Code generation is not ORM (Object Relational Mapping). ORM is not code generation.

These are two separate ideas. ORM is part-of code generation but code generation is super to ORM.

I get in discussions with people that are strongly against ORM mostly due in part to Jeff Atwood’s post that ORM is vietnam. Yes it can be, and ORM is only for highly tailored teams and projects and creates bulk and uncontrollable code bases. BUT, code generation is valuable and here to stay.

Code generation can be a templating system that outputs code that exactly is the way you would write it and generate unit tests, db field mappings, basic skeletal architecture, maybe a data layer that accesses tables and views or any one of those things from a custom, open source, standard or commercial templating system.

Code generation can also be macros, db migration processes (SSPI or DTS or PL-SQL or n), adding a new file in yoru IDE (VS.NET/Eclipse/FD templates), configuration files, refactoring tools, and many other things. Code generation is a part of life for a programmer or engineer. In fact if you dont’ start getting a handle on the code generation systems that are evolving then you will be that much more without a solution when platforms advance.

Code generation can also be team building because many times people against code generation are hand coders. This is fine and this works great for one programmer. When you add programmer++ to any single team all of a sudden “styles” come into play. Code generation and basic framework or API code structures should be similar in a team environment so that others have a base layer of knowledge they can get up to speed on. Code generation brings the style battles and architecture to the forefront on how code should look in an organization. As you can imagine when you give 50 architects or developers the lead, you will get 50 different was of doing things, some good, some bad. Code generation ensures at least a basic structure of code and apis that can be used. Team integration is hard, code generation usually goes hand in hand with this if it is as small as new file templates in an IDE or a macro all the way to entire api framework generators.

It is important that code within the same project look and act the same. Same styles, same conventions, same architecture. One way of settling this is having code generation that everyone agree upon that can help at least structure projects the same, even if implementation and behind the API layer things are like the wild wild west.

Code Generation > ORM

Code Generation is usually guilty by association. We are hoping to change the perception, but again code generation is really only needed when you get beyond the single programmer mindset, or when you start to make a product family or open source.

Code Generation != ORM, Code Generation IS for the Code Generation

XML is railed against plenty these days for being too verbose and leads to massive config invasions in your codez. But it deserves due respect for what it did.

What did it do you say?

Well, there was a time when data services rarely existed, connecting to trading partners or business partners was almost impossible. Connecting with partners directly to their RDBMS which is poor coupling and is not as message based as services.

Before XML was accepted it was a pipe-delimited, tab delimited, column delimited, ini file, proprietary binary serialization, locked down, non sharing, no service type world. It was the dark ages of data sharing. Hate on XML all you want, XML opened the doors.

Then comes XML, the executives and CTO magazines flooded with the term XML and large budgets signed on the word alone. But was it all hype or did it do something amazing? XML Amazing you say? With XML it was so simple it gave people no excuse not to open up information. A flawless victory on data nazi attitude. Is it the best, no, but it did what was necessary. We would not have the service based systems we have now of even JSON or other more micro formats at all if it weren’t for XML. Both HTML and XHTML and XML are all responsible (javascript as well and MIME) for delivering the simplistic base platform which all programmers can write to to instantly make their apps standard, the web and services that live on them.

After XML… Yes, XML did the amazing… It freed data into services. The web was also instrumental in this effort itself but when systems started working so closely together the exchange and mapping of data quickly became troublesome. Before web services emerged, client/server, remoting, RPC or other more closely coupled communication connections ruled the day. XML with web services helped to push the service model in addition to other technologies such as SOAP bloated but XMLRPC, REST, JSON, have emerged in stronger force or late because they are better iterations and less enterprise-y and simpler and more compact but I still believe that XML was in large part a tool that made data so simple to share that the capabilities and costs came down when people wanted to expose this data.

XML deserves to be a baseplane technology and is used where appropriate in baseplane tools and toolkits.

XML is recently 10 years old, seems like the average for standards to truly take hold and influence. Same with CSS, XHTML, the DHTML that later became AJAX and javascript kits of today. They are all stepping platforms.

baseplane: In software development, a set of tools, systems, patterns and designs that allow a system to be easily transferred to many back ends, services or front ends using standards, patterns and ideally non platform specific tools. Typically the baseplane includes both open standards and market standards based on industry usage. A baseplane may also be a way to commonize output to allow better designer and developer production.

A baseplane is a word I termed to describe the current, most technologically advanced set of tools and patterns that are usable across all major programming platforms.

The idea is that a company or programmer is sometimes held hostage by a particular platform or developer mindshare. People loving a good competition boast about platforms over other platforms and how one is better than the other. It is all fun and games but it doesn’t really give you the ‘best’ patterns and solutions. By patterns I mean general patterns not design patterns specifically for OO programming.

The ideal situation is where software is built semantically and from user perspectives with simplified enterprise entities and collections that perform top notch in a data store, no matter the platform or the language used to create it.

That is where true solutions begin, when companies and individuals can use the best platform or framework no matter their legion. A baseplane is a way to create systems that work well in many systems.

For instance JSON is a great example, this allows a layer to make back ends any language and then the front end any presentation from apps, to web to flash to whatever.

There will be more on this but the tools on this site all have this in mind.

Is Microsoft going baseplane? Lots of people are going towards web based office in many ways, it is wise to release and allow people to export to these formats cleanly.

Microsoft Office Binary (doc, xls, ppt) File Formats

Published: February 15, 2008

The documents listed below are covered by the Microsoft Open Specification Promise.

