Moblogger MIDP2 version 0.9 released!

I am exited to announce that my mobile photo blogging application that I bloged about few weeks back is now an open source project at sourceforget.net. I started it as a fun project but then I started using it big time, so I figured it kind of made the case for an open source project. Moreover it has been a good learning experience for me as this is my first open source project. Guys at sourceforge.net are awsome I gotta tell ya! They provide such wonderful service with excellent support - for FREE! I think I'll briefly share my experience starting the project - in case you have a good project idea but could use some jump starting - documentation at sourceforge site is pretty exhaustive, exhaustive enough to scare away potential users!

First step is registering an account at sourceforge.net. All you need is a valid email id. Once you are registered and logged in, you need to raise a project registration request. There are a few steps you need to go though, specifying your project details, selecting the open source licence type that you would use, agreeing to sourceforge.net terms etc. Make sure you set a valid name with valid first and last names as your true identity on your account before hand. My project was rejected initially because I used my initials for last name - the usual indian way. Also make sure you have a good description of the project - some selling like why you think it should be an open source should help! But like I mentioned earlier, their support is amazing and normally your project should get approved in a day or two.

Once the project is approved, you could start the development. Since I already had a working version of the application, I just directly checked in the source after making some refinements, add proper comments etc. Sourceforge.net basically provides you with two types of server access. One is for CVS and other is a regular shell that you can use for running scripts, cron jobs etc. Btw ssh is the only mechanism to access the servers. You can follow these instructions to download and configure ssh tools (if you dont already have one) and generating keys. You have a couple of options with the source, you can either use the sourceforge.net CVS service or maintain it elsewhere and SFTP only downloadable version. I have checked in the source to sourceforge.net CVS. Again you can either use WinCVS(with ssh) as described here or directly logon to the shell and then access CVS from there. I choose to use the second option as I dont like WinCVS - bit clumsy for me.

In order to make your project publicly downloadable, you need to use the sourceforge File Release System by selecting "File Release" link from project Admin screen. Typically a downloadable module contains the source(ofcourse!), the executable/deployable, Release notes and documentation. You could generate the deployable module using the sourceforge.net complie farm. The compile options are quite exhaustive and supports a wide varitey of OSes and development platforms. But as I didnt find a J2ME compile option there, I decided not to inlcude a deployable version of Moblogger2 for the time being. Instead I added proper compliation and deployment instructions in my release notes. However you do have the option to create the release module in any place you choose to, it just need to be uploaded in a place as mentioned at the "File release system" documentation. You could use either Securecopy or SFTP to upload the release module.

Here's the best part: Your project gets a free custom website hosted by sourceforge.net which incidently has excellent web hosting facilities! You have full support for PHP4, Apache SSI, CGI (Perl, Python) and MySQL (yes you project gets your own MySQL db) - better than what most (cheap) commercial hosting providers has to offer. I have not created a homepage for Moblogger2 but its defenitley going to happen sometime soon. The URL is defaulted to projectname.sourceforge.net but you could configure to use your own domain if you have one. All you owe sourceforge.net is a small logo that you need to display on your site.

So would you like to contribute in Moblogger2? There sure is plenty of stuff to do: Support for Blogger API, Atom API etc.. the list looooong. Just add a comment below with your email and I will get in touch with you.

Sun certified Associate for J2SE

It seems Sun is launching a brand new certification titled "Sun Certified Associate for theJava 2 Platform, Version 1.0".

Though the details are not very clear at this point, this is supposed to be the new entry level certification in Java. From this post at Javaranch by one of sun's certification managers:

If you are a beginner or an expert who knows exactly what you'd belooking for
when hiring an entry level programmer into your team, thisis your opportunity to
get involved in the creation of the upcomingindustry leading certification exam.

So would this make SCJP a level2 certification? Not sure about that but defenitely makes sense as there are more basic skills that one would expect from a junior developer than Core Java. I mean stuff like Web technologies and protocols, XML, Configuration management, team skills, IDE, OS basics etc are important too. Maybe more important than Core Java and SJCP in case of support and maintenence kind of roles - which is exactly what most entry level positions are. I bet this is the gap sun is addressing with this.

The blueprint survey is on as usual so if you are a beta guy ;) ( you get free beta vouchers in case you didnt know), you can find the instructions to participate at Javaranch forum. I am participating in the survey but about the beta exam... ummm I think I'll say pass this time!