Second Life

I told my brother that Second Life is going to replace the current web in 10 to 15 years. There are many potential problems on the way, but it is certainly possible. It is pretty clear that a single company like Linden Labs, cannot pull something like that off by itself. The exponential growth of the web -- remember it’s just been 15 years! -- requires a more open model. However, there are some benefits to control; having a more closed model allows Linden to support a market for virtual intellectual property within Second Life. I can sell you something, while placing restrictions on your use of it, and relying on Linden's infrastructure to enforce the contract. If I give you the virtual property as a download from my website, I lose control. Just as in the real world, basic property rights encourage creative production. Of course, you can debate whether copyright has gotten out of control, but I'm not talking about copyright here. I'm talking about control over virtual objects that works like control over physical objects in the real world: they basically overrule the principle that digital works can be copied freely. That is, they make the virtual act like the physical -- which makes sense in a 100% virtual model of the world. So check it out...

ECOOP

I just returned from ECOOP. It was great to reconnect with so many researchers from around the world. I saw Walter Olthoff for the first time in 10 years. I was invited to present at the special session on Summing up the Past and Trying to Outline the Future in honor of the 20th ECOOP. I used a Lessig style presentation. This is the first time I've ever gone so far as self-timing, with each slide between 5 and 20 seconds. My talk was called Peak Objects, but I'm not sure how many people got the reference. Here are the slides (minus transitions and black slides).

Conspiracies: OODB, CORBA, etc...

It really bugs me when people say "technology-X was not adopted because 1) there is a conspiracy against it, or 2) corporations are too slow, stupid, conservative to try anything new, 3) MS tried to kill it, etc". Usually they say this about their pet technology, and they can't believe that there were fundamental problems with the idea, so they invent conspiracies or assume other people are too stupid to appreciate the beauty of the idea. I have more confidence in the intelligence of other people and companies -- so that I think ideas that have failed do so because there is something wrong with them. Usually the problem is that they solve a problem in theory, but they miss some practical details, or they are too complex. Example that come to mind are Object-Oriented Databases, CORBA. Sometimes there is just a terrible flaw in a system that is otherwise great; for example, I will never use Smalltalk again for anything other than prototyping because it is too hard to liberate a program from the clutches fo the development environment. I know that tight integeration is one of the benefits of the Smalltalk environment -- it's great for prototyping -- but I always want to ship my systems, not just debug them.

Rise and Fall of CORBA

I recently got into a little argument with Michi Henning about his article Rise and fall of CORBA. This is too bad, because we mostly agree with each other. I think CORBA is dead too. My only point is that I think it is dead for much more fundamental reasons than he does. That is, I am not sure that tranparent distributed objects are a good idea at all -- which is why I am interested in web services. My paper on this topic, Web Services versus Distributed Objects: A Case Study of Performance and Interface Design, is meant to explain some things to people who think CORBA is great and web servcies are just a bad implementation of distributed objects. The ideas presented shouldn't be surprising to experts, but I hope the presentation is a clear explanation of the issues. Also, the wrappers I develop are ceratinly better than the standard one's you get from Axis -- and they are perhaps a useful model when working in RMI as well.

I posted to a thread on Javalobby: Language Wars Redux - the imminent approach of LINQ (see page 4). Most people just don't seem to understand the issues involved in connecting databases and programming languages... most seem to think that things are fine the way they are, but if that were true why do we have a new OR mapper every year? Also, Java people seem to be very conservative, not even willing to consider that there might be any way to improve Java.

I am hosting a panel on Objects and Databases at OOPSLA in Portland this year, on Oct 24th. Here is the working abstract:

Java and C# have brought Object Oriented Programming to the masses, yet programmers continue to struggle with persistent storage of objects. Juggling object persistence with requirements for simplicity, flexibility, maintainability, transparency, scalability and five-nines uptime can rattle even the most hardened architect. Solutions are still evolving rapidly and increasing in complexity, with no end in sight. At the same time developers continue to experiment with alternatives, both old and new.

This panel will discuss the state of the union between objects and databases, as seen from the trenches, with focus on current trends in object-oriented databases and object-relational mapping.

Panelists include:

* Robert Greene, Versant
* Patrick Linskey, BEA
* Erik Meijer, Microsoft
* Ken Rugg, Progress Software
* Craig Russell, Sun Microsystems
* Bob Walker, GemStone Systems
* Christof Wittig, DB4objects

It should be a lively and interesting discussion. I hope some of you will consider attending. I may add a customer representative or two.

Data mining the Explore UT schedule...

Here's a better way to see what is going on for kids at Explore UT 2006.

You can also view the official schedule.

ECOOP program committee

I just got back from the ECOOP program committe meeting in Paris. The meeting went well, but the highlight of the trip was that I accidentally found a Poilane bakery and even asked if I could visit le fournil in the basement. They have a huge woodfired oven, but the room itself was tiny. My French is still good enough after 20 years to get around and have reasonable conversations. I went to dinner with David Bacon.

Dr. Dobb's Journal article on Native Queries

Dr. Dobb's February issue has the article on Native Queries, listed on the main page:

Native Queries for Persistent Objects
By William R. Cook and Carl Rosenberger

Visit to db4objects

I visited db4objects in December. We had a good discussion on object databases and native queries. Here are some photos.

Exclusive Degree

I am sad to say that my Alma Mater major department, Computer Science at Tulane, is being eliminated. I wonder how they can lay off tenured faculty and just shut it down. I have many fond memories of the department. It was a great place to learn and grow.

Review of Native Queries

A very nice review of db4objects and Native Queries by Jeff Brown. This was also picked up by TheServerSide... we'll see if there is any discussion.

Native Queries on TheServerSide

Native queries discussed on TheServerSide. There was also an earlier discussion in the context of JDO.

Plain Old Java Queries on java.net

POJQ: Plain Old Java Queries project approved by java.net. This is an open source implementation of Safe/Native queries, launched by Wes Biggs.

Object Database Management Systems portal announced, which features Native Query paper.

Creating EPS on windows

I have had lots of problems clipping pictures. I am surprised that you have not been having problems with your pictures being inside a large white border (the size of the powerpoint slide).
I didn't know you could use EMF. How do you convert it to PS?
What I do is print the picture to a postscript printer but use the "save as file" option. This produces a PS file. THen run this through Ghostview and save as EPS (with automatic cropping). I get the best results when I have a PowerPoint slide embedded inside a Word document!

Native Queries for Persistent Objects, A Design White Paper

Released Native Queries for Persistent Objects, A Design White Paper with Carl Rosenberger

Rapid Technology Transfer

When I defined Safe Queries for Java I thought that it might be an idea that could be applied relatively soon to solving real needs of industry... but I didn't think it would be shipping so quickly. Then I found out about db4objects. They are implementing the idea as a key component of their next product release this fall. We have made some improvements to the idea, described in a new white paper, Native Queries for Persistent Objects written with Carl Rosenberger.

Let me know what you think.

ODBMS.ORG

ODBMS.ORG Launches Educational Portal on Object Databases High-Profile Experts Help Meet Growing Demand for Free Educational Resources on OO Database Technology

We have released a preliminary interpreter for Orc, an Orchestration Language.