GUISs) are generally unable to meet demanding performance levels that involve a high user interactivity level and frequent screen updates. To achieve this type of application need, most enterprises still rely on fat-client or rich-client applications using Java-Swing, Delphi, Visual Basic, C++ and other languages. Ajax technology is one way to achieve an RIA (Rich Internet Applications). The article clears some the misconceptions surrounding Ajax technology and the practical functionality it has over older and outdated languages.[Read More]

Introduction to MySQL Cluster Disk Data
Clustering in MySQL 5.1 takes a Great Leap Forward

By Jon Stephens

The introduction of disk data storage makes MySQL Cluster more flexible, scalable, and cheaper to run than MySQL 4.1 and 5.0 Cluster. In the article, you'll learn why this is so, how to create disk-based Cluster tables, and some Disk Data do's and dont's. You'll also learn about some other improvements to clustering in being made in MySQL 5.1. [Read More]

The Need to Teach PHP
Is there a Cost to Learning Open Source Languages On Your Own?

By Marc Isikoff

The article examines why PHP should be taught professionally as opposed to simply learned from Internet sites (needs-based learning, that is). The contention is that needs-based learning is a short-term solution. In the long-term, however, professional teaching will benefit the growth of PHP as a language, its major applications, and you, the programmer.[Read More]

Freelancer's Corner
Are You Making a Profit in Your Freelance Business?

By Elizabeth Naramore

As coders, it’s hard for us to figure out how much to charge for a project, and even harder to perform the follow-up administrative tasks like sending and checking up on unpaid invoices. As a freelancer, however, you are responsible for all aspects of managing your business, and if you’re not making enough money to support yourself and your family (or at least come out ahead on the projects you’re doing on the side) then you’d be better off sitting on the couch eating potato chips and watching Oprah. The article will help you manage those pesky finances and make sure you’re not pricing yourself out of a job.[Read More]

XML Data Management
Bridging the Gap Between XML and Relational Databases

By Horace Chow

In the world of IT, XML began as a universal format for structured documents and semi?structured data, and has now grown into a term that encompasses a family of exciting new technologies. Initially, it helped separate the presentation aspects from the actual content and provided a way for storing Web content. It quickly became the lingua franca for businesses exchanging information electronically. Its simplicity, broad support, and low cost of implementation drove the rapid adoption of XML. Today, many technologies built on XML are becoming pervasive in the industry. The challenge to leveraging the power of XML is finding the best solution for transparent, inexpensive generation and management of business-critical XML data without writing a lot of custom code. The article highlights the importance of managing XML data (storage, index, query, and transformation) at the database level.[Read More]

Scripting in a Box
Introducing SAP’s Open Source Scripting Environment

By Stoyan Stefanov

The article talks about a package called Scripting in a Box that allows for a quick and painless installation of a number of scripting tools – Apache, PHP, MySQL, Perl, Python, Ruby/Rails and Eclipse -- all that on a Windows box.[Read More]