Long ago, before the PC had gained acceptance in the computing community, I was engaged in developing a well funded futures trading software platform using the Unix system which interacted with data stored (as I recall) on an Informix platform.  The workings of the program were in C language, and the most convenient method of writing the code was a program called Vi, which came as part of the Unix package.  It was, I thought at the time, a prodigiously inconvenient and non-intuitive piece of software.  Very soon thereafter, PCs gained acceptance within the organization, and we were able to port the C code over to the PC, adopt another more convenient tool for programming, called Personal Editor (PE) which had a much more friendly interface.  Although the C programs were written on the PC, they were compiled and run on a mainframe and we happily bid a fond farewell to the quirky Unix system.

In parallel to this migration, Linux came of age, and the Vi editor was replaced by Vim (Vi improved).  Unix and Linux acquired a GUI capability, and the developers and programmers grew in their expectations and level of sophistication.  I was recently re-introduced to the Vim editor, which has a graphics component.  And the quirky commands with which I grew so frustrated years ago, I quickly came to appreciate.

And I have spent the last several weeks experimenting and out-fitting my Vim editor with a set of new and powerful tools which have made my life a lot easier.

At Paladin, we do a lot of database programming to which access is usually gained through the web (either internet, or intra net).  Modern practice and convention now suggests that even what was previously the province of ‘desktop’ data-enabled applications are now run using industrial strength database management systems ( such as Oracle, Sql Server, MySQL, or Informix) communicated with and from through a browser (Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Firefox, etc.)  This has occurred in no small part because of the reluctance of the IT professionals to cede to standards of internet and data processing and delivery to one company whose name begins with ‘M’.

So the state of the art today allows 6 or 7 different types of Browsers to request and receive information from dozens of mainstream industrial-strength database managers.  This configuration has given rise to a Tower of Babel in which the processing and parsing of data through these channels is typically handled by a variety of languages – each with different grammar, purposes, characteristics and strengths.  As a matter of fact, in any web based data application, it would not be at all unusual for as many as a dozen languages/technologies to be required.

For example:

1. All communications with the users’ screen is done through HTML, or HTML 5.
2. The screen appearance can be modified and enhanced using CSS
3. Variable information sent to the screen comes from the database and is called using PHP, or some similar language
4. Once the data arrives at the desktop, it is parsed and sorted using Javascript
5. Jquery encapsulates that data so it appears similar, no matter what browser the user is using
6. Depending on what data arrives, the screen can be changed using AJAX
7. XML and XSLT technology can allow runtime applications to dictate output and appearance
8. Database languages, either Ansi SQL or Javascript may be used to interact with the database proper.

For every one of the above languages, Vim provides support in syntax files, indenting formats, pairing of parentheses, braces, brackets, and control expressions.  There are plugins available in many of the languages which will test for grammatical errors and unclosed expressions.  There is support for many other languages, too: C, C++, Ruby, Python, and others in addition to its power macro and scripting languages.

There is command support within the editor for taking a file from a buffer (many files can be edited concurrently) and sending it to a browser to see if the results are as you expected immediately.  The software allows you to create your own dictionaries (context sensitive, of course), shortcut keys, abbreviations, and a whole host of other very productive stuff.  The product is quirky, to be sure, but it has the aroma of genius.

And here’s a list of Vim resources:

• The Vim Reference Manual
• Vim source and down;load download and repository of many plugins
• Vim Vim Help Files
• Vim Vim Introduction and Tutorial
• Graphical vi-vim Cheat Sheet and Tutorial

A few months ago, I answered a question posed, i think, on one of the LinkedIn discussion groups (as MrPaladin) where someone wanted to know about Web2.0. My answer was roundly accepted as authoritative and descriptive. But in retrospect, it was probably provincial and pedantic. The answer I gave described the feature of Web2.0 applications that allows interaction with the user without reloading the page. I used as examples perhaps web pages with stock tickers, or news tickers which constantly update their content, or folks who put their latest tweets from Twitter on their web page to be updated the minute each gem of wisdom gets published.

That answer was correct, but one dimensional, because it focused only on the appearances and apparent technology. In a practical sense, Web2.0 is a much larger concept.

