Blogs

A Rough Primer on Enterprise Architecture

Posted Tue, 07/06/2010 - 17:55 by Matthew Cascio

I found this post from Nick Malik to be a useful reference to additional information. Thanks, Nick!

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FLV head aches on Windows Server 2003

Posted Tue, 07/06/2010 - 14:42 by Matthew Cascio

For anyone using Windows Server 2003 (like me) you will likely run into this issue sooner or later. Thankfully, for me it was later since my Windows box is a spare. Ironically, it's for working out kinks like this!

You'll probably find this useful blog post at the top of your SERPs, but I'll pass it along anyway just in case:

FLV 404 Error On Windows 2003 Server
Posted July 26, 2007 at 11:48 AM
http://www.bennadel.com/blog/866-FLV-404-Error-On-Windows-2003-Server.htm

Thanks to Ben Nadel!

My Blog Now Using Google Font API & Google Font Directory

Posted Thu, 05/20/2010 - 11:31 by Matthew Cascio

I learned yesterday about Google Font API, a public access point into the Google Font Directory, and decided to give it a try on my blog (this very website you are visiting now.) Specifically, I am using Cantarell, not because it's the first on the alphabetical Google Font Directory listing, but because I tried many of the 18 font families available and felt this one best matched the modern, humble styling of my acquia marina Drupal theme.

Acid3 Test results

Posted Tue, 05/18/2010 - 16:09 by Matthew Cascio

I've been thinking about how to best tackle some web standards challenges at work this week, particularly around video on Mobile Safari and the much-anticipated HTML5 video support across the industry. So I figured I would take a closer look at web standards compliance on all the browsers I currently use since it's been a while...just for fun. And it was definitely fun, and surprising!

EA Toolbox: UML Sequence Diagram

Posted Mon, 03/15/2010 - 12:53 by Matthew Cascio

A well-constructed UML Sequence Diagram can be a valuable tool on many levels in the EA process.  A simplified one can act as a process flow diagram with activities mapped against people and systems.  See a real-world example from a colleague.  You can also use sequence diagrams for detailed technical documentation, especially useful to show messaging within an application or between systems.  

Another lazy (but effective) query trick

Posted Sat, 12/19/2009 - 03:05 by Matthew Cascio

As software developers, we're always looking for ways to write efficient code. Well, this probably isn't one of those examples, but it's a useful little hack that saves time writing conditional statements for dynamic queries:

The problem

You need to write a query with multiple constraints (WHERE clauses) but not all variables are available all the time and you want to keep your AND statements simple.

Do I need enterprise architecture?

Posted Sat, 10/10/2009 - 12:26 by Matthew Cascio

EA has been getting more and more attention lately, but there's still considerable (and justifiable) discussion of its value for many organizations. EA has traditionally found more fertile ground in larger organizations, typically ones that are highly regulated or otherwise linked to governments. These organizations generally need and do more transition planning than, say, a smaller company in a high-growth environment.

Nonetheless, if you are considering launching or improving your EA function, here are a few things to consider:

Open-Source Transformation: A Real Options Approach

Posted Wed, 09/30/2009 - 20:31 by Matthew Cascio

These are two of my favorite topics: open-source software and real options!

I was sifting through my Time Capsule and found a deck I used several times for high-level discussions about strategy for an IT transformation to (mostly) open-source investments. Truth is, it can be applied to just about any transformation project. You can find the full deck on GoogleDocs, but here are the basics:

The problem....

Rails error - "marshal data too short"

Posted Thu, 09/17/2009 - 19:16 by Matthew Cascio

This one gave us fits for days because we were troubleshooting in the wrong manner.  This error generally is not caught by a Rails application because it happens as data is transported between the data storage layer (in our case MySQL) and Rails itself.  So its outside the scope of your application error handling.  This results in a rough experience for users of a web application who see nothing but a white screen with un-style text "Application error (Rails)".  Dead end for them!

What causes the error?

The value of transition architectures

Posted Mon, 09/14/2009 - 16:49 by Matthew Cascio

A recent (and currently active) project brings to mind the need for thoughtful transition architectures.  Our development team is installing [gasp] a web content management tool.  In the long run, I have no doubt it's the right move for our group and I advocated enthusiastically on its behalf.  The gasp is because it represents a paradigm shift for our technology stack insofar as the WCM is a commercial open-source J2EE application that is replacing an open-source Rails cms-- and don't hold that against us, we love Rails and continue to use it in many applications.  We just

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