Articles for 2003/06/

Summer GNATS Trouble
Noel Davis looks at problems in OpenSSH, radiusd-cistron, Ethereal, ypserv, lbreakout, GNATS, frox, poster, eldav, and PerlEdit.
by Noel Davis
[June 30, 2003 | LinuxDevCenter.com]

Understanding Interfaces in .NET
.NET introduces the potentially confusing concept of an interface. An interface is a contract that defines the signature of some piece of functionality. Throughout the .NET framework, interfaces are used to define that certain types have well-known behaviors. Nick Harrison explains what interfaces are and how to use them in your own classes.
by Nick Harrison
[June 30, 2003 | Discuss (12) | WindowsDevCenter.com]

Implementing Custom Data Bindable Classes: IEnumerable
Most of us remain blissfully unaware of the implementation details behind the scenes when we use foreach to iterate over an array or some other collection. And as long as we use one of these out-of-the-box data structures we don't have to worry about it. But many times, the standard collection classes fail to meet our specific needs. James Still explains how to make this work for your own classes.
by James Still
[June 30, 2003 | WindowsDevCenter.com]

Playing with Keyed Lists on Mac OS X Tcl/Tk Aqua 8.4.2
Many Unix developers have been waiting for the Tclx and Expect extensions of Tcl to be ported natively to the Aqua environment. Tcl has been available for the Mac, but without the bells and whistles you see in Unix. Recently many developers got their wish when Apple posted it on their open source web site. Michael Norton gives it a spin.
by Michael J. Norton
[June 27, 2003 | MacDevCenter.com]

Audio/Video Conferencing with iChat AV
Just in case you missed the Steve Jobs demo of iChat AV and iSight, Wei Meng Lee can bring you up to speed with this introduction to both new conferencing tools.
by Wei-Meng Lee
[June 27, 2003 | Discuss (25) | MacDevCenter.com]

The Future of Mozilla Application Development
Recently, mozilla.org announced a major update to its development roadmap. Some of the changes in the new document represent a fundamental shift in the direction and goals of the Mozilla community. In this article, David Boswell and Brian King analyze the new roadmap, and demonstrate how to convert an existing XPFE-based application into an application that uses the new XUL toolkit. David and Brian are the authors of O'Reilly's Creating Applications with Mozilla.
by David Boswell and Brian King
[June 27, 2003 | Discuss (3) | Mozilla DevCenter]

MySQL FULLTEXT Searching
Storing text in your database is handy, but searching can be a pain. MySQL's FULLTEXT search can save your sanity. Joe Stump demonstrates how it works and gives several ideas on how to use it in your own applications.
by Joe Stump
[June 26, 2003 | Discuss (9) | Databases]

Defending Your Site Against Spam
To users, unsolicited commercial e-mail is an annoyance. To mail server administrators, it's a threat. Dru Nelson recently had his network attacked by spammers. He explains the various defenses he considered for protecting against future attacks.
by Dru Nelson
[June 26, 2003 | Discuss (6) | LinuxDevCenter.com]

Changes in pf: Packet Filtering
OpenBSD's packet filter has really grown up. Since its introduction in OpenBSD 3.0, it's become an advanced tool for networking and security. In the third of four articles, Jacek Artymiak explores new options for packet filtering with pf in OpenBSD 3.2, after NAT and redirection have taken place.
by Jacek Artymiak
[June 26, 2003 | Discuss (3) | BSD DevCenter]

Secure Cooking with Linux, Part 2
In part two in our series of sample recipes from Linux Security Cookbook, the authors have selected two recipes of an intermediate flavor. Learn how to restrict access to network services by time of day, and how to use sudo to permit read-only access to a shared file.
by Daniel J. Barrett, Robert G. Byrnes, Richard E. Silverman
[June 26, 2003 | LinuxDevCenter.com]

Top Ten Tomcat Configuration Tips
How can you configure Tomcat to do what you want it to do? Jason Brittain, coauthor of O'Reilly's Tomcat: The Definitive Guide, provides tips and configuration examples that cover frequently asked questions from newbies about configuring Jakarta Tomcat.
by Jason Brittain and Ian F. Darwin
[June 25, 2003 | Discuss (0) | oreilly.com]

