The Left Field
by Sean McGrath
RSS

Recent blog posts

The decline and fall of the relational database

Are we seeing the beginning of the end of world domination by the relational database?

5 comments
The decline and fall of the relational database

Are we seeing the beginning of the end of world domination by the relational database?
Ruby, DSLs and the free lunch that was not so free

The world of IT is embarking, I suspect, on a another period of language creation hype. This time, the hype epicenter is Ruby and the …

4 comments
Future techtorials

I'm soliciting feedback/suggestions on the techtorials I have been doing with ITworld.
Career damaging self description

"I am a X programmer" (for arbitrary values of X), is not a good way to describe yourself in my opinion. This techtorial talks about why.

1 comment
Is it secure?

An awkward question deserves a somewhat awkward answer. "Is it secure?". Its really all about residual risk calculation.

1 comment
Loose coupling?

My take on loose coupling.
Bootstrapping tomorrow, today

As a species, we generate some unconscionable amount of new digital data every day. The number is so big that no member of our species, …
Debuggers Delight Syndrome

From time to time, my long suffering wife asks me what the heck I do all day and where all the techie problems that furrow my brow to a …
Multi-tasking the project plan

I had one of those weird moments recently where I made an analogy between two things that I have never before analogized. Namely, …

Techtorials - An experiment with an electronic sheet of foolscap

By Sean McGrath Add a new comment

March 26, 2009, 3:48 PM — I have not been idle since the last post on this blog a few weeks ago. I have been working with ITworld on a little experiment.

I spend a lot of time sitting at tables with a pad, a cup of coffee and a colleague/customer asking me questions. Invariably I end up drawing pictures to explain technical concepts. How can that medium - the quick paper-based sketch - be best turned into a web format?

Here is what we have come up with. We call them techtorials and they are screencasts of me scribbling and talking at the same time.

Three are live on ITworld at the moment here.

Useful? Not? Let me know.

Sean McGrath is CTO of Propylon. He is an internationally acknowledged authority on XML and related standards. He served as an invited expert to the W3C's Expert Group that defined XML in 1998. He is the author of three books on markup languages published by Prentice Hall. Visit his site at: http://seanmcgrath.blogspot.com

Add a comment

Facebook's 'man in the middle' attack on our data

17 comments
Canonical aligns Kubuntu as community flavor

6 comments
How to kill Web trackers dead

3 comments
Even after rewrites, Google Wallet retains gaping security holes, mainly due to Android

3 comments
Why a chain of brick & mortar Amazon stores makes little sense

3 comments

Older
|
Newer

ITworld LIVE

flem has just joined ITworld
paschalmbanefo@hotmail.com has just joined ITworld
F. Thommes has just joined ITworld
Domenico Perri has just joined ITworld
Prasant Subba has just joined ITworld
PrimatePrivate_YahDNKDLX commented on How to kill Web trackers dead
degame01 has just joined ITworld
wanderson commented on Eight features Windows 8 'borrowed' from Linux
charlessnow has just joined ITworld
AnthonyRiley II_Linked9-kGps has just joined ITworld
bhusebye commented on Android phones don't age well compared to iPhones
Syeda Iqra Wasti has just joined ITworld
amita jain has just joined ITworld
arifiauo commented on Eight features Windows 8 'borrowed' from Linux
Carlos_Ungo_tw21477813 shared iPad 3 launch event rumored for March on Twitter
Carlos_Ungo_tw21477813 shared Even after rewrites, Google Wallet retains gaping security holes, mainly due to Android on Twitter
raveen has just joined ITworld
Jay Deep Sinha has just joined ITworld
sandy7172cat_tw51977628 shared New social site Pinterest attracts enthusiasm, scrutiny on Twitter
sandy7172cat_tw51977628 has just joined ITworld
mastermikeAnon_tw103348886 commented on Eight features Windows 8 'borrowed' from Linux
SalingersGhost_tw193149576 commented on Will Google or Facebook buy LinkedIn?
LiveWireMCE_tw309928681 answers What is a good shopping cart system for a small online business?
afraus has just joined ITworld
ckensek commented on The tech IPO everyone's (not) talking about
JoeyCagleWeb_tw335969597 commented on Eight features Windows 8 'borrowed' from Linux
JoeyCagleWeb_tw335969597 has just joined ITworld
Sandro Villinger commented on Eight features Windows 8 'borrowed' from Linux
AllNight3r_tw21815406 shared Parents herald rise in apps to help treat autism but proof of therapeutic benefits is lacking on Twitter

DevelopmentWhite Papers & Webcasts

White Paper

HP NonStop SQL Fundamentals whitepaper

This whitepaper offers a detailed look into the fundamentals of HP NonStop SQL solutions. See how this system delivers unprecedented levels of application availability with fail-safe data integrity and meets the needs of enterprises with large-scale business critical applications.

White Paper