Software architect, Software Engineering lecturer, Semantic Web researcher. Dog person, Rain lover, Football freak. São Paulo, Brazil.
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Amazon‘s Jeff Bezos is the number one CEO in America. Over the past six years, he has earned an average of $1.4 million in total compensation, most of which is the company’s cost of security provided to him (he takes a $81,840 in annual salary and hasn’t had a raise since 1998). He delivered a 30% annual return to shareholders over the past six years. Since he took his company public in May 1997, he has delivered an annual 36% return to shareholders, which is significantly better than the 5% annual return for the S&P 500 over that period. Forbes contributor George Anders says in his Amazon feature, “The passing of Steve Jobs has left him, without question, as the corporate chief that others most want to meet, emulate and deify”. More info.
People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying ‘no’ to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying ‘no’ to 1000 things.
For those of you who have lived in New Mexico , you know how true this is. They actually have a Chili Cook-off about the time Halloween comes around. It takes up a major portion of a parking lot at the Santa Fe Plaza . Judge #3 was an inexperienced Chili taster named Frank, who was visiting from Springfield, IL.
Frank: “Recently, I was honored to be selected as a judge at a chili cook-off. The original person called in sick at the last moment and I happened to be standing there at the judge’s table, asking for directions to the Coors Light truck, when the call came in… I was assured by the other two judges (Native New Mexicans) that the chili wouldn’t be all that spicy; and, besides, they told me I could have free beer during the tasting, so I accepted and became Judge 3.”
Here are the scorecard notes from the event:
CHILI # 1 - MIKE’S MANIAC MONSTER CHILE
Judge # 1 — A little too heavy on the tomato. Amusing kick.
Judge # 2 — Nice, smooth tomato flavor. Very mild.
Judge # 3 — Holy crap, what the he!! is this stuff? You could remove dried paint from your driveway. Took me two beers to put the flames out. I hope that’s the worst one. These New Mexicans are crazy.
CHILE # 2 - EL RANCHO’S AFTERBURNER CHILE
Judge # 1 — Smoky, with a hint of pork. Slight jalapeno tang.
Judge # 2 — Exciting BBQ flavor, needs more peppers to be taken seriously.
Judge # 3 — Keep this out of the reach of children. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to taste besides pain. I had to wave off two people who wanted to give me the Heimlich maneuver. They had to rush in more beer when they saw the look on my face.
CHILI # 3 - ALFREDO’S FAMOUS BURN DOWN THE BARN CHILI
Judge # 1 — Excellent firehouse chile. Great kick.
Judge # 2 — A bit salty, good use of peppers.
Judge # 3 — Call the EPA. I’ve located a uranium spill. My nose feels like I have been snorting Drano. Everyone knows the routine by now. Get me more beer before I ignite. Barmaid pounded me on the back, now my backbone is in the front part of my chest. I’m getting sh*t-faced from all of the beer.
CHILI # 4 - BUBBA’S BLACK MAGIC
Judge # 1 — Black bean chile with almost no spice. Disappointing.
Judge # 2 — Hint of lime in the black beans. Good side dish for fish or other mild foods, not much of a chile.
Judge # 3 — I felt something scraping across my tongue, but was unable to taste it. Is it possible to burn out taste buds? Sally, the beer maid, was standing behind me with fresh refills. This 300 lb. woman is starting to look HOT… Just like this nuclear waste I’m eating! Is chile an aphrodisiac?
CHILE # 5 - LISA’S LEGAL LIP REMOVER
Judge # 1 — Meaty, strong chile. Jalapeno peppers freshly ground, adding considerable kick. Very impressive.
Judge # 2 — Chile using shredded beef, could use more tomato. Must admit the jalapeno peppers make a strong statement.
Judge # 3 — My ears are ringing, sweat is pouring off my forehead and I can no longer focus my eyes. I farted, and four people behind me needed paramedics. The contestant seemed offended when I told her that her chile had given me brain damage. Sally saved my tongue from bleeding by pouring beer directly on it from the pitcher. I wonder if I’m burning my lips off. It really ticks me off that the other judges asked me to stop screaming. Screw them.
CHILE # 6 - VARGA’S VERY VEGETARIAN VARIETY
Judge # 1 — Thin yet bold vegetarian variety chile. Good balance of spices and peppers.
Judge # 2 — The best yet. Aggressive use of peppers, onions, garlic. Superb.