Using the Jakarta Commons, Part 1
Ever find yourself thinking "Someone's surely solved this problem before?" That's the beauty of open source. In this first of three articles, Vikram Goyal explores the Jakarta Commons, mature and well-defined reusable Java components.
by Vikram Goyal
[June 25, 2003 | Discuss (28) | ONJava.com]

JDO Persistence, Part 2
In part two in this three-part series of excerpts on JDO persistence from Java Database Best Practices, author George Reese covers basic JDO persistence best practices for transaction management and query control.
by George Reese
[June 25, 2003 | ONJava.com]

Top Ten Tomcat Configuration Tips
How can you configure Tomcat to do what you want it to do? Jason Brittain, coauthor of O'Reilly's Tomcat: The Definitive Guide, provides tips and configuration examples that cover frequently asked questions from newbies about configuring Jakarta Tomcat.
by Jason Brittain and Ian F. Darwin
[June 25, 2003 | Discuss (19) | oreilly.com]

Developer Notes from WWDC 2003
After the keynote, press releases, and standing-room-only sessions, developers at WWDC process their impressions through conversation and note comparison. Here's what some of them have to say.
by Derrick Story
[June 24, 2003 | Discuss (54) | MacDevCenter.com]

Using Delegates to Implement Event Handling
In this article, Jesse Liberty focuses on how delegates are used to implement event handling, with a look at the implementation of a custom event. Jesse is the author of the recently released Programming C#, 3rd Edition.
by Jesse Liberty
[June 23, 2003 | WindowsDevCenter.com]

Effective Interop with Managed C++
Managed C++ offers unmatched power to developers who need legacy C++ applications to interoperate with .NET. The hybrid nature of managed C++ becomes a strength in these situations because you're able mix your legacy C++ code with managed C++ in nearly any combination. John Bush shows you how to interoperate between managed and unmanaged C++.
by John Bush
[June 23, 2003 | Discuss (4) | WindowsDevCenter.com]

Open Database Connectivity in Jaguar
One of the features included in Jaguar is ODBC (Open Database Connectivity), which allows programs to connect to databases from different vendors using the same set of connectivity protocols. Andrew Anderson introduces you to this functionality and shows you how to put it to work.
by Andrew Anderson
[June 20, 2003 | Discuss (37) | MacDevCenter.com]

Judging Update for the Second Mac OS X Innovators Contest
The International entries have had a positive impact on the second contest. There's been many excellent U.S. submissions too. Here's a quick update on the judging and what happens next.
by Derrick Story
[June 19, 2003 | Discuss (1) | MacDevCenter.com -- Mac OS X Innovators Contest]

Proxy Terminology 101
You're probably reading this page through a proxy right now. You might be saving bandwidth, sharing an external IP address, or being protected from work-unsafe material, but could you tell a reverse proxy from an arp proxy? Dru Lavigne explains what these and other terms mean in preparation for installing and running proxies.
by Dru Lavigne
[June 19, 2003 | BSD DevCenter]

C++ Memory Management: From Fear to Triumph, Part 2
Half of wisdom is knowing what doesn't work. George Belotsky eloquently explained Common C++ Memory Management Errors in a previous article. This article explains design principles that will help you use C++ effectively and efficiently.
by George Belotsky
[June 19, 2003 | LinuxDevCenter.com]

Secure Cooking with Linux, Part 1
The authors of Linux Security Cookbook have selected a number of recipes from their book to present on ONLamp. These recipes are organized into basic, intermediate, and advanced categories. This week's set consists of three recipes of a basic flavor. You'll find recipes on authenticating by public key, encrypting backups, and combining log files. Over the next two weeks we'll present the intermediate and then advanced recipes. There'll be something for everyone here. Enjoy.
by Daniel J. Barrett, Robert G. Byrnes, Richard E. Silverman
[June 19, 2003 | LinuxDevCenter.com]

"Head First Java" Author Interview
Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates are the authors of the recently released Head First Java, a language tutorial unlike any other. In this interview, they explain their unique teaching style and how it works in practice.
by chromatic
[June 18, 2003 | Discuss (5) | ONJava.com]

Dynamically Creating PDFs in a Web Application
HTML isn't the be-all, end-all of web applications. Sometimes you need something a little more precise. Sean C. Sullivan recently found himself generating PDFs from his web application with iText. While iText is well-documented, actually sending PDFs to the browser is trickier. Here's how he did it.
by Sean C. Sullivan
[June 18, 2003 | Discuss (116) | ONJava.com]

