James Strachan asks Are people blogging less? Looking at my archives, I don't see a noticeable decline in the number of entries I'm writing. Granted, I don't blog nearly as much as I did in December 2002.
One interesting thing I've noticed though, is I don't read blogs much anymore. I open NetNewsWire about once a week. However, I don't think it's because of the Twitter effect. I think it's because I work in an office full of people now and I get my social interaction from them, rather than from blogs. I also think it's because I'm more interested in what's going on with LinkedIn and social networking competitors. Most of that news I get from LinkedIn News on the homepage.
If there really is a decline in blogging, it may be because of Twitter, but I think it's something bigger. I think it's folks realizing 1) it's summer and 2) you don't get a whole lot of satisfaction out of blogging - you get satisfaction in life from spending time with family and friends. So quit reading this blog and go read your kids a book or invite your friends to happy hour tomorrow. It's a beautiful time of year and it won't last forever. 
At LinkedIn, we have our own JSP Compiler. Our version of JSP is more like FreeMarker than JSP since it solves many of the deficiencies of JSP. Since we allow a different syntax than standard JSP (more powerful EL, new tags for looping, loading from classpath), we (like FreeMarker) don't get much love from IDEs.
We don't get much in the way of syntax-highlighting or code completion. However, since we use JavaCC/JJTree for parsing, I'm wondering if Eclipse or IDEA (or even NetBeans) allows replacing the default syntax definition with a new one.
Has anyone extended one of these IDEs to enhance its JSP syntax highlighting and compilation? If so, I'd love to hear about it. If not, it's likely we'll be doing it in the near future.
Last week I traveled from Denver to Mountain View with the UI Frameworks Team. It was the first time all four of us traveled together and we had a great time. On Monday night, I helped LinkedIn Softball beat the only undefeated team in our league. Pitchers were a flowin' at a nearby beer garden afterwards to celebrate.
On Wednesday evening, we returned to Denver and I enjoyed a night with the kids before flying out on Friday to Boston for the American Craft Beer Fest. The flight was no fun as it took me 12 hours door-to-door (on the way home too). I stayed with friends in Concord, Mass. and enjoyed the "country livin'" a whole lot. They had just moved in a few weeks before, and it was awful nice being in an area with huge lots (1 acre +) and neighbors that come over and talk for hours.
On Saturday, we had a great time at the ACBF and even ran into some good friends (Chad and Mike) from Denver. Amazingly enough, both of these guys are going to Oktoberfest at the same time we are. Below are some photos from the festivities (more on Flickr).
On Sunday, we went to the Old North Bridge and learned some fascinating stuff about the beginning of the American Revolution. Did you know that 1/2 of the British Regiment that went to Concord stopped for pints at 9 in the morning? If they hadn't, they would have been able to surprise the Minutemen from behind and the American Revolution may never have happened. I also liked the fact that after the British were fired upon they ran back to town and then had breakfast for a couple hours. Maybe I should modify this Wikipedia page to add these tidbits we learned from our tour guide?
All in all, it was a great week of traveling. The flights to and from Boston were way to long, but the memories I created were worth it. I'll be in Denver all week, enjoying Bike to Work Day on Wednesday and then heading off on vacation for a week. I love summertime.
James Strachan asks Are people blogging less? Looking at my archives, I don't see a noticeable decline in the number of entries I'm writing. Granted, I don't blog nearly as much as I did in December 2002.
At LinkedIn, 
