DevTopics

We are constantly bombarded with news of stupid software patents, so it’s nice to see the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) actually reject a stupid patent once in a while.

The USPTO rejected all 20 patent claims for Internet subdomains held by the Hoshiko company.  The USPTO ruled that the idea of subdomains — domains hosted within larger domains, such as mail.google.com — is too obvious to patent.  Hoshiko was using the patents to litigate against large web companies like Google and LiveJournal, which hosts more than 3 million personalized subdomains for its users.

The story started in 1999 when the IdeaFlood company applied for a patent on Internet subdomains.  As usual, the USPTO blindly approved the patents in 2004.  IdeaFlood immediately went to court, filing suit against Google and About.com.  The Google case was dismissed, and About.com settled out of court.  IdeaFlood then transferred the patents to Hoshiko.

Since neither Google nor About.com strongly challenged the patent, the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) took up the fight and requested that the patent be re-examined.  The EFF was able to prove that the idea of virtual subdomains was developed long before the patent was filed in 1999.

We all know that today’s software license agreement is a joke.  It’s usually a dozen pages of legaleze that nobody reads and everyone just clicks “Accept” in order to run the software.  The company could be demanding our first born, but we’d be none the wiser.

Turns out that End User License Agreements have been around for a long time.  Here is a “License Agreement” drafted by Thomas Edison for his National Phonograph Company.  Not only does it restrict the product’s use and resale, it also establishes a floor for the market price.  Edison was truly a man before his time.

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Experts from more than 30 U.S. and international cyber-security organizations jointly released a consensus list of the 25 most dangerous programming errors that lead to security bugs and cyber-crime.

The impact of these programming errors is significant.  Just two of these errors resulted in more than 1.5 million website security breaches during 2008.  These breaches allowed malicious software to take control of the computers that visited those web sites, turning their computers into zombies that committed further cyber-crimes.

Shockingly, most programmers do not understand or look for these errors.  Colleges rarely teach programming students how to avoid these errors.  And most software companies don’t explicitly test for these errors before releasing their products.

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FKA200 has compiled a list of the most expensive domain name sales ever.  Many of these sales were completed before the dot-com bust in 2001.  It makes you wonder if the buyers were ever able to recoup their costs.

See the rest of the list at FKA200

It appears that Dr. Dobbs Journal is dead.  Beginning in January 2009, Dr. Dobb’s Journal will become “Dr. Dobbs Report — A Special Software Development Monthly Section in InformationWeek magazine.”

According to a posting on the InformationWeek website:

“Led by Dr. Dobb’s Editor-in-Chief Jon Erickson, Dr. Dobb’s Report focuses on the tools, technologies, people, products and services transforming the software development marketplace.  Anchored by new in-depth Analytic Reports the Dobbs editorial team will produce in 2009, Dr. Dobb’s Report highlights the most business-critical perspective and strategies to help the readers of InformationWeek Magazine define and frame software development objectives.”

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Inspired by AngelFire’s gallery of photos for programming language inventors, here is a brief biography of the inventors of major programming languages still in use today:

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Do witches run spell checkers?

Cannot find REALITY.SYS.  Universe halted.

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It’s time for our annual ritual of creating a list of idealistic and ultimately unrealistic goals called “New Years Resolutions” that we pledge to adopt for the coming year but usually abandon by late January.  Wikipedia defines a New Years Resolution as a commitment that an individual makes to finishing a project, reforming a habit or making a positive lifestyle change.

Although computer programmers are an intelligent bunch, our higher technical capabilities often translate into lower social and people skills.  Plus we are constantly seeking to improve our technical knowledge by learning new tricks and tools.  Therefore, programmers can benefit from New Years Resolutions as much as anyone.

Following is a list of 15 suggested New Years Resolutions for Computer Programmers.  These are not my personal resolutions, which are specific to my current projects and therefore likely boring to you.  Rather, these are resolutions that may apply to any programmer.

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Following are the top-selling .NET software development books of 2008 according to the Amazon.com sales rankings:

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It’s holiday time, and hopefully most of you programmers are home enjoying time with your family and loved ones.  But if you’re like me, at some point over the holidays you will escape to your computer for a little diversion.  So to keep you in the holiday spirit, here are some Christmas and Santa Claus-related goodies for computer programmers:

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