From perl at tecspy.com Wed Apr 5 10:18:14 2006 From: perl at tecspy.com (Michael Erskine) Date: Wed, 05 Apr 2006 18:18:14 +0100 Subject: [Nottingham-pm] O'Reilly UK User Group Programme NEWSLETTER, Issue 04-06 Message-ID: <4433FBD6.1080806@tecspy.com> All, Here's the latest from the O'Reilly UK User Group Programme... Regards, Michael Erskine. O'Reilly UK User Group Programme NEWSLETTER Issue 04-06 Within a week, this newsletter will be available to be downloaded in pdf format from the Delphi and C# Developers Group web site at . You are welcome to create a link to it for your members' use. Previous newsletters are available at - Our aim is to have both formats available at the same time, but that might take us a little longer. ================================================ HIGHLIGHTS ================================================ NEWS FROM O'REILLY AND BEYOND -Tim O'Reilly Quizzes Bill Gates at MIX06 -O'Reilly Authors Get Jolted -New Rough Cuts Title: Atlas -Secure Your Linux Server -Autofilled PHP Forms -What Corporate Projects Should Learn from Open Source -Digital Bookmark Mods -Getting Started with Quartz Composer -Using the MultiView and Wizard Controls in ASP.NET 2.0 -Directions in Windows Scripting -Zero Configuration Networking: Using the Java APIs, Part 1 -What Is Java? -The Internet of Things -The Future of Telephony, Going Digital, and Open Formats -Managing Digital Images: Applying Ratings and Keywords -Inside Animusic's Astonishing Computer Music Videos -Maker Faire, San Mateo Fairgrounds, San Mateo, CA--April 22-23 BOOK NEWS - Books for review - Coming soon CONFERENCE NEWS YOUR BOOK REVIEWS YOUR NEWS ================================================ NEWS FROM O'REILLY AND BEYOND ================================================ --------------------- General News --------------------- ***Tim O'Reilly Quizzes Bill Gates at MIX06 Watch the screencast here: ***O'Reilly Authors Get Jolted O'Reilly authors won three of four Jolt Product Excellence Awards. The winners are: *"Prefactoring," by Ken Pugh *"The Art of Project Management," by Scott Berkun *"Producing Open Source Software," by Karl Fogel ***Latest Title Available on Rough Cuts: "Atlas" "Atlas Rough Cuts" provides experienced web developers with an exciting hands-on tour of Atlas--the new development environment that uses both Ajax and ASP.NET. Beginning with an introduction to the technologies behind it all, including JavaScript, XMLHttpRequest, DHTML and related topics, author Christian Wenz shows readers how to create Ajax-style applications with the Atlas framework, including data binding and XML Web Services. The book imparts important fundamental knowledge in a concise reference-like way, making the concepts of this new framework accessible to developers of various technical levels. For more information, go to: --------------------- Open Source --------------------- ***Secure Your Linux Server Linux is a powerful and popular operating system kernel. That popularity means you might be running it even if you're not a dedicated Unix administrator or high-powered programmer. That doesn't mean that rock-solid security is out of your reach, though. Aaron Brazell shows how to make Red Hat 9 (and other Linux distributions) much more secure in a few easy steps. ***Autofilled PHP Forms PHP makes handling interactive web pages easy--but when you have large forms to fill out, errors to handle, and lots of data to pass back and forth, you can make your life easier by making PHP fill in all the form values for you. Gavin Andresen shows how to make forms autopopulate from PHP arrays. ***What Corporate Projects Should Learn from Open Source Many corporate projects fail to produce quality software, yet many large-scale open source projects succeed, and under much more difficult conditions: no budget, a geographically distributed team, and a volunteer workforce, to name a few. So how do open source project teams ensure success? Andrew Stellman and Jennifer Greene introduce five basic principles in their new book, "Applied Software Project Management," that will help any project succeed, open source or proprietary. The authors detail these principles in this article. --------------------- Mac --------------------- ***Digital Bookmark Mods Matthew Russell shows you how to add better bookmarks to your audio books, add slideshows to your music