JDO Persistence, Part 1
In this first of three excerpts from Chapter 7 of Java Database Best Practices, author George Reese describes all the available persistence options for Java architects and developers, and provides data to help you choose the persistence option that best fits the requirements and scale of your application.
by George Reese
[June 18, 2003 | ONJava.com]

REALbasic Tricks: Shell and cURL
Limiting yourself to one development environment isn't always the most efficient way to work. Jacek Artymiak shows you how to mix RealBasic code with shell tools on Mac OS X.
by Jacek Artymiak
[June 17, 2003 | MacDevCenter.com]

How to Manage Large Image Libraries with iPhoto 2
You don't have hundreds, you have thousands of pictures that you want to move to iPhoto 2. How do you set up iPhoto to handle all of this data without bogging down? This tutorial by Derrick Story, coauthor of iPhoto 2: The Missing Manual , shows you how to import, organize, and archive vast image collections in iPhoto 2.
by Derrick Story
[June 17, 2003 | Discuss (42) | MacDevCenter.com]

Eight Questions for George Dyson
George Dyson is Director's Visitor of the Institute for Advanced Study and a historian. His OSCON keynote explores the pioneering work of John von Neumann, and others at the IAS, in computation and computational biology. He draws parallels between that world and modern open source development. We were fortunate enough to engage George in a brief conversation about his talk.
by chromatic
[June 17, 2003 | ONLamp.com]

Cooking with JavaScript & DHTML, Part 6
In our sixth and final sample recipe from Danny Goodman's JavaScript & DHTML Cookbook, learn how to locate the pixel coordinates of a nonpositioned element that the browser has placed during normal page flow. And if you've enjoyed sampling these recipes, check back here in two weeks; we'll be publishing a bonus recipe Danny has written that you won't find in his book.
by Danny Goodman
[June 17, 2003 | Web DevCenter]

More Kernel Trouble
Noel Davis looks at problems in Linux kernels, GNU Zip, xaos, Speak Freely, eterm, Hangul Terminal, typespeed, mikmod, kon2, zblast/xzb, and zenTrack.
by Noel Davis
[June 16, 2003 | LinuxDevCenter.com]

Using log4net
Logging is an essential tool in every developer's arsenal. It helps them to identify problems faster by showing them the state of an application at any given point. Nauman Leghari shows you how to use the open source log4net.
by Nauman Leghari
[June 16, 2003 | WindowsDevCenter.com]

Nine Questions for Mitch Kapor
Mitch Kapor heads the Open Source Applications Foundation, the group behind Chandler. His OSCON keynote explores whether and how collaborative development can bring open source software to the desktop. Mitch kindly agreed to a short interview as a teaser for his talk.
by chromatic
[June 16, 2003 | Discuss (1) | ONLamp.com]

Top Ten Digital Video Tips
Unless the guy next door happens to be Steven Soderbergh, you'll probably have a hard time getting good advice about how to master your DV camcorder. Yes, you can pore over each dryly composed paragraph in your multilanguage owner's manual, but chances are all that will improve is your French. Instead, check out these ten handy tips that will transform your ho-hum footage into compelling video.
by Derrick Story
[June 13, 2003 | Discuss (10) | MacDevCenter.com]

Privacy and Anonymity in Email
Email has been described as a postcard. Sure, it's rude to read someone else's mail, but it's trivial to do. There exist many technical means to protect your privacy and to help you communicate anonymously. David Mertz explores the history and current state of email protection.
by David Mertz
[June 12, 2003 | Discuss (11) | ONLamp.com]

Slash'EM: The Sum of All NetHacks
Any worthwhile Nethack variant eventually finds a home in Slash'EM. It's the proving ground for all sorts of new and unique ideas. Far more than just a conglomeration of patches, Slash'EM is a fresh game in its own right. On the twilight of a new release, Howard Wen examines how a classic is kept alive and fresh.
by Howard Wen
[June 12, 2003 | Discuss (3) | LinuxDevCenter.com]

The Challenges of Remote Collaboration
Open source development works because of remote collaboration; developers working together despite physical distance. With mergers, acquisitions, and partnerships, in-house developers are struggling with the same issues open source developers have addressed. Mark Murphy explains some of the challenges of remote collaboration.
by Mark Murphy
[June 12, 2003 | Discuss (6) | ONLamp.com]

