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March 12, 2002
April 2002 Reader LettersReaders comment on Lincoln Stein's February column, Curl, and the evolution of <Readers comment on Lincoln Stein's February column, Curl, and the evolution of Web Techniques into New Architect.
a welcome conversion After reading Amit Asaravala's "Home Page" column in the last issue of Web Techniques (February 2002), I want to say that I feel your magazine is transforming into a better publication. The things I like about Web Techniques are the in-depth looks at how politics, law, and corporations affect the shaping of the Web. I like the overviews of new programs and technology as I try to gauge if or how they will be relevant in tomorrow's Internet. On the flip side, I generally find myself skipping over the development-focused portions of Web Techniques. Too much of the magazine in the past has been focused on Unix-based aspects of Web development at the expense of virtually ignoring Microsoft's offerings. These tutorials will not be missed by me.
The New Architect theme overall, and its varied approach seem to be a little more in line with what I personally want out of a Web tech magazine. Keep up the good work.
Anthony Mathenia offensive art Today I have to take a minute to write about your illustration (Web Techniques, February 2002) that accompanies the article "Delivering the Goods." A shapely woman in a service position being leered at by two men is a totally inappropriate graphic for this type of magazine. I get enough pandering, offensive, sexist ads in every other computer and Internet magazine on the market. Please be different and deliver something more sophisticated.
Michelle Rau anticipation I loved reading Web Techniques and greatly look forward to New Architect.
Braden Albert overstepping bounds "E-terrorism could be on the way....The September 11 tragedy should serve as a wake-up call." Lincoln Stein's article "Guarding Against Terror" (Web Techniques, February 2002) uses all the jingoism of 9/11, except that he applies it to computer security. This use is a disservice to both computer security and America's liberties. The Chicken Little story is being told again, and how quickly we forget our childhood lessons. Mr. Fausett's "Becoming A Patriot" (Web Techniques, February 2002) fares worse, as he extols the virtues of complicity with tyranny because "it's the law." With regard to America's liberties, the recent anti-terrorist USA PATRIOT Act greatly self-expands the federal government's surveillance, wiretapping, and detention authority. Yet, there's no evidence that these new police powers will actually stop terrorists. President Bush urged Congress to approve the unconstitutional provisions in the PATRIOT Act, saying it gives law enforcement "every necessary tool" to fight terrorists. Every tool except common sense and job competency, that is. As far as computer security is concerned, it is true that many of today's computers and computer users are open to attack. But that has been the case since there was such a thing as computer intercommunications. So let's leave the disaster-exploitative arguments out, and continue with the business of computer security.
Arthur Aspromatis I recently started an e-learning company that builds virtual laboratories. I combine interactive simulations of processes and phenomena in natural sciences, math, engineering sciences, and so on with advanced 3D animation. For many reasons, I don't want to use CDs for distribution, and so I use the Internet instead. Because simulation and animation are CPU intensive, Java is too slow in most cases. Last year, I found a powerful solution, Curl technology. With Curl, you get native-code performance on the client, which is necessary for my applications. As far as I know, there is no competitor. Shockwave and Flash are good for animation, but not for numerical calculations. Curl is a general-purpose approach. It is also a unified platform for mixed content, which simplifies programming. In my opinion, Curl is superior to Java, at least on the client side. On the server you can use traditional compiled languages like C or C++ if you want to do number crunching. The unified platform, very small downloads, and few page refreshes are additional advantages. Unlike dedicated platforms, Curl is a general-purpose technology, blurring the distinction between the desktop and Web applications. I haven't found a word about it in Web Techniques. Have you discussed Curl with your staff? Do you have an opinion? Are you planning to write about it?
Nils Kullendorff, Ph.D.
Dear Nils,
Mana Tominaga Comments? Email editors@newarchitectmag.com.
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