At Paladin Consultants, LLC we do web sites, and web services. Many of the technologies we use come from more sophisticated and mission critical applications. Over the past decade, developments in computer languages, processing speed, band width and transmission speed has grown, with an associated increment in demand and expectations for more sophisticated content, marketing, interaction, and entertainment in web sites. This article is an exposition of some of those methods and techniques.

Another article, which discusses the technology of XML (eXtentible Markup Language) was published a few weeks ago in our blog.    XML is another indispensable tool for creating and maintaining content in web2.0 pages.

The early web sites were billboards. They advertised their clients’ product for all who passed by. This progressed rapidly to shopping carts, so that the passers by could order and pay for products. But there were obvious limitations. In the first place, folks don’t like to read long web pages. So the amount of information offered on a page needed to be limited, or, even better, refined so that the user got served only what he was interested in.

Second, marketing grew more sophisticated. Instead of just offering products to a mass market, web sites not are able to establish a kind of a dialog, or relationship with the customer. This is accomplished through interaction over the web. You don’t want to force the customer to reload pages with every choice, so new technology now allows the user’s machine to go and request new data, choices, colors, or what have you while the customer is browsing elsewhere on the page. That new information is requested, received, and formatted behind the scenes, and inserted into the appropriate place while the customer reads on without interruption.

This Twitter widget is something I have resisted putting on our blog and web site. Not all the things I mention on Twitter are, strictly speaking, technology and business related. But in the overall context of things, perhaps that’s not all bad. People sometimes value that the folks they are dealing with are real people and have personalities just like them. And this Twitter widget is a good example of how you can be more in touch and interact with your customer. It puts a ‘human face’ on your company brand.

Web2.0 is said to be the embodiment of more exciting, interesting and topical content into today’s web by using new technology such as javascript, video, sound, and content from other sites. Interaction and content from Flickr, Twitter, Google, YouTube. The ability to embed this new technology into web sites and deliver them to users through their browser brings a welcome new dimension to web communication with the customer.

Story of my life from Paladin Consultants LLC on Vimeo.

Here’s a very short video a friend recently sent me. It suits me to a tee philosophically, and it is illustrative of the purpose and intent of this article in a very real way. See if you don’t agree that content of this sort will make a user more receptive. See if you don’t agree that it can go a long towards establishing a connection between the site’s owner and the prospective client/customer/user.

Here’s a demonstration of a web2.0 technique that combines the solution of economy of screen real estate with a clever way of ascertaining and then delivering content tailored to a user’s preferences.  Click on one of the dark subject words below.

Web2.0 is a great technology because it delivers on target to so many points:

Interest
By your choice of ‘Interest’ you have shown that this subject is a key hot button for you. You don’t need to be bothered by the other items, and clicking on the key word can be both recorded and rewarded. At the same time, screen real estate is conserved. Sometimes when a user is confronted with a huge page of text with no ‘candy’ he will move on before you get your point across.

Content
You are able to add interesting and rich content to your articles or pages in a way that didn’t exist until very recently. Sometimes you might want to add a video extolling the virtues and benefits of your products, or convey an idea in an entertaining way.

Marketing & SalesHere, as I suggested above, you are able to ferret out the user’s preferences, and deliver a targeted response. You are fmeeting his/her needs in a way that was impossible before. You are able to establish esily a relationship with the user which is non-threatening and helpful. And this technology will help you distinguish yourself from your competitors.

ROITechnology, properly implemented, is an effective and cost saving technique. You are able to use a veritable smorgasbord of other sites’ technology (such as in my Twitter example) including Google, Flickr, Yahoo, and many many others. Many sites encourage use of their content, and even provide maps, or hooks into them because they want to cooperate and establish a standard. This is good because you can use this free content to offer information and service to your clients. A prominent example of this is Google Maps, which are appearing on many retail sites today. And, although the technology is not ‘so simple a caveman can do it’, it is well proven, reliable, and effective.

The purpose of this article is to suggest various ways that one can improve his content and delivery to targeted and happy potential customers. The fast moving technologies embedded in web2.0 web pages is growing more powerful and pervasive every day. If I were to talk about all of the technology, the article would too long and uninteresting. So I have confined my remarks to suggesting business uses of this technology. If you would like to see more examples shown in a non-technical and non-threatening environment, the folks at the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan have put together an excellent primer on the subject. Another, more technical source is the W3Schools Online Web Tutorials.

