Just a guy in Vermont trying to connect all the dots...
Dan York
Author's posts
Mar 27
If you enjoyed 7 Deadliest UC Attacks, you may also like the fiction book "Counting From Zero"
It's a story... about an Internet security researcher named Mick O'Malley who recognizes the signs of an impending global "zero day" attack via a massive botnet... and how he discovers it... how the various forces out there conspire against him... how he and his allies fight back...
I don't know how it ends, yet, as I'm only 2/3rds of the way through it, but I'm enjoying the story so far quite a good bit.
I've known Alan for a good number of years mainly through IETF and SIP-related connections including the SIP Forum... we routinely meet up at various conferences and these days of course connect through social networks. While Alan's written a number of technical books related to the SIP protocol, this is his first foray into fiction and on his new blog site he explains the journey that brought him into self-publishing and the world of ebooks. I commend him on taking the leap and I look forward to seeing how it goes.
I've thought, too, of pursuing the fiction route myself at times... if I go back a couple of years, one of the best presentations I've given on VoIP security was one where I did away with all the traditional ways of talking about security and instead told a story called "The Saga of SysAdmin Steve". The story hit all the points I would have covered anyway, but in a way that was much more engaging... was much more memorable by the attendees... and was much more fun as a presenter. The challenge, of course, is that such a presentation can take a great amount more time to create. But it's certainly been on my mind lately to do more presentations and perhaps even some writing along those lines.
Meanwhile, I congratulate Alan on the launch of "Counting from Zero" and encourage you all to check out the book's website and Alan's blog and, if you are so inclined, to purchase a copy. I'm definitely enjoying the read so far.
Mar 24
A Sign of the Node.js Buzz – Joyent Launches a Node.js Jobs Site
Node.js certainly has been getting a good bit of buzz these days. I’ve been writing about Node.js here because I personally find it interesting, but you only have to watch the Twitter search string to know that a lot of other people out there find the same fascination with Node.js.
It’s a sign of that intense interest, then, that Joyent launched a “Node.js Jobs” site this week at:
with some initial postings from some of the startups that you might expect to be using a bleeding edge service like Node.js:
Very cool to see… and may it only help grow the pool of Node.js developers out there!
Mar 22
Video: Intro to Node.js by Ryan Dahl at SF PHP Meetup on Feb 22, 2011
Here’s a great video introduction to Node.js by creator Ryan Dahl at the San Francisco PHP Meetup Group on February 22, 2011. He steps people through building apps in a great style:
Mar 12
Mashable: Why Everyone Is Talking About Node.js
If you are wondering why so much attention is focused on Node.js these days in the online media and sites (including my own writing about Node.js), Mashable had a decent post this week called:
It’s a good overview that explains much about why Node.js is so interesting to so many people. I’m not sure I agree with the author about the Ruby community being “exclusive and harsh”. I experienced nothing but helpful assistance back when I was learning Ruby. The Node.js community, though, has definitely been very welcoming to newcomers so far.
Regardless of that probably unnecessary dig, the overall article was a good overview of Node and is certainly worth a read.
Mar 03
Online Preview Available of O’Reilly’s Upcoming “Up and Running with Node.js”
Tom Hughes-Croucher is writing a book for O’Reilly & Associates about Node.js called “Up and Running with Node.js” and he tweeted out today that a preview of the book is now available online at:
As he says in the author intro:
When Simon, my editor, and I were initially discussing this project it was obvious how vibrant the Node.js community is. We felt that it was important that we engaged with the community as we worked on this manuscript. In order to do that we decided to release the book in parts as I wrote it. What you are reading now is one of those partial releases.
It’s very cool that he’s made the text available and will be continuing to update it as the book evolves. Apparently he has to do something to enable commenting, but shortly you should be able to comment on his text.
Nice to see authors doing this to solicit input from the larger community before a book is actually printed. Very cool.
Mar 02
7 Deadliest UC Attacks Mentioned at Enterprise Connect
As an author, it's wonderful to hear that the book is really helping people understand UC security issues.
Thanks again for all the kind words and mentions!
Mar 02
Great (long!) Article on Node.js in The Register
What is Node.js all about? How did it come about? What prompted Ryan Dahl to create Node? What other languages did he try? Who are some of the companies using Node.js, and why? What does Google think about Node.js, given that they maintain the V8 JavaScript engine used by Node? What are the kind of performance gains you can see in Node?
Answers to all those questions and many more are in a lengthy piece on The Register titled “The Node Ahead: JavaScript leaps from browser into future“. It’s a well done article and rather than excerpt it here, I’d encourage you to go take a look at the full piece. Interesting to read about some of the background of which I was not aware. Good stuff!
Feb 27
Quick Way to See What Programming Languages Are Used on Github
Ever wonder what programming languages are the most popular? One way is to look at a programming community and see what is being used within that space. A large community right now in 2011 is the people using Github for git repositories (and I am one of those) and Github nicely provides a URL showing the languages in use:
When I look at the chart at the time I’m writing this post, it looks like this:
This is across 600,000+ developers and close to 1.8 million git repositories.
Given that historically many Ruby developers used git and Github, it’s not surprising to see Ruby there. With JavaScript, I have to wonder if its ranking is due to the phenomenal interest in Node.js and the heavy usage of git and Github within that community. Glad to see my old friend python hanging in there, too. The Microsoft languages like C# are missing… but then they simply may not be well represented within the Github user base.
Like any measurement this can only be taken as language popularity within the Github community. Measurement within another community would give different results. Still, the Github space is very vibrant and dynamic with lots of energy… it’s interesting to see what folks there are using.
Feb 23
Upgraded Code.DanYork.Com to WordPress 3.1…
Tonight I just upgraded Code.DanYork.com to the shiny new WordPress 3.1… it’s the first of several sites I’ll be upgrading so this is mostly a test. If you see anything funky, please do let me know…. and, man, I keep loving what the WordPress community keeps on developing! Cool stuff!
Feb 22
Free eBook: Mastering Node.js (still a work-in-progress – and NEEDS YOUR HELP)
As I continue my own exploration of Node.js, I was pleased to see that a free eBook, Mastering Node.js, was available about Node.js from none other than TJ Holowaychuk, a big contributor to the Node.js community. You can get the current version of the book at:
However, there is the one little detail… it’s still very much a work-in-progress. As TJ Holowaychuk says on the Github page for the project:
Mastering node is an open source eBook by node hackers for node hackers. I started this as a side project and realized that I don’t have time 🙂 so go nuts, download it, build it, fork it, extend it and share it. If you come up with something you wish to contribute back, send me a pull request.
It is a good start on a book… and if anyone out there wants to add to it and help fill out the contents, he’s obviously open to that assistance.
