DevCentral Top5 01/16/2009

I can't believe it's only the second week of this year's Top5 series. There are so many things going on that it feels like it's been weeks since I wrote last. I know the output to the site has only been bumped up marginally but trust me, things behind the scenes are beyond busy trying to get things ramped up, polished and ready to push hard all through the year. This week saw some continued series', a couple of really interesting new blog / docs posts, and plenty of awesome action in the forums / wikis.  Here's this week's Top5:

Accuracy is important. Vulnerabilities not so much.

http://devcentral.f5.com/s/weblogs/dmacvittie/archive/2009/01/14/accuracy-is-important.-vulnerabilities-not-so-much.aspx

One of the more spirited topics flying around the 'net this week was the article put out by SANS title "Top 25 Dangerous Programming Errors". While there were some interesting security issues called out in this list, Don took a bit of an issue with the title.  I have to agree with him when he points out that this should have been called the "Top 25 Dangerous SECURITY Programming Errors".  That "Security" in the title would have made all the difference. As it is, though, Don found cause to discuss the difference between security programming errors as opposed to other errors more inherent in the functionality and delivery of an application. I like his take on it, and it's a great lead in to the SANS article which, while over-hyped, still has some decent content.

24: A Day in the Life of Geolocating New DevCentral Members

http://devcentral.f5.com/s/weblogs/JeffB/archive/2009/01/15/3910.aspx

While Jeff is usually found in the background, behind the scenes of DevCentral, keeping things moving and ensuring we're always up to something interesting, he does tend to put out some great blog posts from time to time.  In the most recent such post, he details a smattering of user registrations that all occurred within a 24 hour timeframe.  He even gives us a big animal picture style chart to show their geographic location.  It's a really interesting snapshot of what's going on with the community, community uptake, new members, and the true geographic disbursement of our little slice of the web.  Way cool.

Adobe AIR (FLEX3) Sample BIG-IP Monitoring Application

http://devcentral.f5.com/s/Default.aspx?tabid=63&articleType=ArticleView&articleId=305

Having written powerful blog posts one after the other, Lori goes back to her coding roots a bit in this PHP example that shows how you can have your very own PHP proxy for iControl / FLEX.  There isn't much editorial-wise, but there doesn't have to be, there's plenty of tasty coding goodness to be had here. I love seeing the API and the product in general pushed and stretched in different directions, and this is yet another cool example of doing just that. It's good to see all that writing hasn't turned Lori soft in her coding skills.

Investigating the LTM TCP Profile: ECN & LTR

http://devcentral.f5.com/s/Default.aspx?tabid=63&articleType=ArticleView&articleId=304

I know I include Jason's "Investigating the LTM TCP Profile" series in the Top5 every week, but that's just because it's so darn cool.  He dives deep, yet again, into some more options in the TCP profile that you can fiddle with to achieve different behaviors.  Detailing both Extended Congestion Notification (ECN) and Limited Transit Recovery (LTR), he uncovers more of the mysteries hiding in the dark depths of the granular profile options.  I've said it before, but if you want to get the absolute most out of your systems whether it be flexibility or performance, these articles are definitely worth a look.

Ruby Meets iControl: Switching Policies

http://devcentral.f5.com/s/Default.aspx?tabid=63&articleType=ArticleView&articleId=303

For the second article in the Ruby Meets iControl series I picked the Ruby WA Policy Switcher. This somewhat simpler application serves an equally cool and useful function as the VIP creator I talked about last week.  Seeing a variety of languages used for iControl applications is outstanding, and Ruby is another really cool one to add to the list, not to mention a language that's been burning up the search rankings lately. Even if this particular application doesn't fit your exact need, seeing these things done in many different ways, in many different languages not only gives a wider base of places to start for people wanting to get into iControl coding, but shows off just how versatile and flexible the  API and platform are.  I dig it.

There you have it, five more from the top for this week's DevCentral Top5.  Thanks for reading and I hope you'll be back next week. Tell a friend. ;)

#Colin

Listening to: Daft Punk - Alive 2007 - Around The World / Harder Better Faster Stronger