What do I do?

I figured I'd post this section because I wanted some spot on my blog that mentions a kewl new technology called xTile. But before we get to that, what do I do and what am I working on? Well right now I am working for an Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management (EPCM) Company doing Automation and Integration as well as some web application development. So what does that mean? It means I work on building macro's for people to get stuff in and out of databases (MSSQL and mySql) and massaging data into desireable and meaningful form. As part of the in/out database task, we are building a web based manhour forecasting tool. We have been using Java with help from Cayenne as our ORM (object/relational mapping) tool and Tapestry as our MVC (model-view-controller) web application framework. Now to most of you who know me (other than kozmo with whom I work) all of this means little or nothing to you. Which is fine... at least you know I do something with software :-D However, those of you who are interested in the above, I would like to introduce xTile. This little marvel component uses the xmlhttprequest (aka Ajax) to allow components to directly interact with tapestry without the need to refresh the webpage. What does this mean in lamance terms? It means the web application can have a more 'desktop application' feel instead of a typical submit/refresh web feel. Now I haven't actually used the xTile library yet but it sure sounds snazzy. Stay tuned for updates on how I like it.

As a development environment we use Eclipse with the Spindle and Tomcat plugin. Today I also came across the Tapestry Palette plugin for eclipse which adds another layer of coolness for those developing Tapestry apps. I will keep you posted on how that works out.