files, create enhanced podcasts, and share your favorite mods with others--even if they're on protected audio. ***Getting Started with Quartz Composer Apple's free developer tool collection contains many overlooked gems. These aren't limited to programming-specific utilities. Take Quartz Composer, for example. It's a free utility that can bring new life and interest to your iMovie projects. In this article, you'll learn how to use your own pictures to create simple, but flashy animation. --------------------- Windows/.NET --------------------- ***Using the MultiView and Wizard Controls in ASP.NET 2.0 Need to collect data from Web pages? ASP.NET 2.0 makes it easy, with the use of MultiView and Wizard controls. Wei-Meng Lee, author of "ASP.NET 2.0: A Developer's Notebook" shows you how to take advantage of them. ***Directions in Windows Scripting Administering Windows platforms using scripts can be a big productivity booster or a headache. Mitch Tulloch, author of "Windows Server Hacks," sits down with Don Jones, a Microsoft MVP and the creator of ScriptingAnswers.com, for a no-holds barred interview about the future of scripting. --------------------- Java --------------------- ***Zero Configuration Networking: Using the Java APIs, Part 1 Zeroconf, also known as Bonjour and previously known as Rendezvous, offers a robust system for self-networking that has been adopted by many applications. With a provided Java API, now it's easy to make "Zeroconf applications hop platforms. In this excerpt from Zero Configuration Networking: The Definitive Guide," Stuart Cheshire and Daniel H. Steinberg show how to register a service with Zeroconf. ***What Is Java Everyone knows what Java is, right? Interpreted code, applets, proprietary, and slow. Wrong, wrong, wrong, and wrong. In its second decade, it's time to re-evaluate Java: the language and the virtual machine are going their own ways, its open source sub-community is vibrant and independent, and developers are taking the best ideas from other languages and frameworks and bringing them to Java. In this article, ONJava editor Chris Adamson tries to reset old assumptions about Java to fit modern realities. --------------------- Podcasts --------------------- ***The Internet of Things This week, Bruce Sterling's Emerging Technology keynote on "The Internet of Things" is the sole segment in our program. (DTF 03-20-2006: 30 minutes 13 seconds) ***The Future of Telephony, Going Digital, and Open Formats Peter Cochrane looks at the future of telephony and handheld devices, James Duncan Davidson talks about his switch from film to digital photography, and Simon Phipps explains the importance of open formats backed up by open source software. (DTF 03-13-2006: 26 minutes 30 seconds) --------------------- Digital Media --------------------- ***Managing Digital Images: Applying Ratings and Keywords The explosion of digital imaging has left professional and serious amateur photographers drowning in photographs, with little guidance on how to store, sort and organize them. In this excerpt from "The DAM Book," Peter Krogh shows you expert techniques for applying ratings and keywords so you can begin to take control of your digital photo library. ***Inside Animusic's Astonishing Computer Music Videos Composer Wayne Lytle's custom software transforms musical notes into jaw-dropping 3D animations. The resulting DVDs have sold tens of thousands of copies. Watch excerpts here and learn how Lytle turned his digital pipe dream into a thriving business. --------------------- MAKE --------------------- ***Maker Faire, San Mateo Fairgrounds, San Mateo, CA--April 22-23 Join the creators of MAKE magazine, the MythBusters, and thousands of tech DIY enthusiasts, crafters, educators, tinkerers, hobbyists, science clubs, students, and authors at MAKE's first ever Maker Faire! Meet all kinds of people who make amazing things in garages, basements, and backyards for inspiration, know-how, and spirited mischief-making. An incredible learning experience for the entire family, students of all ages and their teachers are welcome. ***Try a Sample Project from MAKE: ================================================ BOOK NEWS ================================================ Copies of our books are available for your members to review -- send me an email with the delivery address together with the book you