Josh Christie's Weblog

Inner Workings of GCC

If, like me, you somehow managed to get a CS degree without taking a compiler course, this article on GCC (the popular Linux/Unix compiler) from Red Hat's newsletter is a good read. It's a high level description of how GCC works with some interesting bits about significant architecture improvements coming in GCC 4.0. I was quite impressed/shocked to read that GCC has over 2.1 million lines of code.

Now I just have to find a similar article about .NET and Mono's compilers.

Great Idea for the Printer-less

My favorite deal site, www.slickdeals.net, recently posted a deal for a Belkin wireless router that ended up being free after two different rebates. I couldn't pass up a deal that good and, hey, you never know when you might need a spare wireless router. ;) Anyway, I was going through the rebate instructions when I came across something I'd never seen before: "Click here if you do not have a printer"

I wanted to try it out, since I figured Staples.com must have some way to submit the rebate information online for people without printers. No matter what it was, I figured it couldn't be worse than the usual rebate process of printing out all the info, meticulously filling out the forms, copying the receipt, finding a stamp, and mailing it in all in -- but I was quite mistaken! It was worse.

Yes, that's right. Writing out the rebate form information on a sheet of paper is the amazing technology that enables the printer-less to submit their claims. Nevermind that steps 2 and 3 say to submit the rebate form along with your sheet of paper.

I'm sure someone at Staples.com got a good laugh out of this one. I sure did.

Sun's Communication Problem

When Java first came out, it was hailed not only as the next big thing, but as the language to end all languages. In those relatively early days of the web, Sun convinced us all that Java applets were here to stay and that all software (presumably written using Java) would be distributed via the web in the future. The trouble for Sun was that applets were, for the most part, made obsolete by the advent of DHTML and JavaScript. And Sun's message on using Java for desktop applications was confusing at best with two different windowing platforms, AWT and Swing, neither of which looked or performed well compared to native applications. A lot of us were left asking "What is Java for?"

Strangely, the area where Java has had the most success, J2EE web applications, isn't even mentioned on java.sun.com. Sun chose instead to focus the Java homepage on Java for cell phones and present it in a way that would only appeal to hip teenagers. I don't know about you, but java.sun.com isn't the web site that comes to mind when I think of "hip" or "teenagers".

This web page describing Java's version numbering makes it quite clear that Sun has bigger communication problems than answering the "What is Java for" question. Go ahead; try to read it straight through and maintain your sanity. Nevermind "What is Java for", just try to answer "What is the version number?".

Java is a great technology, but Sun has goofed in communicating its message. When I think of Java, what should immediately come to mind? Java.sun.com seems to say cell phone applications and a Linux distribution (Java Desktop System). More importantly for Sun, when should it be a no-brainer to pick Java over some other technology? What is Java for?

Selectively Drop Admin Rights

Michael Howard's latest article includes a great utility to allow users running as an administrator (who doesn't?) to drop administrative rights for certain applications. The DropMyRights utility can be used to start any application, such as your web browser or email client, without dangerous administrative priviledges. This is a great way to get many of the security benefits of running as a normal user without all the hassle.