January 2006 – Page 7 – Kev's Development Toolbox

January 10, 2006

Profiling Java Apps

Profiling an app involves looking at an apps performance and resource usage over time. This is an essential step to be able to tune an application and the app server (if deployed to one) so that it can run optimally.

DevX.com have a great article this week explaining the JVM’s support for profiling tools, memory spaces in the heap, and the Java 5.0 JConsole utility to examine heap usage. It’s a good introduction to profiling, and it would be great if they could follow this with a more detailed article describing typical problems to look for and how to tune your app and VM to avoid the problems.

January 9, 2006

MacWorld this week – with the x86 Mac be annouced?

MacWorld starts in San Francisco this week on Tuesday. There has been some talk of various expected annoucements, that may include the iPod shuffle replaced with a smaller iPod nano, and possibly Apple’s annoucement that they are entering the Plasma TV market, that will come with a built in Mac (?) Wow – that would be impressive.

I haven’t read anywhere that people are expecting the annoucement of the x86 Mac yet, so maybe it’s too early in the year, but from what I remember it is due to be announced this year.

January 9, 2006

News.com: Interview with James Gosling

News.com have an interview with James Gosling on their site today. They cover topics such as rate of Java adoption (still showing no signs of slowing), the ease of use of Java which has previously been a barrier to entry (although starting to be addressed in Java 5.0 and EE5.0), and a comparision between the use of scripting languages and Java.

January 7, 2006

HD gaming to arrive when PS3 ships

Although Microsoft are touting their XBox360 as the next generation in gaming with HD capabilities, it’s actually only partly true.

Firstly, the console only supports regular DVD disks, and not either of the soon to be arriving next generation BluRay or HD-DVD formats. Secondly, the highest resolution it can output is 1080i. Thats ‘interlaced’ not progressive scan. Yes thats far more lines of resolution than standard TV output (480i), but the real holy grail of HD TV is 1080p. Progressive. Not interlaced.

The PS3 will hit the shelves sometime this year with both next generation DVD format, BluRay, capable of storing 50GB in dual layer format (compared to 8GB on a dual layer DVD), and true 1080p progressive HD TV output.

Couple that with the monstrous GPU processor, plus 7 cores on the Cell processor, and we’re in for something truely special.

Microsoft may have got to the market first, but what they’ve delivered really is XBox 1.5, not the next generation. I expect Microsoft will be introducing HD-DVD external drives in the near future, and possibly an upgrade of 1080p in a second release of the console, but next generation? Almost. PS3 will be the next generation, and if Sony deliver what they are promising, they will Leave the XBox 360 behind in their dust.