2008100601 Data Manager interviews me. Antonio Savarese (no relation to me) interviewed me earlier this year for the Italian IT magazine Data Manager. Recently, the interview was made available online. I'm very grateful to Antonio and Data Manager for giving me the opportunity to share my opinions with their readers.
2008071701 ltp 1.0.1 Released. ltp v1.0.1 is available for download. ltp is a general purpose text preprocessor intended for generative programming and template-based document generation.
2008062101 bootstrap 1.1.5 Released. bootstrap v1.1.5 is
now available, adding the ability to define
pre_bootstrap and
post_bootstrap functions in
bootstrap.conf. bootstrap is
a bash script that facilitates bootstraping software projects that
make use of GNU Autotools.
2008061401 Mozilla XUL/SVG ActiveX Control/Plugin Build Instructions. By popular demand, I've written preliminary instructions on how to build the Mozilla ActiveX Control/Plugin for MSIE. I'll refine the instructions in the future, including how to build a smaller package that doesn't include xulrunner.
2008060201 Mozie: Mozilla XUL/SVG ActiveX Control/Plugin for MSIE. I've made available a pre-release version of the Mozilla ActiveX Control that can be used to run XUL applications and display SVG content in MSIE.
2008050801 From D-Day to VE-Day historical map browser. In commemoration of Victory in Europe Day, Savarese Software Research Corporation has prepared From D-Day to VE-Day, a collection of maps from the 12th Army Group for every day of the final year of the Second World War, from the Normandy invasion to the German surrender. The map browser features the ability to zoom in and out to different resolutions to examine the maps at different levels of detail. The Igfip™ Armor & Infantry™ online wargame system—to be released later this year—will allow players to simulate many of the combat actions depicted in this map collection.
2008041302 Sava C++/Lua/Perl/Python/Ruby Bindings for Spread 1.0.2 Released.
Sava
C++/Lua/Perl/Python/Ruby Bindings for Spread v1.0.2 has been released,
adding a --disable-namespace-versioning configuration option
to avoid having to recompile dynamically linked programs after
upgrading the library. Sava C++/Lua/Perl/Python/Ruby Bindings for
Spread provides C++, Lua, Perl, Python, and Ruby bindings for the
Spread group communication system.
Nothing recent …
After my former publisher tanked, I'm no longer writing regularly and am not going out of my way to look for writing opportunities. Still, if you're a magazine editor or publisher looking for a column about software development or computer science you may contact me.
This Web site attracts a lot of visitors with different interests. At some point in 2008, I'll take the time to overhaul the site and organize it better, possibly adding some interactive features. In the meantime, I'm summarizing information that different visitors want to know.
This is a personal Web site, not a commercial Web site, even though software I've authored that is used in commercial products is available from this site.
I actively maintain bootstrap and RockSaw. To the extent it is required by the RockSaw Ping.java example, I maintain VServ TCP/IP. Sava C++/Lua/Perl/Python/Ruby Bindings for Spread is an actively maintained product of Savarese Software Research Corporation even though I link to it from this site.
I do not provide free support to corporate developers for non-trivial requests. If you work for a corporation and you use my software in a commercial capacity, you should not expect free support. You already get the source code for free. If you require support for any software on this site beyond answers to simple questions, you may contract support for the software by contacting Savarese Software Research Corporation. Even though none of the software is a product of Savarese Software Research Corporation, the company will provide paid support for companies that require it. For example, within 24 hours of being contracted to add IPv6 support to RockSaw, my company delivered the functionality to the client. If your company is using IPv6 with RockSaw, you are benefitting from the investment another company made in acquiring support for the software. Therefore, should your company require support, to provide the support for free would be unfair to those companies who have already paid to have implemented the features your product now enjoys.
Igfip™ is a service for playing multi-player strategy board games interactively via a Web browser (no Java, Flash, or plugins required). It is produced by Savarese Software Research Corporation and features a number of high performance distributed computing technologies on the back end.
Igfip™ originated as a motivating use case to guide the development of a completely new fault-tolerant Web application framework that can scale to hundreds of nodes and many millions of users without having to change a single line of code. However, it has turned into a product in its own right.
Initially, the service implemented abstract board games as a proof of concept, but wargames and eurogames (and more abstract games) are scheduled to be released in 2008. Also, you will be able to create games via a generic game kit that will allow you to play any game for which you can create virtual versions of the game equipment. Furthermore, we'll be providing an API that allows you to implement rules arbitration.
I took a leave of absence from wargaming while working on Igfip™, although Igfip™ itself will soon feature wargames. In early 2008, MMP expressed interest on ConsimWorld in adapting my War of the Rats scenario analysis for publication in Operations Magazine, but they never got back in touch with me after I replied. I still plan to complete at some point my ASL Starter Kit Explained series, adding an unofficial errata page, a tactics overview, and scenario analysis for Starter Kits #2 and #3.
I no longer write for Java Pro magazine. The publisher stopped paying writers and eventually was forced to sell off its assets to another company that promptly killed the magazine. I have been told by more than one reader that the only reason they continued to read the magazine was because of my column. I also have been told my column was the primary reason more than one advertiser placed ads in the magazine. Unfortunately, the publisher never seemed to appreciate that.