J2EE Application Deployment Considerations
The J2EE specification describes many things, but curiously leaves application deployment up to vendors. This means that you, the developer, have to consider architecture, maintainability, scalability, and other concerns. Allen Chan explores the issues to consider when packaging a J2EE app for deployment.
by Allen Chan
[June 11, 2003 | Discuss (3) | ONJava.com]

JSP Progress Bars
As web interfaces become ubiquitous, more and more complex back-end processing is necessary. Of course, stateless HTTP leaves few ways to tell users what's going on. Andrei Cioroianu presents a JSP technique to display application "progress bars."
by Andrei Cioroianu
[June 11, 2003 | Discuss (16) | ONJava.com]

Knowing When to Let Go: Better Living Through Memory Management
The basic idea of memory management is to keep objects around exactly as long as they're needed. In this article Rob Rix helps you learn how to keep objects around for as long as they are needed, but no longer.
by Rob Rix
[June 10, 2003 | Discuss (14) | MacDevCenter.com]

A Musician's Take on File Sharing, DRM, and Copyleft Licensing
Musicans can be a very adaptable community, and many are looking at online music and file sharing differently than the companies that often contract with them. Miriam Rainsford explores issues of P2P, DRM, and copyleft licensing from her musician point of view.
by Miriam Rainsford
[June 10, 2003 | Discuss (72) | openp2p.com]

Cooking with JavaScript & DHTML, Part 5
In this week's sample recipe from JavaScript & DHTML Cookbook, learn how to read effective style sheet property values. Once you've assigned a value to a property of an element's style object, the value can be read subsequently through the style property.
by Danny Goodman
[June 10, 2003 | Web DevCenter]

Using Regular Expressions and XML Classes to Parse Your Log Files
Most systems these days can generate log files to store activity of the system. What about when you are asked to transform all that data into usuable information? Roy Osherove shows you how to use regular expressions and .NET's XML classes to turn your log files into a DataSet to allow you to search, sort, or report on your data.
by Roy Osherove
[June 09, 2003 | Discuss (6) | WindowsDevCenter.com]

Embedded Systems, Linux, and the Future
Karim Yaghmour, author of Building Embedded Linux Systems, looks at the various initiatives, moves, and trends having an impact on the future direction of embedded Linux. He also examines what role the open source and free software community--as well as embedded system developers--should play to ensure that Linux is the best choice for an embedded OS.
by Karim Yaghmour
[June 09, 2003 | Discuss (5) | LinuxDevCenter.com]

Etech 2003 Stories
This year's Etech was a whirlwind of provocative ideas, mind-bending technological innovations, and great conversations. Tim O'Reilly offers his favorite moment and wants to hear about yours.
by Tim O'Reilly
[June 06, 2003 | O'Reilly Network]

Deadline for Second Innovators Contest Nears
The deadline for the second Mac OS X Innovators Contest is fast approaching: Monday, June 16, 2003. So polish up that software and enter today.
by Derrick Story
[June 05, 2003 | MacDevCenter.com -- Mac OS X Innovators Contest]

Installing a Wiki on Your iBook
The documentation says that installing PHPwiki for Mac OS X is a snap, but Giles Turnbull discovered that things can get pretty sticky. He called upon the developer talents of Matt Hunt to walk him through an installation on his iBook. This step-by-step conversation with the two of them will get your Wiki up to speed quickly.
by Giles Turnbull
[June 05, 2003 | Discuss (61) | MacDevCenter.com]

Configuring a TFTP Server
TFTP, the Trivial File Transfer Protocol, is ideal for devices such as routers and network-booting machines. With only a bit of EEPROM space and few utilities, how can you upgrade? Dru Lavigne demonstrates how to configure TFTP to serve hardware images.
by Dru Lavigne
[June 05, 2003 | BSD DevCenter]

Running Arbitrary Scripts Under CVS
CVS includes several hooks to integrate with other tools, such as bug and project tracking. Jennifer Vesperman, author of the upcoming Essential CVS, demonstrates how to expand CVS to meet your needs, using Bugzilla as the example.
by Jennifer Vesperman
[June 05, 2003 | Discuss (8) | LinuxDevCenter.com]