would like to review. When the review is published, please send me a copy or the url. I would also appreciate if you could send a copy to www.amazon.co.uk Latest books available for review - * Ajax Hacks Want to build next-generation web applications today? This book can show you how. A smart collection of 80 insider tips and tricks, Ajax Hacks covers the finer points of Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, or Ajax as it's known. Learn leading-edge web development tasks like how to display Weather.com data, scrape stock quotes, fetch postal codes and much, much more. * The Art of SQL Enterprises throughout the world are confronted with exploding volumes of data, and many IT departments are looking for quick solutions. This insightful book demonstrates that since SQL code may run for 5 to 10 years, and run on different hardware, it must be fast and sound from the start. Expert Stephane Faroult offers SQL best practices and relational theory that force you to focus on strategy rather than specifics. * Best of Ruby Quiz (Pragmatic Bookshelf) Sharpen your Ruby programming skills with twenty-five challenging problems from Ruby Quiz. Whether you have faithfully followed the weekly online Ruby Quiz challenges or are just looking for some practical tests of your Ruby skills, this book delivers. Read the problems, work out a solution, and compare your solution with others. Read about the interesting issues of each problem. Writing code and reading code are still the only ways to truly gain skill with a programming language, and within these pages you can do both quickly and easily. * Don't Get Burned on eBay Don't Get Burned on eBay offers relevant lessons based on real-life stories posted on eBay's Answer Center. With sharp, witty rhetoric, veteran eBay user Shauna Wright (co-founder of the popular web site WhoWouldBuyThat.com ), shows eBay veterans and newcomers alike how to avoid those nasty scenarios, and how to pull themselves out of the muck if they've already fallen in. * Fixing Windows XP Annoyances Inspired by author David Karp's Windows XP Annoyances for Geeks, this all-new tome pulls together tips, tricks, insider workarounds, and fixes for PC novices and pros, in a handy, accessible Q&A format that lets you find the solutions in a flash . Fixing Windows XP Annoyances will not only increase your productivity but lower your blood pressure. * Flash 8: The Missing Manual Macromedia's Flash 8 is the world's premier program for adding animation to websites. But Flash isn't intuitive. And it doesn't come with a manual. This hands-on guide to today's hottest web design tool is aimed at nondevelopers, and it teaches you how to translate your ideas into great web content. Whether you want to learn the basics or unleash the program's true power, Flash 8: The Missing Manual is the ideal instructor. * Flash 8: Projects for Learning Animation and Interactivity This book teaches Flash design rather than simply Flash itself. With a standalone series of walkthroughs and tutorials for Flash beginners coming from a graphics field, Flash is covered in the context of real-world projects. Rather than learn a Flash tool for the sake of it, you learn which areas of Flash are important, and which are less used, simply by seeing how typical content is actually created. And rather than a text-heavy approach, this graphically rich book leads you through hands-on examples by illustration. * Google: The Missing Manual Sure, you know how to "Google it" when you're searching for something on the Web. But did you know how much more you could achieve by clicking beyond the "Google Search" button? Our fully updated and expanded edition to Google: The Missing Manual covers everything you need to know to become a Google guru--including all the new, cool, and often overlooked features that make Google the world's best search engine. * Head Rush Ajax Asynchronous programming lets you turn you own websites into smooth, slick, responsive applications that make your users feel like they're back on the information superhighway, not stuck on a dial-up backroad. With Head Rush Ajax, in no time you'll be writing JavaScript code that fires off asynchronous requests to web servers...and having fun doing it. Head Rush Ajax takes you beyond basic web development with DHTML and JavaScript and explains how asynchronous data requests and