Microsoft Word

Word 97-2007 Binary File Format (.doc) Specification PDF | XPS

Microsoft PowerPoint

PowerPoint 97-2007 Binary File Format (.ppt) Specification PDF | XPS

Microsoft Excel

Excel 97-2007 Binary File Format (.xls) Specification PDF | XPS

Excel 2007 Binary File Format (.xlsb) Specification PDF | XPS

Office Drawing

Office Drawing 97-2007 Binary Format Specification PDF | XPS

Supporting Technologies

See Supporting Technologies

Yes you have reached the twilight zone… do-de-do-do.

Markets of many things have a period of innovation and experimentation through normal human trial and error, record response, adjust feedback loops. Over time, certain market standards emerge.

For social networks these market standards are profiles, friends, messages, blogs, pictures, and other custom handlers. OpenSocial has emerged late 2007 and is a great example of where after a period of time, a standard baseplane platform emerges and makes it another stepping stone to a further period of innovation and experimentation through normal human trial and error, record response, adjust feedback loops by combining and allowing a protocol to expose and consume data for OpenSocial. This could help many smaller or quickly developed communities get setup quickly, and it will also create social network giants that own the data. OpenSocial from Google was released after Microsoft signed with Facebook. Google came back with OpenSocial that got lots of attention and respec, also a move for Google to own the information and data standard. Then Facebook got forced to open up the apis to provide almost the same functionality, but no OpenSocial. Sometimes you need toolkits that will help to talk to both systems or many more pluggable ROM generation kits that allow you to integrate into these services such as blogging has the metaweblog apis and do most communication in a RESTful or XMLRPC based standard communication. It has allowed many blogging tools to integrate and help proliferate the platform and the companies involved in constructing it such as Wordpress (Automattic), MoveableType (SixApart), etc. There is great value to having open standards and market standards that allow the platform to flourish.

The baseplane code generation BOM (baseplane object mapper) has a ROM (rapid object mapper) both in development that can map your objects or existing applications to share along the OpenSocial standards (roadmaps and tests coming soon). We have many more ROMs that allow layers to be added to your code generation and custom manipulation of that work that have been built after 12+ years of experience in enterprise development. The great thing is the ROMs are custom, meaning that they follow your coding style and how you want things. None of this dictator like ORM systems, this is the reverse to that. They can integrate with existing code and they are not THE platform, they help you shape one though. More on this as the BOM is dropped.

The good news is more platforms are emerging, the bad news is there is much to learn and become an expert on.

It is a well known fact that humans are thrown into an abyss without much information given or input, they are simply thrown in and latch onto platforms and something to start relative understanding. This is why so many belief systems, points of view and general human pathing exists (more on pathing in future philosophy topics), when it is all trial and error it what works might be different for everybody.

So programmers or creators are the same, once they are thrown into the software world abyss, especially without theory or computer science, the programmer usually latches onto the closest, most low-entry-bar technology/platform/company/language for their use (whatever provides the cash money – you can apply this to any market/industry really).

Once that skill is mastered, they reach to others in the same space, they reach to some standards that mix with other platforms. Then, eventually, they reach the walls of the platform just like on the Truman Show (maybe a 2-5 year run), they realize it is a box not a baseplane. Once the abstraction of the platform to the solution and design inputs and outputs as a whole it becomes clear this is a power of 10 abstraction removed from a programmer stuck in platform-like religious battles, still latching on to a particular platform or language over general solution making. The programmer that rises above all this is the true master of the skill or talent if you want to call it, this is when they become an engineer.

Programmers are the ones doing the hard work to make it easier. As a programmer you have already committed to doing the hard work.

Consuming systems as the input and simplifying them as the output, the ultimate goal of a programmer.

Oh, and all programmers eventually become philosophers, it is a side effect that is spawned from an input of understanding users. Or in particular, how the human works and interacts with your system through HCI – Human Computer Interaction and the interface for which they do so.

Power of Ten Reference

JSON is an amazing evolution to simplicity and one of the best new microformats of the 21st century. See in the early 90’s there were still many battles about formats, data and services really were non-existent. Sure there was some client/server based RPC and early remoting but it was more about protecting data and licensing fees to access data.

XML came along and many server platforms based on RFCs that made the web based on MIME and TCP/IP and many layers of the OSI. But XML really helped to simplify the output of data for many levels of developers and although bulky, it rooted out the data protectors and made it too easy to build systems that shared data. Formats like EDI and other tight textual formats survived the entire time but formats not destined to trade were also opened up with XML and spawned the service age.

The evolution to JSON a micro, object based and array based format is again so simple like XML and now so micro that it just is amazing to break it down to something that simple and have it spread (more…)

baseplane is a technology tentacle of drawk, a digital design and development company that produces web applications and games.

The goal of baseplane is to deliver tools that help developers, users and creating a level playing-field in a world of software where platform and company religiosity is breaking standards, simplified software entry points and going against the main rule of software, to minimize complexity.

With such great changes in software happening and so many platforms to consume, tools to simplify and make broad platforms to help manage bigger services it is key to take control of these services as the web generations advance.

baseplane has tools to help with social networks (Open social wrappers and other services), blogging aggregation (XMLRPC, metaweblog), code generation (data, to activity to apis to services to service modules like JSON services), consistent architecture spanning multiple platforms (.net, php, java, actionscript (as3) and ruby,python.

Stay tuned!