The Blogging Roller has posted a nice chart comparing some of the most popular persistence frameworks. The chart makes Castor look pretty good. I wish one of these frameworks had the same popularity as Struts, then I could just learn it and use it. As it is, it doesn't seem that one stands out above the other. However, I bet one could become the "market leader" by simply putting together a good set of documentation and how-to's. That seems to be the biggest problem with open-source solutions - lack of documentation that works. However, at the same time, a mailing list with lots of subscribers can solve most documentation issues.
A List Apart, Issue No. 152, has an article explaining business entity options. If you're thinking about starting your own business, this is a good read. My advice, get a good accountant - they'll make your life much easier. Raible Designs started as an LLC in 1999 and became an S Corporation last year. It was easy to be an LLC without anyone's help; I paid my own taxes, did my own state registration, and handled my own finances. But when I upgraded to an S Corp., my accountant made my life much easier by doing my payroll, quarterly taxes, unemployment insurance, etc. I definitely recommend starting your own business if you can - just remember the most important things are 1) to get customers and 2) keep them happy.
I'm lucky enough to have talked my wife
into accepting a digital camera as a birth gift, now to decide which one? BTW, did
you guys buy your wives a "birth gift" or am I getting hoodwinked? Anyway, I've read
the reviews on pcmag.com and cnet.com
and have come to the conclusion that the Canon
PowerShot G2 is the one for us. Why? It seems to be getting rave
reviews, it's the
most
popular and the prices
I'm finding
seem to be a bargain compared to what it's suggested retail price is ($900). And the
sample photos are
exactly the quality I'm looking for. One issue is that it seems to be discontinued.
My problem now? Julie doesn't want me to spend $500 on a camera, especially when we're
about to downgrade to a one-income household. Is there a solution - should I buy one
off eBay?
I did a little more digging and found that Adobe has a path to become an Adobe Certified Expert (ACE). I discovered that you must pass an Adobe Product Proficiency Exam for the product for which you want to be certified. Then, I found the exam bulletin (PDF) and I think I'm going to go for it. The only bad part is they recommend Adobe Photoshop 7.0 Classroom in a Book which only got 3 stars on Amazon.com. Oh well, it was only reviewed by one person and they seemed to be upset about the lack of colors in the book. Since I'll be reading it to learn and not to gawk at pretty pictures, I'll probably buy it. It can't hurt to buy the Photoshop 7 Bible along with it - never hurts to have a dual reference.
So you might ask, why the hell is Raible so into Photoshop lately? I thought he coded Java all the time? Truth is, I'm getting geared up for my next project: snapping pictures of my daughter and sharing them with my family. After Photoshop Certification, I'll probably upgrade my Java Programmer certification to 1.4, upgrade my Weblogic certification to 7.0 and possibly tackle OS X and Red Hat certifications. I really love learning new things, especially in a structured environment (i.e. a classroom). With certifications, I've found the structured set of objectives has helped me to focus, and therefore, I learn faster. Kinda like a good set of requirements for a project. Of course, if our little girl is born next week (due Nov. 7th), I will focus on becoming certified as a good Dad, which only comes from experience ;)
This post written originally with Dreamweaver MX, copied and pasted into Roller, and edited over 8 times to correct spelling mistakes. Sheez!
I'm looking to become a Photoshop expert in the next couple of
months. I think I know it pretty well, but nothing compared to the guys who presented
at the Web Builder Conference in September. So my plan is to buy a digital camera,
read a book or two, do some tutorials and hopefully I'll become an expert. However,
one thing I've found is that there's almost too much information on Photoshop.
For example, check out how
many 5-star rated books there are on Amazon. Look how
many tutorials there are on adobeevangelists.com.
This is an example of where a Photoshop Certification might be nice - then there
would be recommended study guides, practice tests, etc. - and my path might be
a little more defined. A quick
search on Google shows that there is a Photoshop
Certification, but apparently, not
for the lastest and greatest version.