more powerful event models can be used in the Ajax methodology. * Intermediate Perl Perl programmers need a clear roadmap for improving their skills. Intermediate Perl teaches a working knowledge of Perl's objects, references, and modules -- all of which makes the language so versatile and effective. Written by the authors of the bestselling Llama book, Learning Perl, this guide offers a gentle but thorough introduction to intermediate programming in Perl. Topics include packages and namespaces, references and scoping, manipulating complex data structures, writing and using modules, package implementation, and using CPAN. * iPhoto 6: The Missing Manual Along with its host of new features, iPhoto 6 can handle as many as 250,000 images. It's incredible, and Apple makes it sound so easy. But you can still get lost, especially if you're new to iPhoto. Not to worry. The latest edition of this popular book gives you plenty of undocumented tips & tricks for taking advantage of the new sion and every feature packed into it. * iPod & iTunes: The Missing Manual An iPod is many things to many people, but it can be much more than most people realize. That's where this new edition comes in. Like the iPod itself, this book is a long-running bestseller with a wealth of useful information for any iPod user. This edition features the new Video iPod, iTunes 6, ways to use an iPod as an external drive or personal organizer, and much more. * MySQL Stored Procedure Programming MySQL Stored Procedure Programming covers a lot of ground. The book starts with a thorough introduction to stored procedures programming and functions, covering the fundamentals of data types, operators, and using SQL in stored procedures. You'll learn how to build and maintain stored programs -- covering transactions, stored functions, and triggers -- and how to call and use MySQL-based stored procedures in a variety of languages, including PHP, Perl, Python, .NET, and Java. This book, destined to be the bible of stored procedure development, is a resource that no real MySQL programmer can afford to do without. * Photoshop CS2 RAW The RAW file format is the uncompressed data file captured by a digital camera's electronic sensor. Because RAW files remain virtually untouched by in-camera processing, working with them brings greater flexibility and control to the editing process-if you know how to use them. Adobe Photoshop CS2 has emerged as the best way to edit RAW images, and Photoshop CS2 RAW is dedicated to working with RAW in Photoshop. This comprehensive guide explores the entire RAW process, focusing extensively on Photoshop editing techniques targeted to professionals and photo hobbyists alike. * Practices of an Agile Developer (Pragmatic Bookshelf) These are the proven, effective agile practices that will make you a better developer. You'll learn pragmatic ways of approaching the development process and your personal coding techniques. You'll learn about your own attitudes, issues with working on a team, and how to best manage your learning, all in an iterative, incremental, agile style. You'll see how to apply each practice, and what benefits you can expect. Bottom line: this book will make you a better developer. * UML 2.0 Pocket Reference Globe-trotting travelers have long resorted to handy, pocket-size dictionaries as an aid to communicating across the language barrier. Dan Pilone's UML 2.0 Pocket Reference is just such an aid for on-the-go developers who need to converse in the Unified Modeling Language (UML). Use this book to decipher the many UML diagrams you'll encounter on the path to delivering a modern software system. * XAML in a Nutshell The Windows Vista operating system will support applications that employ graphics now used by computer games--clear, stunning, and active. The cornerstone for building these user interfaces is XAML, the XML-based markup language that works with Windows Presentation Foundation, Vista's new graphics subsystem. This book teaches you everything necessary to design the new generation of user interfaces and .NET applications, with plenty of examples to get you started. ****Coming Soon * Programming PHP * Linux Annoyances for Geeks * Flash 8 Cookbook * SQL Pocket Guide * JUNOS Cookbook * Learning UML 2.0 * Learning SQL on SQL Server 2005 * Programming Excel with VBA and .NET * Enterprise Services Architecture ================================================ Conference News ================================================ ***Where 2.0 Early Registration is Open The Where 2.0 Conference brings together the people, projects, and issues leading the charge into the location-based technology frontier. Join the developers, innovators, and business people behind the new era of geospatial technology as they come together--because everything happens somewhere, and it's all happening here. Where 2.0 Conference, June 13-14, 2006 Fairmont Hotel, San Jose, CA User Group members who register before April 24, 2006 get a double discount. Use code "whr06dsug" when you register, and receive 15% off the early registration price. To register for the conference, go to: ***MySQL Users Conference Join us at the 2006 edition of the MySQL Users Conference, the largest gathering of MySQL developers, users, and DBAs. It's the only event where you'll be able to join the core MySQL development team and over 1000 users, open source innovators, and technology partners under one roof. MySQL Users Conference, April 24-27, 2006 Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA User Group members who register before March 6, 2006 get a double discount. Use code "mys06dusg" when you register, and receive 15% off the early registration price. To register for the conference, go to: ==================================================== O'REILLY WILL BE THERE! ==================================================== UKUUG/Apple Technical Briefing 2006. Apple and the UK Unix Users' Group are happy to announce another Technical Briefing "OS X on Intel", from 1:30pm on Thursday April 20th in Central London. SANE 2006 - 15 / 05 / 2006 at 09:00 Aula Congresscentre, Delft, The Netherlands The SANE 2006 conference offers 3 days of training, followed by a 2-day conference program filled with the latest developments in system administration, network engineering, security and open source software, and practical approaches to the puzzles and problems you wrestle with. Xtech - 16 / 05 / 2006 at 09:00 Amsterdam, The Netherlands XTech 2006 is the premier European conference for developers, information designers and managers working with web and standards-based technologies. XTech brings together the worlds of web development, open source, semantic web and web standards. The theme for 2006, "Building Web 2.0", recognises the key place of standards-based and open technology in enabling the next generation of web applications. Practitioners and leaders from all disciplines are invited to participate in presenting and discussing the technology and design issues behind the changing web. ================================================ YOUR BOOK REVIEWS ================================================ ***Jug Trento reviewed - Applied Software Project Management Java Enterprise in a Nutshell 3e ***SNUG reviewed - Pragmatic Unit Testing in C# with NUnit From barbie at missbarbell.co.uk Fri Apr 7 01:43:34 2006 From: barbie at missbarbell.co.uk (Barbie) Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2006 09:43:34 +0100 Subject: [Nottingham-pm] Photos from Wednesday night Message-ID: <20060407084333.GA32080@smtp.blueyonder.co.uk> Hi folks, Thanks for making us Birmingham rabble welcome at your meeting the other night. We enjoyed it so much we're planning to come again :) Next time I might even let you sit through a Perl talk of mine ;) Any road up, here's a link to the better photos I took on the night. http://birmingham.pm.org/album/105 See you at LUG Radio Live, YAPC::Europe::2006 or both :) Cheers, Barbie. From richard at bagshaw.co.uk Wed Apr 26 03:31:06 2006 From: richard at bagshaw.co.uk (Richard Bagshaw) Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 11:31:06 +0100 Subject: [Nottingham-pm] Greetings Message-ID: <444F4BEA.4090703@bagshaw.co.uk> Greetings, Just thought I would say a quick hello, I have just joined the PM list and im pretty much obsessed with anything perl related / linux / php and mac. Thanks, Richard From msemtd at yahoo.co.uk Wed Apr 26 03:46:03 2006 From: msemtd at yahoo.co.uk (Michael Erskine) Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 11:46:03 +0100 Subject: [Nottingham-pm] Greetings In-Reply-To: <444F4BEA.4090703@bagshaw.co.uk> References: <444F4BEA.4090703@bagshaw.co.uk> Message-ID: <200604261146.03827.msemtd@yahoo.co.uk> On