Better Local Settings — January 5, 2010

A common convention I've seen in the Django community is to place code like the following at the bottom of your settings file: # ``settings.py`` # Lots of typical settings here. # ... then ... try: from local_settings ... [Read More]

XMPP FAIL

Posted by Daniel on November 27, 2008.

In an effort to try to expose myself to some more new(ish) technologies in my new-found free time, I thought I'd take a closer look at XMPP. Prior to tonight, I'd only had the executive summary - "An XML-based, real-time messaging protocol. Jabber uses it and Twitter ought to."

I wish I could say I know more now. A visit to the main XMPP site was quite nearly worthless. "Here are some libraries and schema definitions. Now go read the RFC!" Seriously?

I don't mind reading an RFC if I think the technology I'm trying to work with is worthwhile. But you have to prove to me your tech is worthwhile first. The XMPP site does not impress me in this regard. Some immediate improvements I'd like include a better high-level overview of how the technology works (perhaps even a *GASP* diagram), more specifics on implementation and (my favorite) the quick start guide. A list of good use cases would be nice too, beyond "chat chat chat".

For a technology that's been around for 10 years and has big fancy sponsors, color me unimpressed.

Update - I'd be happy if something along the lines of this were included in the main site. I learned more in 2 minutes there than I did in 10 minutes on the main site.

1 Comment

I'll save you the trouble of reading the RFC, it's not too hard to use but has limited scope in it's usefulness and the existing implementations lack genericness and are kind of old-school. Unless you're planning on making a an IM client / server don't bother looking any further. Twitter really shouldn't use it, twitter works fine the way it does now.
Posted by Dave K on November 28, 2008 at 12:20 a.m..

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