DevCentral Top5 3/27/2009

Taking the rush of content on DevCentral in stride, I'm back again with 5 more items of interest for you that you really shouldn't miss. Hopefully the week's been good for you, whether that means bug-free code, trouble free system patching or happy clients. Things haven't really slowed down here since being turned "up to 11", so there's plenty to do and digest for everyone. Amidst the always churning stream of geeky goodness that DevCentral has to offer, there are rumblings lately of very cool things to come, so keep your eyes peeled. For now I offer you my picks for this week's DevCentral Top5:

 

20 Lines or Less #22

http://devcentral.f5.com/s/weblogs/cwalker/archive/2009/03/26/20-lines-or-less-22.aspx

Making its triumphant return to the Top5 is this week's edition of my 20 Lines or Less series. It's lain dormant for a while now due thankfully to an overabundance of irons in the fire, not a lack of iRules awesomery (yes, awesomery). This post gives you three easy to consume, powerful yet concise iRules every week(ish) so make sure you watch out for it, subscribe, etc. If you're looking for great examples of iRules that are doing cool stuff without making anyone's eyes cross, this is a great place to start. Lots of previous editions are available to peruse as well.

 

Intro to Load Balancing for Developers - The Gotchas

http://devcentral.f5.com/s/weblogs/dmacvittie/archive/2009/03/25/intro-to-load-balancing-for-developers-ndash-the-gotchas.aspx

Don continues his great "ILBD" series with a few of the things for Dev types to watch out for when moving into a highly available environment. I still think this is one of the best series that I've seen lately. The focus on breaking down the LB/ADC world for App/Dev people is exactly what DevCentral is all about. We should all be working together, not apart, and I can see this being a good tool for working towards that. Hopefully he'll keep it up.

 

Real IT Interview - Joe Hicks talks worldwide deployments

http://devcentral.f5.com/s/weblogs/realit_extras/archive/2009/03/26/real-it-interview---joe-hicks-talks-about-best-practices.aspx

Real IT is steaming along with a new episode this week, several video blogs and a great interview that offers some insight into some of the challenges we faced while trying to deploy DC China. I got a chance to interview Joe Hicks recently and get his take on worldwide deployments, CDNs, the China network layout, and more. It was a great white-board session where he really got into his experiences with these kind of deployments, his personal experiences in the region, how some of our products like Web Accelerator can help, and things to look for when trying to accomplish this kind of deployment. Joe's has a ton of knowledge about this stuff and is engaging to watch, so this one is a sure thing.

 

The Revolution Begins: The IT Bill of Rights

http://devcentral.f5.com/s/weblogs/macvittie/archive/2009/03/27/the-revolution-begins-the-it-bill-of-rights.aspx

Lori's deviates from her always insightful often detailed blog posts that delve into different discussion topics to deliver something a little bit more…revolutionary. I think this is a great format to express some of the things that we should all keep in mind when working towards delivering applications to the best of our abilities. I like the format, too. It's punchy and almost tongue in cheek, but delivers some really good points that made me stop and think. I'm hoping that by the title she's implying that there's more to come. If so, I'll be sure to go read it, and I think you should too.

 

Top Ten Reasons You Are Not an Architect

http://devcentral.f5.com/s/weblogs/dmacvittie/archive/2009/03/27/top-ten-reasons-you-are-not-an-architect.aspx

Okay, so this is today's "Friday Funny" blog post from Don. I usually keep the Top5 to more serious, engaging, technical topics but this one made me laugh and think about our industry at the same time, so I thought it worth sharing. Here's a little levity as you go into your weekend. Enjoy.

 

There's your DevCentral Top5 for the week. Hopefully you've found some goodness in there, and you'll come back for more next time. As always, comments and feedback are welcome.

 

#Colin