Recent Posts by Bob Rhubart

How many programming languages are there? I won’t venture a guess. There must be dozens, if not hundreds. The 2018 State of the Octoverse Report from Github identified the following as the top ten most popular languages among GitHub contributors: JavaScript Java Python PHP C++ C# TypeScript Shell C Ruby So the word “polyglot” definitely describes the world of the software coder. Polyglot programming is certainly nothing new, but as the number of languages grows, and as language...

Oracle Groundbreaker Ambassador Gail Anderson translates expertise into opportunity. By Bob Rhubart March/April 2019 How has a degree in linguistics from University of California San Diego helped Gail Anderson in her successful career as a specialist in Java, C++, C, Python, Perl, and various other technologies? “You would think that it would be more helpful than it really was,” Anderson says. “Linguistics is the study of human languages, but certainly some of the things apply to...

JavaScript has been around since 1995. But a lot has changed in nearly a quarter-century. No longer limited to the browser, JavaScript has become a full fledged programming language, finding increasing use in enterprise application development. In this program a panel of experts explores the evolution of JavaScript, discusses how it is used in modern development projects, and then takes a close look at Oracle JavaScript Extension Toolkit, otherwise known as JET. Take a...

On March 27, 2009 the Arch2Arch Podcast released its first program. Over nearly ten years, more than 360 programs, and several name changes, what is now known as the Oracle Groundbreakers Podcast enters 2019 as the most downloaded Oracle podcast, a status it has maintained since early 2015. The credit for that accomplishment is shared by an incredible roster of panelists who have taken the time to lend their voices and share their insight and expertise, and by a faithful and...

The fans can't be wrong, and the numbers don't lie.  The list of the Top Ten 2 Minute Tech Tips for 2018 includes insight and expertise covering containers, bots, REST APIs, database performance, and more, as contributed by experts from across the community.  What's a 2 Minute Tech Tip? As the title implies, a 2 Minute Tech Tip is a short video that presents useful technical information for developers, architects, DBAs, and other roles. 2MTTs cover a wide range of topics, and...

American inventor Thomas Edison once said, “Hell, there are no rules here. We're trying to accomplish something.” What we hope to accomplish with this episode of the Groundbreaker Podcast is an exploration of the idea that the evolution in today’s architectures makes it advantageous, perhaps even necessary, to challenge some long-established concepts that have achieved “golden rule” status as they apply to the use of databases. Does ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, and...

The meandering career of Oracle Groundbreaker Ambassador Maurice Naftalin By Bob Rhubart January/February 2019 In the early ’60s in a public library in a small English town, a teenage Maurice Naftalin took the first step in a decades-long career when he discovered a book on the ALGOL 60 programming language. “I thought, ‘This looks like it would be a lot of fun,’” Naftalin says. But he wouldn’t have access to a computer until 1971 while pursuing a postgraduate degree in chemical...

Are you a RESTafarian? Or are you a GraphQL aficionado? Either way you'll want to listen to the latest Oracle Groundbreaker Podcast, as a panel of experts weighs the pros and cons of each technology. Representational State Transfer, known to its friends as REST, has been around for nearly two decades and has a substantial following. GraphQL, on the other hand, became publicly available in 2015, and only a few weeks ago moved under the control of the GraphQL Foundation, a...

A common thread connecting the small army of IT professionals I've met over the last 20 years is that their interest in technology developed when they were very young, and that youthful interest grew into a full-fledged career. That's truly wonderful. But what happens if a young person never has a chance to develop that interest? And what can be done to draw those young people to careers in technology? In this Oracle Groundbreakers Podcast extra you will meet someone who is...