Wednesday 26 April 2006 11:31, Richard Bagshaw wrote: > Greetings, > > Just thought I would say a quick hello, I have just joined the PM list > and im pretty much obsessed with anything perl related / linux / php and > mac. Hi Richard and welcome to Nottingham Perl Mongers! You may notice we're a splinter group of NLUG. The upshot being that we get all the NLUG socials for free and hardly anyone posts here! I do intend to run some Perl sessions but probably not until LugRadio Live and YAPC::Europe are behind us. In the meantime, here's some soothing music... :) Regards, Michael. -- It is not good for a man to be without knowledge, and he who makes haste with his feet misses his way. -- Proverbs 19:2 ___________________________________________________________ 24 FIFA World Cup tickets to be won with Yahoo! Mail http://uk.mail.yahoo.com From richard at bagshaw.co.uk Wed Apr 26 03:53:26 2006 From: richard at bagshaw.co.uk (Richard Bagshaw) Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 11:53:26 +0100 Subject: [Nottingham-pm] Greetings In-Reply-To: <200604261146.03827.msemtd@yahoo.co.uk> References: <444F4BEA.4090703@bagshaw.co.uk> <200604261146.03827.msemtd@yahoo.co.uk> Message-ID: <444F5126.3000106@bagshaw.co.uk> Hi Michael, hehe how strange! is anyone in the Nottingham area going to LugRadio Live? I was thinking about driving there in July. Apologies if my questions seem a little obvious at the moment, i'm kinda starting to get to know the structure of these lists / groups :-) Thanks, Ricahrd Bagshaw Michael Erskine wrote: > On Wednesday 26 April 2006 11:31, Richard Bagshaw wrote: > >> Greetings, >> >> Just thought I would say a quick hello, I have just joined the PM list >> and im pretty much obsessed with anything perl related / linux / php and >> mac. >> > > Hi Richard and welcome to Nottingham Perl Mongers! You may notice we're a > splinter group of NLUG. The upshot being that we get all the NLUG socials for > free and hardly anyone posts here! I do intend to run some Perl sessions but > probably not until LugRadio Live and YAPC::Europe are behind us. In the > meantime, here's some soothing music... :) > > Regards, > Michael. > > From msemtd at yahoo.co.uk Wed Apr 26 04:01:55 2006 From: msemtd at yahoo.co.uk (Michael Erskine) Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 12:01:55 +0100 Subject: [Nottingham-pm] Greetings In-Reply-To: <444F5126.3000106@bagshaw.co.uk> References: <444F4BEA.4090703@bagshaw.co.uk> <200604261146.03827.msemtd@yahoo.co.uk> <444F5126.3000106@bagshaw.co.uk> Message-ID: <200604261201.56081.msemtd@yahoo.co.uk> On Wednesday 26 April 2006 11:53, Richard Bagshaw wrote: > hehe how strange! is anyone in the Nottingham area going to LugRadio > Live? I was thinking about driving there in July. Apologies if my > questions seem a little obvious at the moment, i'm kinda starting to get > to know the structure of these lists / groups :-) At last count there's about five or six of us going. You can always join us live on IRC irc.oftc.net #nlug Regards, Michael Erskine. -- By perseverance the snail reached the Ark. -- Charles Spurgeon ___________________________________________________________ 24 FIFA World Cup tickets to be won with Yahoo! Mail http://uk.mail.yahoo.com From richard at bagshaw.co.uk Wed Apr 26 04:04:29 2006 From: richard at bagshaw.co.uk (Richard Bagshaw) Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 12:04:29 +0100 Subject: [Nottingham-pm] Greetings In-Reply-To: <200604261201.56081.msemtd@yahoo.co.uk> References: <444F4BEA.4090703@bagshaw.co.uk> <200604261146.03827.msemtd@yahoo.co.uk> <444F5126.3000106@bagshaw.co.uk> <200604261201.56081.msemtd@yahoo.co.uk> Message-ID: <444F53BD.9080806@bagshaw.co.uk> Hi Michael, Ok cool, well like I say I am thinking of driving down and may have a few spare seats on the drive down .. thanks for the IRC info :-) Richard Michael Erskine wrote: > On Wednesday 26 April 2006 11:53, Richard Bagshaw wrote: > >> hehe how strange! is anyone in the Nottingham area going to LugRadio >> Live? I was thinking about driving there in July. Apologies if my >> questions seem a little obvious at the moment, i'm kinda starting to get >> to know the structure of these lists / groups :-) >> > > At last count there's about five or six of us going. > > You can always join us live on IRC irc.oftc.net #nlug > > Regards, > Michael Erskine. > >