Programming can be an expensive business. So it’s always nice to find a bargain. And the best bargains of all are the free ones!

Expert .NET 2.0 IL Assembler
by Serge Liden
Apress: www.apress.com
ISBN: 1-59059-646-3
Price $59.99 / £40.99 (Hardback)

Ruby On Rails Up and Running
by Bruce A. Tate & Curt Hibbs
O’Reilly: www.oreilly.com
ISBN: 0-596-10132-5
$US29.99 / £20.99

Ruby In Steel - the story of a chance comment that got out of control

What on earth ever possessed me? It’s a question which I’ve asked myself many times over the past year. There I was, happily tootling along, rambling away in this blog (or rather its more verbose predecessor, the Rants and Raves column), occasionally contributing a leisurely programming article to a computing magazine or two, walking the dog, stroking the cat – just quietly drifting off into my dotage… when, bam! I go and say the stupidest thing: namely, “Hey, let’s create a Ruby IDE For Windows!”

Still can’t quite fathom the Borland thing. The CodeGear guys are trying to talk it up in the (still called ‘Borland’) newsgroups but the more I think about it, the weirder it gets. Back in early February, Borland, I quote), “announced plans to seek a buyer for the portion of its business associated with the Integrated Development Environment.”

Remember back at the start of the year, when Borland decided to ’divest itself’ of its Developer Tools group? Well, in a bizarre twist, it seems Borland has now decided to ’revest’ it again.

Dolphin Smalltalk is a first rate example of a superb programming product from a small company.

I just came across another handy resource for would-be software entrepreneurs.

Maybe you think that setting up your own software company sounds like a fast route to fabulous wealth. What’s more, if you’re your own boss, life has got to be so much easier - well, hasn’t it? I mean, just think of it: no more commuting, no more rat race; just get up in the morning, have a leisurely breakfast, read the newspaper, take a shower, saunter across to your ‘home office’, write a bit of code if the mood takes you, stroke the cat, walk the dog and then, just by way of light relaxation, count the heaps of money you’re making…

Gurock Software was founded by two talented brothers with a big idea and the determination to transform it into a successful business.

So you’ve got a good idea for a software product and you think you have what it takes to develop it. But how do you go from an idea to sales?

Interesting opinion piece about the “impending Ruby fracture” over on David Pollak’s Blog. Back from the recent Ruby conference David notes that Matz, the creator of the fashionable Ruby language, seems to be letting his own language run away without him. There are four different Ruby execution environments under development at the moment…

There’s an interesting take on Google from long time Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley. Google seems to be in the process of heading from being everyone’s favourite software company to a basket case.

Those of you who are still using Microsoft’s tired old Internet Explorer 6 may be passingly interested to know that the company has finally released IE 7.

Tabbed browsing, RSS, anti-phishing and glass buttons - but is that really enough...?

Is the European Union trying to prevent free speech?

Interesting article on the BBC web site charting the transformation of Bill Gates. No longer the demon geek from Hell. Now more of a zillionaire Mother Teresa...

Last month I looked at a simple ’rocket’ represented by a Visual Basic 6 control. While it worked, it did have one or two limitations. First, there was the somewhat rectangular appearance to the control. Let’s face it, most rockets are not square. Secondly, the Earth’s gravity was treated as being constant. Of course, the strength of the Earth’s gravity varies with distance from its centre.

In the first lesson in this series, we wrote a French verb conjugator. This looked like a very simple program. Unfortunately, simple programs can rapidly turn into quite complicated ones and this is a case in point.

Well, the pigs have started to fly. Microsoft has introduced a tool that makes it easier for the poor, ignorant, un-enlightened VB 6 user to use .NET forms – in a VB6 application. Woo-hoo!!

“i worship all that is evil in the world and hope that the democratic national convention finally obtains nuclear warheads with witch to blow themselves up in a glorious blaze of atomic fire. oh and i like boobies. and one day our glorious leader the former president clinton will arise from the ground look at his shadow and determine if we will have a few more months of winter”