Please feel free to comment on this article below.

XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is a very important and key technology in today’s internet, and other applications involved in the smooth transfer of data between computers.  As a markup language, it bears a family resemblance to other similarly named languages, most notably HTML or HyperText Markup Language.  HTML is the language of the internet which allows web pages to be displayed and formatted in multiple browser configurations with the two-fold objectives of flexible formatting (to allow layouts to be presented adequately across multiple screen sizes), and the enabling of hypertext, or the links which allow the user to ‘jump’ to other related pages with the click of a mouse.

The operative genetic link between these two languages is the ‘Markup Language’ common component of their names.  The markup language means that content of the files using these languages are enclosed in ‘tags’ or labels, which define their context.  But there the similarity ends.  HTML recognizes a list of perhaps 200 words that when properly used as labels and descriptors can allow a web page to be rendered or interpreted into what passes as a well formatted document.

XML, on the other hand doesn’t DO anything.  It provides the mechanism to store reasonable amounts of data in a commonly accepted and defined format for transfer and communication between computers and systems.  Its vocabulary is theoretically unlimited in that tags may be made up and transmitted at will,provided that their punctuation is proper.  The files themselves are made up of elements which are delimited by these tags.  XML tags are case sensitive, whereas HTML tags are not.  The elements, or nodes may be multi-generational with some elements having lesser nodes describing characteristics or individuals of the larger nodes.  Here’s an example of a small XML document which simulates a group of  appointment book entries:

<?xml version=”1.0″ ?>

<appointmentplanner>

XML is truly an abstract language.  There are no specific words required, only that each element, including the root element of the document itself, be enclosed by matching tags, and that its first line declare that it is an XML document.

There’s more.  One can actually create an XML language which will act as a container for a specific application.  This involves an additional referenced file which contains those definitions.  These files are called schemas or DTD documents (Data Type Definition) which can actually define the permitted or required elements in an XML file.  One could invent an XML application language which would be specific to -say– chemistry (requiring definition of atomic numbers, or isotope variants), or medicine (perhaps a separate schema for each specialty, or even for each doctor within a practice)  The schemas or DTDs can define the type of data within an element – text, video, binary, file, or whatever.  This is very powerful technology.

There are several ancillary technologies related to XML which magnify its strengths.  For instance XPATH and XQUERY empower the user to parse an XML document to extract portions or elements of the document related to what he is seeking – much like Regular Expression and database query technologies.  XSLT uses the XPATH functionality to format an XML document.  And there is facility within modern day relational databases to receive data from XML, and deliver data from XML, distributing and gathering it appropriately from relational tables.

The flexibility and abstract nature of XML make the protocol extremely adaptable and useful for exchanging all manner of data between applications.

• Business to Business transactions are now typically (orders, confirmations, quotes) transacted using XML, or one of its variants or extensions.  This allows a buyer company using Windows machines to communicate and accept confirmation of orders to their supplier company who is running a Unix system
• RSS transmissions are standardized using XML, or its close cousin ATOM protocols.  This allows a light weight individually tailored package to be delivered to the user and interpreted successfully, whether the user is a Mac Windows, or Linux machine.
• XML allows websites to provide a web page to be displayed and tailored to each individual.  This is more complex than Amazon’s personal recommendations.  This technique is closer to the iGoogle page which allow you to construct your own home page.  The preferences and URLs you ask for, are formatted to the way you set them, then stored in an XML file.
• XML technology would allow you to construct a feed of your Twitter or Product Specials information to be constantly updated on your blog or website.
• AJAX (asynchronous Javascript and XML) techniques which use XML with javascriptis a technique which allows an interactive and dynamic web experience for the user by empowering the client side web application to update the web page depending on choices made real time by the user.

The best thing about these interactions is that they are done under the radar.  There is no need to take any action either as sender or receiver of this information, since the XML filesare created and interpreted without any human interaction.  This is a very easy to provide updated fresh content for a website or blog without expending additional resources. XML is related to and is basic to similar protocols like SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) and JSON (JavaScript Access Notation).