DFWUUG NEWSLETTER
October 1999
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DFWUUG NEWSLETTER October 1999
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The mission of the DFWUUG is to promote interest in and an understanding of UNIX All meetings are open to the public without charge.
The group meets the first Thursday of the month, with the exception of those months where the Thursday falls on or near a holiday. Everyone is cordially invited to attend. For current information, please check out the user group's web site www.dfwuug.org.
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Presented by: Daniel G. Webster, Database Specialist, Network Appliance
Introduction:
Dan came to Network Appliance from Oracle Corporation. Dan has spent the last year at Network Appliance speaking nationally to audiences about the technology revolution his company has started.
At Oracle, Dan was initially responsible for healthcare accounts in Michigan and Ohio, and this responsibility grew to national coverage. Dan has extensive knowledge of the healthcare industry along with an in-depth understanding of the Oracle product line (database, tools, and applications).
In addition to his work at Oracle, Dan worked as a Functional Analyst with Andersen Consulting for 5 years. Prior to that, Dan was a Reliability, Analysis, and Test Engineer for Saturn Corporation; Dan was responsible for Steering and Suspension Systems, and he was at Saturn when the first production vehicle rolled off the line. Dan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, Michigan.
Topic.
More than two-thirds of data administrators at large companies say they are considering installing storage area networks within the next twelve months (according to Forrester Research data). By eliminating the i/o bottleneck created by traditional server attached storage, storage networking makes information more accessible to users.
Storage networking is an umbrella term that covers both network attached storage(NAS) and storage area networks(SAN) which are two important trends in storage management and networking today. The vision of Storage Networking is to separate the data from the application server. In some ways NAS and SAN are so similar it's often confusing to people. The similarities between the two and the lack of fully defined standards only add to the confusion.
In spite of the similarities between the two, a number of distinct differences exist which determine what is SAN and what is NAS. The primary aim of SAN is to separate the data from the application, whereas NAS carries it to the next logical step by also separating the management of this data from the application (host) layer.
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In Chicago, October 14 has often been a holiday to honor an Italian navigator named Christopher Columbus. Columbus Day is to honor his "discovery" of the Western Hemisphere for Europeans. What a concept he had, going West to get East, particularly if others think that the World is flat, and you might fall off the end.
What a language C is! It's everywhere. There is C. Then there is C++, originally referred to as "C with classes". There's Visual C++, which involves various icons, but as necessary also C++ code. There's Powerbuilder, another visual icon language, with C code in it, and then there's JAVA, with C++ code there as well.
No wonder lots of us are interested in C and C++.
For me, C is a natural move from the assembler I first programmed. Both can deal below the character byte level, to the level of bits. Both deal in addresses, not just contents of variables, but addresses of variables, even of composite variables. Both have efficiency of code.
I've taught assembler, C, and C++, taken courses in Visual C++ and Powerbuilder,
and studied JAVA. Still, I am not always confident as to how to answer the
question that contracting firms at times put to us:
"On a level of 0-10, with 10 best, how do you rate on C? On C++?
I got more insight into self-rating recently, when talking with a student at UTD. M is taking a course in C/C++, but she informed me, most of it is C++. She showed me the printout of a program she'd written. It contained about 40 lines of code. At least 15 included moving literals with the cout command. Well, that is a C++ command. No denying that. M also pointed to the *= operator. Her TA had told her, mistakenly, that *= was a C++ addition. On a self-ranking, M might rate herself a 10 in C++.
I, on the other hand, struggling at times with inheritance of virtual functions or use of inline, might not rate myself as high, but would be dealing in a whole hemisphere M has no inkling of at all.
A little over one year ago, in this newsletter, I wrote about the ++ command in C. I'd been discussing C with a colleague at work. He, like M, was more recently a college student than I. Yet I knew the ++ command in C, backwards forwards, and in between. Stan thought ++ might be a C++ addition (which it is not). "Stan" thought himself quite good in C++, yet I had him completely trumped on this one.
How do you rate on a scale of 0-10, on C, and on C++?
Might your self-rating be based on your perception of how big the World is?
--John Keohane
keohane@prodigy.net
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Special thanks to O'Reilly books
A book review of Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution, edited by Chris DiBona, Sam Ockman, & Mark Stone, O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., 1999, ISBN 1-56592-582-3
Open Sources is a parade of celebrities from the Open Source revolution. Perhaps it's a testament to the community they're a part of that so many of the Open Source pioneers were able to come together in this one book. The book is a compilation of the work of 14 authors. See how many names you recognize: Brian Behlendorf, Scott Bradner, Jim Hamerly, Kirk McKusick, Tim O'Reilly, Tom Paquin, Bruce Perens, Eric Raymond, Richard Stallman, Michael Tiemann, Linus Torvalds, Paul Vixie, Larry Wall, Bob Young.
The book will be most enjoyed by those who are already have an appreciation for the hacker community. Terms that are used without explanation include technical terms such as m68k, as well as business terms such as CAGR and VC. There are several in-jokes, such as a reference to "blinkenlights" which you wouldn't understand unless you've done some additional reading or you've been around long enough to have seen the posters on the machine room wall yourself. (Personally, I think the world needs more blinkenlights. :-) There are quite a few problems with the editing, ranging from misspelled words to obtuse grammar to flubbed graphics. O'Reilly has a habit of sending old printings out for their review copies, so perhaps many of the problems are already fixed. (I have the first edition, January 1999 printing.)
