Django-Jython 1.1.0 released!

I'm proud to announce a new release of django-jython: 1.1.0.

We are practicing “release often” this time and as you can see on the release notes the only big change is compatibility with Django 1.1. But that's good enough to cut a new release: It means you can use the most recent stable release of Django with Jython!

On the other hand, if you want to continue using Django 1.0.4, do not upgrade. We are following Django version numbers to indicate compatibility. Thus, releases 1.1.x of django-jython are only meant to be used with the Django 1.1 releases.

If you were using django-jython 1.0 and want to upgrade it, do:

$ /path/to/jython/bin/easy_install -U django-jython

Otherwise (that is, if you haven't installed it previously):

$ /path/to/jython/bin/easy_install django-jython

New features like JNDI support are still on the roadmap and should appear on the next release, namely 1.1.1 (and also backported into 1.0.1 if there is demand from those who need to stick with Django 1.0.4). So stay tuned or (even better!) come and give us a hand on moving this project forward faster.

Just paid ~$160 to Microsoft

Finally my Windows XP copy arrived. Why did I need a Windows XP copy?

The last year I have been using Linux on a laptop that originally came with Windows. Since I never completely removed the Windows partition, I was able to test software on Windows and to occasionally run games and other Windows-only stuff on top of it.

But on September I got a Mac. I'm happy with it, but I was missing the ability to test stuff on Windows. Such as Jython, but also webpages on IE.

And I'm heavily opposed to piracy. So getting a random illegal XP copy on the internet wasn't an option. I do think that open source software is a great idea and would love to live in a world where all the major massively used software packages would be free (as in freedom). Not only for not having to pay ridiculous prices, but also for the increase of quality. But still, I do respect the decision of the developers to license their code as they want.

So I went and paid for a copy of Windows XP. Which was installed on my Mac using Bootcamp:



Hopefully it will also be able to run on a virtual machine. From the same installation on the same partition. I can tolerate one Windows, but not two.

Will Flash ever be fixed?

I've done my share of Flash/Flex development. It's great: You can build very cool UIs and know they will run in the same way on all the browsers. There is a (mostly) sane component model to create your own widgets. And you use a (mostly) sane language to build the application. Unless you approach those libraries that are trying to Java-ize the Flex platform, but please keep yourself away of them for your own sanity (and productivity!).

Let's face it: HTML/Javascript and Flash/Flex are the only real cross-platform alternatives for rich internet applications. Silverlight isn't, even if Moonlight tries to make it work on Linux and Mac, because it doesn't. And JavaFX isn't either, as long as it continues crashing my browser every time I give it a try.

The fact that Flex is open source is also a good thing. But the Flash Virtual Machine isn't. There the bad things begin.

Flash RIAs tend to break the web experience. It's not only they hiding the URLs. It's also about usability and accessibility.

“After just a cursory browsing, here are some of the usability and data accessibility issues we observed. You can't select, copy, or paste any text. Your browser's font override features won't work, so you can't adjust the font or its size to be more readable. Your browser's built-in in-page search won't work, and you can't use the keyboard to scroll through the text. You can't parse or scrape the data in any way; the design is fixed-width, so it's not going to work well on different screen sizes; and browser plugins, like Greasemonkey, can't adjust anything. Basically when it comes to text at all, if you don't like the style or are visually impaired, you're screwed”

—Adobe pushes Flash and PDF for open government, misses irony

So, at the end of the day, seems like HTM5 + Javascript is the way to go. But it comes with so many cross-browser issues! It hurts to think how messy some applications I've written in Flex would be if written in HTML/Javascript, even when using libraries like JQuery to avoid dealing directly with the DOM API.

Unless, of course, that Flex get fixed. I have no idea how, but the idealist in me says that open sourcing the VM would help a little bit...

On Culture

I'm back again to talk about the “Continuum's compensation package”, given some feedback I've received.

True, most of points outlined there are much easier when the “whole company” consists of ~10 people. But that was exactly part of my point: I bet that no big company in Chile gives you all of items on that list. However, it doesn't mean that you get them automatically on a small company. Actually, it doesn't happen on most small software company here in Chile.

But the points of the list by themselves aren't that great. What's great is something that happens in the background and which shows in the list (and in many other forms): it's a mini culture. Not a cult (I'd be the first to fly in such case!), but a culture. Our culture is still incipient, but we have a very good quality seed.

And I think that there is our biggest risk. We may lose that culture, or whatever it is that enables us to build that culture.

I've been there. When I left, Imagemaker wasn't the same as it was when we were a small team. True, the “Imagemaker's package” was always below of what Continuum is offering now, but it was close. However, seems like the management never shared the appreciation for the culture that was being build by the teams. For a lack of trust, they fought it. The culture was lost, and the majority of the original team flew.

That won't happen on Continuum, or at least won't happen as long as the founders continue in charge. The culture is created by every person of the organization, but when it is stimulated by the heads of the company it get's much stronger.

Still, I think that keeping and growing a culture has some art in it. It's not a science. So we can't guarantee that it will be cool forever. But programming also has some of art in it, and we are good at programming. I trust we will do well on nurturing our own culture too.

How I've used the Continuum's compensation package

Yesterday I posted about what I called the Continuum's compensation package. It sounds cool, and it is cool. That said, I think that the only way to make it real is to use what's being offered. For example, among other things, I have:

• Talked with them when I started, to not work strictly full time. I have a thesis to finish.


• Learned to pair-program, among other agile practices. And continue doing so.


• Took my share of responsibility on what we do as a company and how we do it.


• Took the opportunity (and challenge!) of working with Hashrocket!


• Played a key role to form the Dynamic Languages group and also try to be as involved on it as my time permits.

Honestly, it has been much more fun than expected!