Anyway, lets examine the traditional HTML/JSP model first. javabeans and JSTL are used for data and business logic, HTML is used for layout, and CSS is used for .. well … styles and appearances. So now, we have 3 independantly configurable elements that co-exist to bring together our presentation layer.

One of the pleasing things I like about CSS is its strength in creating layouts and changing the appearance of the presentation layer. I can change the look of the site totally by just tinkering with the style sheets. One very solid example of this would be to look at csszengarden

Of course, now with the introduction of web frameworks, I wonder about whether the flexibility of such a setup is being lost. Of course, I can’t speak of all the frameworks, but recently, I tried out Oracle’s ADF-Faces, and there’s this on thing that really bugged me. The use of the ADF-Faces components locked down the look and field. So when we use stuff like tabbed panes, thats what we have. IF i did it in style sheets, i could change it to look like tabbed panes, drop down menus etc using CSS. Of course, I do like the idea that each component is tied to a backing bean, but what it enforces is just the “beans for business logic” concept and thats a general JSF thing. ADF-Faces does expose a template for changing the components, but of course, I took a quick glimpse at it and it looked complicated (for a man of my limited talents).

The bottom line is this, while frameworks are the in thing now in the industry, is such a move necessary, or is it an overkill ? Some points to ponder… perhaps I’d update this topic more when I have time to take a more detailed look at it. I’m busy working on some raster stuff that I have a very very limited experience in.

I remember sometime about 2 years ago, I attended an internal workshop/training conducted by an Australian colleague. He’s one of the company’s enterprise architecture consultants. Anyway he brought up a very interesting question that’s still stuck in my head.

Being technology people in a world leading software company, where innovation, research and development is critical, he asked us this (bunch of) questions.

Who is/are :
1) Tim Berners-Lee
2) James Gosling
3) Gang of Four
4) Booch, Rumburgh and Jacobson

Ok, i admit. I have no idea who 1, 3 and 4 is, but I’ve personally met James Gosling a year ago when I attended an event by Sun Microsystems. Ok, back to the question

1) Tim Berners-Lee. The person who invented the world wide web.
2) James Gosling. The father of Java technology
3) Gang of four, who gave us design patterns
4) Booch, Rumburgh and Jacobson, who gave the world UML.

Next question. What are they working on now ?

To be a successful computer scientist, we need to be aware of what is going on in the world. No doubt these people have contributed to shaping the IT industry to where it is now, we seem to have forgotten that these great people are working on other stuff now. After all, these people so have a powerful voice and presence in the community, and even a simple thought could spawn off what could be potentially the next big thing in the industry. In the industry, we have to recognise that, unless we plan to stay as a frog in the well and remain a lowly programmer for the rest of our lives.

Ok, i didn’t manage to find out what the Gang of Four are/were doing (or if they are still alive) as well as what B-R-J were working on, now that Rational is part of IBM, but the last thing i heard about James Gosling, he was still in Sun working in Software Tools. Tim Berner-Lee was working on something called the semantic web, or Web 2.0.

I haven’t really looked at any detail specifications or documents on what semantic web is, what I do know is a segment of Web 2.o covers what is called social networking. Its forming networks based on a I-know-u, u-know-him, he-knows-her kinda thing. So as we expand our social networks, we information can be disseminated. Something like that Six-Degrees of Kevin Bacon experiment. If fact, we have started to see websites popping out that represent these ideas. Friendster, flickr, blogging … all these are physical evidence of the concept of semantic web. And guess what, these were some of the biggest things happening in the industry.

Anyway, enough said on this topic, before I embarass myself further with my lack of knowledge in these areas.