It’s now official, Apple will be releasing a SDK (software development kit) for the iPhone and iPod Touch. It will be dropping in February, I assume to coincide with Valentines day, as this announcement amounts to a love letter from Steve to Apple fanboys everywhere.

There has already been some interesting software developed without Apple’s blessing or official SDK. However, with the support of Apple, developers will no doubt produce better applications, and be able to access some of the iPhone’s advanced hardware. Also, users needn’t fear turning their phone into a $400 paper weight just so they can play Tetris.

Not every Mom and Pop shop will get their wares into the phone though. In order to keep out the wrong element, Apple is planning on implementing digital signatures for third party software. Although this is standard practice in the handset industry, I am curious to see Apple’s spin on it.

One of my biggest complaints about PHP5 is that you can’t do genuine object overloading, you can only fake it using the __call() method and its brethren. The crappy part about __call() is that if you want to do anything complex, you end up reinventing the wheel in a big if, elseif… else block, or maybe a switch statement. It’s not well suited for real overloading, Java style. We’re better off just using func_get_args() at the top of a method and choosing different paths based on what we find in the function arguments. But that too can get overwhelming. I thought of a solution which I find interesting. I’m not saying it’s right, or even a good idea, but it comes as close to real overloading as anything, is quick enough to use, and demands strict variable typing. (more…)

I’m learning that projects built on agile frameworks (like ArcSite) can really unfold almost by themselves–once the database is written, the objects fall out of that. Once the objects are written, controllers and web services basically write themselves, and once you have a controller, you’re ready for the template.

I was pleased this evening to get to spend some time developing ArcSite’s web services layer–it’s going to be really robust and easy to create and use.

I’ve posted a little snippet of Austin demo-ing ArcSite. ArcSite enables our clients to browse to any page on their web site, click a button and edit text, images and links. It is infinitely customizable and will work in any design.

Geoffrey James, who I did not know blogged for BNET, posted some tips on selling to engineers. While I think the article underestimates the capacity of engineers to see through the sales tactics of meathead software salespeople to the software itself, he makes some valuable points, especially in Rule 3 (admit your ignorance, intelligently).

As a software developer for a comparatively small company, I tend to balk at very large companies who try to sell us things. Since their salespeople know we’re not going to be a huge account, they often ignore these seven wise steps and just tell us why we should use their product and blow us off when we ask questions. I had a notably offensive sales demo with a company peddling overpriced web statistics software recently.

NB: For those of you not in the know, Geoffrey James wrote the very famous, often cited Tao of Programming.

A few random thoughts about a web development company working on its own web site….

First and foremost – it’s hard.

Client work always comes first, we have hundreds of other related obligations, it has to be good, creative, effective – which makes it a little scary. At the end of the day we’ve spent all our juice working on our client’s sites, there’s not a lot left over for our own stuff. (more…)

If you’re in a technology market, or even if you’re not – I highly recommend you check out Flashbelt 2007 – June 18-20. Three days of education and inspiration. I met Dave Schroeder a few years back when we collaborated on a project and have been friends ever since. He had this great idea to promote Midwest flash experts and local technologists. Each year its been bigger and better than the last and this year has some BIG names.

The topics vary and cater to anyone form beginner to serious nerd – something for everybody. Check the official site for details and sign up to attend, you’ll be glad you did.

ArcStone is a sponsor of the event providing the online registration and last year our own Nick Longtin presented his implementation of a multiplayer flash tank game.

About six weeks ago, ArcStone discontinued its practice of offshoring indefinitely. Since then, I’ve been doing a fair amount of research into the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing. It’s become clear that a rational examination of this problem cannot occur by examining outsourcing and offshoring without considering the larger economic context. (more…)

Welcome back to my unauthorized look into the seedy underbelly of a web application. (did you miss part one?) Today: the database. The model. The schema. The sick, twisted, gang of data that lurks beneath the surface of nearly every web application. This isn’t for the faint of heart, so if you can’t bear to imagine your precious information being crammed feet-first into a database, I understand. Otherwise, read on for the thrilling story of a dictator with some complex data modeling issues. (more…)

I’m currently ignoring an interview with David Heinemeier Hanssen, the creator of Ruby on Rails (a favorite programming tool of mine) for the sake of some decompression. Talking about code always makes me want to write something big from the ground up, though, which I need to avoid right now (way too busy!). Besides, I always have ArcSite to tweak and improve.