Joe Ottinger writes on TheServerSide.com that polyglot programming has become a bit of a meme, with many pointing out how different languages bring different strengths. Polyglot, in this context, allows programmers to use scripting for some tasks, Java for other tasks, with other languages like C# providing other external services. Read more »

The battle for AJAX standards could be another one of those to-the-death battles for the hearts and minds of developers. No less than Joel Spolsky predicts someone will write an SDK for AJAX apps with common user interface elements that work together. This SDK will have the same stronghold as Microsoft once had with Windows APIs. Read more »

A TheServerSide.com article by eBay architect Michael Galpin explains how to use a Message Transmission Optimization Mechanism (MTOM) to send and receive less-than-simple SOAP messages.

This mechanism is said to combine the good things of SOAP with Attachments, but without having to break the binary data outside of the SOAP message. “The key is a technology called XML-binary Optimized Packaging or XOP,” writes Galpin.

He shows how to use MTOM with WSO2 WSAS, which is built on top of Apache Axis2.
Sending attacments with SOAP - TheServerSide.com

As noted on  TSS.NET and elsewhere, with the upcoming release of .NET 3.5 and VS 2008, Microsoft will reveal the source code for the .NET Framework Libraries. Licensing terms, however, do not allow changes or redistribution of the .NET Framework source code. On his blog, Ted Neward as his usual inimitable take on the matter. Read more »

Herndon, Virginia-based McDonald Bradley, Inc. announced it has been selected to perform
an interoperability study for the Department of Defense that will “define a future information-sharing
framework to serve the needs of the armed forces”. Read more »