Just a guy in Vermont trying to connect all the dots...
Dan York
Author's posts
Apr 04
Video: Douglass Crockford explains “The JSON Saga”
While this video is from back in July 2009, it’s a great story around how JSON came to be and has some solid lessons in it for people developing new data formats:
Yahoo! thankfully provided a full transcript of the video on that page so that if you don’t have time to watch the video (I initially didn’t) you can simply scan down the text.
I enjoyed the emphasis on “less is more” and on the need to remove functionality to make it simpler. At one point Crockford says (taken from the transcript):
One of the key design goals behind JSON was minimalism. My idea was that the less we have to agree on in order to inter-operate, the more likely we’re going to be able to inter-operate well. If the interfaces are really simple, we can easily connect, and if the interfaces are really complicated, the likelihood that something’s going to go wrong goes way, way up. So I endeavored to make JSON as simple as possible.
I had a goal of being able to put JSON standard on the back of a business card. And this is the card. Come see me if you want one of these cards; it’s the JSON card, it’s got the JSON standard on the back.
He goes on at some length about XML, language design and much, much more. If you have 50 minutes to watch the video, it’s worth it. (Alternatively, the transcript is excellent.)
Apr 02
Meeting My Reviewer with the Oddest Review Headline ("Offal")
I admit that I never get tired of meeting face-to-face with people who have read the Seven Deadliest Unified Communications Attacks and I enjoy particularly meeting with those folks who have taken the time out of their busy lives to write up a review of my book. I do read all the reviews I find about the book, figuring that I can always learn from what others say. So far I've been quite pleased and humbled by the positive reviews the book has received to date.
As I mentioned previously, though, I was quite surprised by one review headline entitled "Offal Is Not Awful, and the Seven Deadliest Attacks" and could honestly not even remotely figure out what my book had to do with offal (and it turned out to have nothing to do with it).
When I was down in Miami earlier this year for the ITEXPO conference, I had a chance to meet the reviewer in question, David Byrd of Broadsoft, and naturally I asked if he minded a picture being taken (he didn't):
Thanks again, David, for your kind words - and memorable headline!
Mar 31
SecureLogix Releases Report: Voice And Unified Communications State of Security 2011
To put this in perspective, SecureLogix sells solutions that monitor your network and protect your VoIP/UC systems. While that creates a fairly obvious bias for a report like this, it also means that they do have great data from literally hundreds of networks where their tools have been deployed.
They've done a nice job packaging up the data, providing very readable charts, including solution diagrams and listing all sorts of resources at the end. The report is available now from the NoJitter.com site:
http://www.nojitter.com/sponsoredcontent/view/cid/3900003
You need to login to the site to download it today, but the folks I know at SecureLogix say that they will also be making it available from their own site in a few months.
Sure, you have to read the report understanding that it is written from the viewpoint of a vendor with an interest in selling security solutions... but regardless it is definitely a worthwhile document to read through. Kudos to SecureLogix for creating this report - and I look forward to seeing how it changes and evolves in the years ahead.
P.S. I found it interesting that the report talked about modems, which is something I actually didn't even touch on in the book and don't really think of as "VoIP" or "UC"... However, they certainly are components of the larger network security area of concern.
Mar 31
Great Resource -> Felix’s Node.js Guide
Want to learn more about Node.js? Felix Geisendörfer recently rolled out a site with a series of guides to help people get started:
So far he has these guides available:
- Node.js Beginner Guide
- Node.js Style Guide
- Node.js Community Guide
- Node.js Convincing The Boss Guide
and promises more to come. He is nicely using a Github repo for the development of the guides and you can monitor that repo to see what is in development.
Documentation and training are always critical elements of helping people get started with a new language, so it’s great to see initiatives like this one. I’m definitely watching the Github repo and have been reading through his guides already.
Thanks, Felix, for putting these docs online!
Mar 30
Welcome!
Welcome to DanYork.me – at some point soon I’m planning to aggregate my various writing across the web into a common place. Stay tuned…
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.