Palmtop NetBSD
"Of course it runs NetBSD." NetBSD's fantastically portable, but that doesn't make it supremely easy to install on oddball hardware like a Dreamcast or a palmtop computer. Michael Lucas demonstrates cross-installation with the HP Jornada 728.
by Michael W. Lucas
[June 05, 2003 | Discuss (5) | BSD DevCenter]

Apache Vulnerabilities
Noel Davis looks at vulnerabilities to denial-of-service attacks with Apache web server and with CUPS; buffer overflows in PHP, glibc, and gps; and problems with ghostscript, Apache Portable Runtime (APR), mod_gzip, Batalla Naval, and Xmame.
by Noel Davis
[June 04, 2003 | LinuxDevCenter.com]

Nukes: the Open Source Java CMS
When the JBoss group recently revamped its site, its plan was to use an open source Java content management system. Failing that, JBoss developers created Nukes, based on PHP's PostNuke. Marc Fleury and Julien Viet explain what they learned and how it works.
by Marc Fleury and Julien Viet
[June 04, 2003 | Discuss (68) | ONJava.com]

Re-Introducing QuickTime for Java, Part 2
The QuickTime media API is stable and featureful. Due to its lineage, it's organized a little differently than a normal Java API. Chris Adamson explores the organization of QTJ and demonstrates a small video editor.
by Chris Adamson
[June 04, 2003 | Discuss (3) | ONJava.com]

Making Sense of Java's Dates
Measuring time is easy. Representing it is hard. Time zones, internationalization, and localization all make it tricky to give the correct date. Newer versions of the JDK have improved Java's date and time APIs, but they're still a little tricky. Philipp Janert explores date and time handling in Java.
by Philipp K. Janert
[June 04, 2003 | Discuss (16) | ONJava.com]

Innovator Insight: A Chat with Robb Beal
In this second Innovator Insight interview, Derrick Story talks with Robb Beal, creator of Spring, and the second-place winner of the inaugural Mac OS X Innovators Contest, to discover the process that a successful Mac developer uses to take a germ of an idea full term to a successful conclusion.
by Derrick Story
[June 03, 2003 | MacDevCenter.com -- Mac OS X Innovators Contest]

Rob Griffiths' Top Mac OS X Hints, Part 2
Rob Griffiths has selected his favorite or most fun tips from his book, Mac OS X Hints, Jaguar Edition. In Part 2 this week, he offers tips on speeding up iPhoto, burning a multisession CD, and more. (And if you missed Part 1, check it out here.)
by Rob Griffiths
[June 03, 2003 | Discuss (6) | MacDevCenter.com]

Cooking with JavaScript & DHTML, Part 4
In this week's sample recipe from JavaScript & DHTML Cookbook, you'll find a quick and simple solution to importing browser- or operating system-specific style sheets. And check back to this space next week for a recipe on reading effective style sheet property values.
by Danny Goodman
[June 03, 2003 | Web DevCenter]

Saving Our Bacon: Snort Security Holes and Strategies for Safe Network Monitoring
Recently, a CERT advisory announced the discovery of two separate buffer-overflow vulnerabilities in Snort, a popular security-monitoring tool used for detecting suspicious network activities. In this article, Bob Byrnes, coauthor of Linux Security Cookbook, reviews the past Snort attacks, as well as the recent (and more serious) buffer overflows. In each case, Bob discusses strategies that system administrators can use to minimize risks.
by Robert G. Byrnes
[June 02, 2003 | LinuxDevCenter.com]

Introduction to Programming with Managed DirectX 9.0
The industry standard 3D API, OpenGL, is not the only 3D API that you can use on the .NET platform in the Microsoft Windows environment. Another choice is DirectX, which has been steadily increasing its functionality, stability, and market share among developers writing all sorts of Windows multimedia software, games, and other applications that make use of 2D and 3D graphics. Jacek Artymiak shows you how to write 3D applications using the Managed Interface to DirectX 9.0.
by Jacek Artymiak
[June 02, 2003 | Discuss (3) | WindowsDevCenter.com]

Implementing Custom Data Bindable Classes: CollectionBase
By now, everyone is familiar with grabbing a DataSet from the database and binding it at runtime to an ASP.NET list control. This works just fine. But DataSets are weakly typed, providing late bound access to their properties. What if you want to use your own strongly typed custom object with meaningful properties and methods instead of a generic DataSet? James Still shows you how to create them for your own classes.
by James Still
[June 02, 2003 | Discuss (11) | WindowsDevCenter.com]