Try Open Source SOA!

Good read, Mike Kavis explains the strength of open source SOA. In this article he also explain the WSO2 SOA stack.

http://www.cio.com/article/440370/Tight_Budgets_Try_Open_Source_SOA_

You can find news release for the case study which is mentioned in Mike’s article here.  You can download the case study here.

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Configuring Apache2 to produce core dumps

Even after setting

ulimit -c unlimited in the shell I could not find a core dump file when my apache2 server crashed.  In my Ubuntu system I enabled core dump in /etc/default/apport. Still I could not see core dumps. But I could produce a core dump for a simple C program. But still not for Apache2. Finally I found that I need to configure Apache2 for core dumps from here

http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/configure-apache-web-server-for-core-dump.html

Also following link could be useful for Ubuntu users

https://wiki.kubuntu.org/Apport

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Restful PHP web services

I finished reading Samisa‘s recently published Restful PHP Web services book. Normally when it comes to technical books I don’t read every bit of it. My understanding is it is not necessary to do so.  Because you have the book you can always refer to it whenever necessary. However my initial reading aim at fulfilling one task. That’s to understand how to use the book quickly when need arise. It’s kind of indexing the book in memory for faster reference later. Also interesting bits that attract me most will be covered withing this initial iteration of reading.

But with this book I read it from start to end without missing a single word of it. It is so compact, so easy to read. One reason for this change is my curiosity about the content of the book. That curiosity is aroused by several reasons. For one thing I often hear the technical jargons contained in the book within the office environment I live. My colleges at WSO2 developed WSF/PHP which support RESTful as well as SOAP web services in the same stack.  This WSF/PHP use WSF/C as it’s web services core on which development team I’m a developer at WSO2.  For some time I wanted to know what they do in these PHP web services stuff but could not find time/desire/way to do it fast. This book provided me all that.

Second I share the belief with many that WSF/PHP and the rest of the scripting web services stacks like WSF/Ruby, WSF/Python  from WSO2 have big potential within the web services market in near future. So gaining knowledge in those areas is always a good thing to do.

Chapter 6 nicely explained the use of MVC architecture in Zend framework for supporting restful web services with step by step easy to understand examples.

In addition to explaining the facts related to the subject matter Samisa has nicely used his knowledge on Software development which he gathered through experience as a developer as well as through years of teaching at the University of Moratuwa Sri Lanka. Throughout the book he explains best practices and how to avoid pitfalls(especially in chapter 7)  which are useful hints for any developer.

There are extensive code samples which could be a + point and at the same time – point depending the reader. However even a non-php programmer could easily understand those code excerpts without much effort(I could and I’m not a PHP programmer he he)

I wish if there was a section comparing positive and negative aspects of REST and SOAP web service approaches. May be an design approach which could take best from both worlds(I don’t know).

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Deepal’s Axis2 Book

After delaying for several months after purchasing the book I finally found time to read Deepal’s new Axis2 book. But once I started to read it is one go read.

Nice thing about the book is that for a person who has fair knowledge of web services concepts the book immediately make him familier with Axis2 in a very short time. If a developer need to use Axis2 for his web services project this is the best way to get him started because he can grasp the essentials within a days’ time by reading the book.

Although the book says that it is for Java developers it is good read for Axis2/C developers as well because it describes basically the same architecture(Of course there are differences but when it is taken as a whole it is still very useful). In tern it is good read for all who are interested in Axis2/C related/based stacks as well like WSF/C, WSF/PHP, WSF/Ruby, WSF/Python and WSF/Perl.

When I purchased the book I have following things in mind.

1. Axis2/C is based on Axis2/Java architecture. At the time we developed Axis2/C, Axis2/Java is already passed through it’s initial developer versions and we learned the architecture with discussions with the community as well as by directly diving in to the code base. But once Axis2/C is matured we rarely looked back into the Axis2/Java deeply. But we know that there is major changes going on through discussions with community. So I needed to update easily on new changes.

2. To share the views of a major Axis2/Java contributor.

3. Just because it is on Axis2 and by Deepal !!!.

But my aims 1 and 2 are not fully satisfied because it turned out to be very introductory book and I found anything new rarely. Also there are no views just facts in compact order on Axis2. But no worries. I really enjoyed reading the book because of its easy flowing style.

There should be a sequel to this book preferably an advanced book, a kind of a mastering version. These days the interest is not basically on the core but on many projects based around Axis2 like Synapse, WSO2/ESB, WSO2/Mashup server etc etc and there should be books on each of these subjects as well.

Actually Samisa has actually started the trend by writing a nice book called RESTful PHP Web Services which I believe is based on WSF/PHP. Very much keen on having a good read of the book and will tell about it in future.

Finally the book’s design is very attractive and invites for reading. However there were errors I found on the book which does not affect the overall aspect of the book.

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