The articles in the compilation all fit within the theme, but they approach it from different angles. Don't expect it to read as a coherent storyline from one article to the next. However, there are a number of places where the authors recognize and discuss the writings of others in the book. And if you pay attention, you'll see a few places where the authors have disagreements. It's very nice to see these varying opinions side by side. For example, Torvalds mentions his dislike of emacs, and Stallman and others argue on each side of the "free software" vs. "open source" terminology debate. The arguments aren't always fully substantiated, but they are civil. I recognize at least one of the articles as having been published earlier, so I suspect that several of the articles are reprints. Those who follow the Open Source community religiously will recognize most of the concepts, if not the articles themselves.
Highlights include a very eclectic piece from Larry Wall, originally delivered as a keynote speech. I didn't quite get the point, but it was fun. A nice surprise was a few articles which were more serious, such as "Open Source as a Business Strategy." "Software Engineering" by Paul Vixie was a real treat, since the concept of using a real software engineering process for an open source project is something I've been wanting to explore.
Some people have a hard time with the concept of open source software. Everyone loves to be able to take advantage of free software. But when you tell someone that the software they work on should be made available free of charge, they start to worry about where their paycheck will come from. So will Open Sources win them over? There are many good arguments for this fundamentally different business model for marketing software. But the book is targeted more toward those who are predisposed to the idea, and it isn't going to convince those who cling the strongest to the traditional methods of software development.
For me, Open Sources did a great job of presenting several angles to the open source philosophy and the reasons that it's a practical choice. And it puts a lot of the history of the movement, as told by the pioneers themselves, in one convenient place. I highly recommend the book for any true hacker.
Copyright 1999, Danny Faught
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2ND USENIX CONFERENCE ON DOMAIN SPECIFIC LANGUAGES (DSL '99)
October 3-6, 1999 Omni Hotel, Austin, Texas, USA In cooperation with ACM
SIGPLAN and ACM SIGSOFT Advances DSL design, implementation, and software
engineering, with tutorials, refered papers, invited talks, and interactive
sessions. WEB SITE: http://www.usenix.org/events/dsl99
2ND USENIX SYMPOSIUM ON INTERNET TECHNOLOGIES & SYSTEMS (USITS '99)
October 11-14, 1999 Regal Harvest House Hotel, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Co-sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society Task Force on Internetworking.
Brings together web developers, engineers and researchers interested
in developing innovative Internetworking applications and technology. WEB
SITE: http://www.usenix.org/events/usits99
3RD ATLANTA LINUX SHOWCASE
October 12-16, 1999 Cobb Galleria, Atlanta, Georgia, USA Co-sponsored by USENIX, Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts and Linux International Three conference tracks over 3 days with 40 speakers discussing Linux technical and business issues, 2 days of intensive tutorials organized by USENIX, plus an exhibition with over 140 vendors showcasing the latest products all add up to a great event. Extended abstracts due: July 1, 1999 WEB SITE: http://www.linuxshowcase.org
LISA '99--13TH SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATION CONFERENCE
November 7-12, 1999 Seattle Conference Center, Seattle, Washington, USA Co-Sponsored by SAGE, the System Administrators Guild The only conference by and for System Administrators at sites of all sizes offers comprehensive program with tutorials, refered papers, invited talks, panels, interactive sessions, new Practicum track, and product exhibition. Extended abstracts due: May 25, 1999 WEB SITE: http://www.usenix.org/events/lisa99
TCL/2K: THE 7TH USENIX TCL/TK CONFERENCE
February 14-18, 2000 Marriott Hotel, Austin, Texas, USA Brings together researchers and practitioners to publish and present original work on the latest developments in Tcl/Tk and scripting. Paper proposals due: September 1, 1999 WEB SITE: http://www.usenix.org/events/tcl2k
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| Office | Officer | Phone |
| President | Greg Pratt | 972-376-7484 |
| Vice President | Stuart Yarus | 972-996-2322 |
| Treasurer | Leah Grove | 972-702-4503 |
| Secretary | Chris Pallone | 972-239-5544 |
| News Editor | Jim Wyatt | 972-516-4845 |
| Program Committee Chair | Gary Lelvis | 972-871-5842 |
| PERL SIG | David Aldrich | |
| Linux SIG | Dave Whitinger | |
| SysAdmin SIG | Chris Pallone | |
| Publicity | Kevin Frederick | 214-922-8947 |
| Sponsorship Coordinator | Kathy Hopkins | 972-238-0401 |
| Webmaster | Dee Parker | 972-361-3072 |
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Abacus Technical Services’ mission is to provide quality staffing services, promoting the highest ethical standards while building positive relationships with clients and candidates.
Contact an Abacus Technical Services’ recruiter for information about
outstanding UNIX opportunities. Please call 972-644-4105 or send your resume
to:abacus@abacustechnical.com. Visit Abacus on the web at
www.abacustechnical.com.
For career opportunities with JCPenney, please contact Alicia Boyd at JCPenney
Co., P.O. Box 10001, Dallas, TX 75301-8115; FAX to (972) 431-2320; or EMAIL
to: amboyd@jcpenney.com For more
information on JCPenney, visit
http://www.jcpenney.com
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http://www.freebsd.org/
Official site of FreeBSD, based on the commercial versions of BSD Unix.
Information on installing and using FreeBSD.
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http://members.tripod.com/certifyonline/
Certify Online: Learn about Java and the certification process, then review
a catalog of self-directed, electronic courses for programmers and
developers.
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http://twn.perlscripts.com/free.html
Uninet Free Perl Scripts: Company provides an archive of scripts. Includes a help desk with free tech support as well as a download center.