TheServerSide published my article that explains how to uses OpenLaszlo with non-XML data, most notably JSON. It contains a short self-contained example of how to asynchronously retrieve the data, without triggering the XML parsing routines.

Currently this is still primitive since it doesn't tie into the data-binding infrastructure. There are however plans for the dataset facility to be better abstracted, creating a uniform approach to interacting with structured data. Until then you're still able to explicitly update the view elements that you need by applying the techniques that are outlined in this article.

Read the article here.

The open-sourcing of Terracotta DSO has been one of the most exciting recent events in the Java world for me. With the help of their engineers I looked into making Terracotta work seamlessly with RIFE and more specifically RIFE's native Java continuations and its dynamic template system. This integration will soon be widely available, so stay tuned!

As I looked closer at the approaches of Terracotta, I realized that they come very close to what I've been striving for with RIFE:

• no serialization,
• reliance on Java language keywords to drive the core functionality,
• ease of configuration and
• non-intrusiveness

... and a lot of this is achieved through byte-code rewriting. I also was very excited to see that Terracotta took the open-source model seriously and wasn't just dumping their product on the world without properly following up. Public documentation is collaboratively being written for open-source usage and support through IRC and email has been top-notch. You can feel that everyone involved is very passionate and genuinely motivated to improve their product through the feedback of a larger community.

Native Java continuations fail-over and clustering has been one of the trickiest parts for RIFE users to date and I want to be part of developing the de-facto solution for POJO-based clustering. That's why I'm joining Terracotta as of April 2nd 2007.

Of course I'm still continuing to work on RIFE, to maintain solutions for Uwyn customers, and to talk about various Java-related subjects at conferences ... including Open Terracotta!

The recording of my talk at JavaPolis 2006 about Web Continuations has been made available as a podcast.

You can listen to it on Parleys.com or subscribe to their feed to have all the JavaPolis audio content delivered to you.

Note: please, each time I say 'Josh' mentally substitute it for 'Neil' ... I made a horrible mistake and people only pointed this out to me after the talk, I sank into the ground from shame

David Spector wrote an extensive blog entry on CNET TechRepublic about why he selected RIFE to develop his web-based business applications.

If you've been wondering why you should bother to look at RIFE, this is a nice overview.

The part where he talks about the 'UNlearning curve' is very true ... I've witnessed it many times.

Read it here.

Bill Venner from Artima Developer has interviewed me at JavaPolis 2006.

Originally this was intended to be posted as an MP3 together with the other interviews (day 1, day 2, day 3), however we went on for almost an hour instead of 15 minutes. Frank Sommers took the trouble of transcribing and editing the interview and posted it today on Artima Developer.

If you're still wondering what continuations are about or want more in-depth information, head over to the article.