Judge # 3 — My intestines are now a straight pipe filled with gaseous, sulfuric flames. I crapped on myself when I farted, and I’m worried it will eat through the chair. No one seems inclined to stand behind me except that Sally. Can’t feel my lips anymore. I need to wipe my butt with a snow cone.
CHILE # 7 - SUSAN’S SCREAMING SENSATION CHILI
Judge # 1 — A mediocre chile with too much reliance on canned peppers.
Judge # 2 — Ho hum, tastes as if the chef literally threw in a can of chile peppers at the last moment. **I should take note that I am worried about judge number 3. He appears to be in a bit of distress as he is cursing uncontrollably.
Judge # 3 — You could put a grenade in my mouth, pull the pin, and I wouldn’t feel a thing. I’ve lost sight in one eye, and the world sounds like it is made of rushing water. My shirt is covered with chile, which slid unnoticed out of my mouth. My pants are full of lava to match my shirt. At least during the autopsy, they’ll know what killed me. I’ve decided to stop breathing. It’s too painful. I’m not getting any oxygen anyway. If I need air, I’ll just suck it in through the 4-inch hole in my stomach.
CHILE # 8 - BIG TOM’S TOENAIL CURLING CHILE
Judge # 1 — The perfect ending, this is a nice blend chile. Not too bold but spicy enough to declare its existence.
Judge # 2 — This final entry is a good, balanced chile. Neither mild nor hot. Sorry to see that most of it was lost when Judge #3 farted, passed out, fell over and pulled the chile pot down on top of himself. Not sure if he’s going to make it. Poor feller, wonder how he’d have reacted to really hot chile?
Judge # 3 — No Report.
Every time we refactor code, we add to its potential, its history, its soul and its inherent beauty.
1) Refactor and re-design as you gain knowledge and understanding.
2) Refactor whenever and wherever possible.
3) Refactor throughout the entire project life cycle to save time and increase quality.
4) Refactor mercilessly to keep the design simple as you go.
5) Refactor to avoid needless clutter and complexity.
Basically, just let go of your notions of what the system should (or should not) be and try to see the new design as it emerges before you.
It’s always fewer than 20 clicks!
“If you take any article, click on the first link in the article not in parenthesis or italics, and then repeat, you will eventually end up at “Philosophy”.” - xkcd
The game, then, must be played thusly:
1. Click Random Article from the Wikipedia sidebar.
2. Click the first link in the article not in parenthisis or italics.
3. Track how many clicks it takes to get to the article on “Philosophy”. The fewer clicks the better.
Today I’m happy to announce that the full version of my masters thesis on RESTful Semantic Web Services (RSWS) has become officially available at the University of São Paulo (USP). Interested readers are welcome to follow this link, and then download the file. Old-school researchers may also head to the university library and find a physical copy of the book.
Other resources about RSWS: Summary, Articles, Presentations, Examples.
Please ping me should you have any comments. Happy reading!
Web services are key elements in the fields of software engineering and code reuse. They also play a very important role on the Semantic Web by providing data to semantic software agents, as described by Tim Berners-Lee:
The real power of the Semantic Web will be realized when people create many programs that collect Web content from diverse sources, process the information and exchange the results with other programs. The effectiveness of such software agents will increase exponentially as more machine-readable Web content and automated services become available. The Semantic Web promotes this synergy: even agents that were not expressly designed to work together can transfer data among themselves when the data come with semantics.
Despite the ever-growing number of available Web services, they are rarely described formally, which keeps them from joining the third phase of the Web. Service descriptions, if any, are typically informal, written in natural language and therefore available to human consumption only. Tim Berners-Lee highlights the need for semantically described Web services as follows:
Many automated Web-based services already exist without semantics, but other programs such as agents have no way to locate one that will perform a specific function. This process, called service discovery, can happen only when there is a common language to describe a service in a way that lets other agents “understand” both the function offered and how to take advantage of it.
Considering the above vision, it is reasonable to conclude that any given service should be offered the opportunity to join the Semantic Web, regardless of the technologies and protocols it relies on. There are basically two groups of services, namely RPC and RESTful. They represent completely different approaches to implementing Web services, but Semantic Web researchers should be able to address both equally.
The problem is that only RPC services have been covered by authors writing about the Semantic Web. In fact, the term Web Service is frequently used as a synonymous with RPC. This current scenario might be the result of the clear SOAP protocol promotion carried out by the software industry, especially large enterprises such as IBM and Microsoft.
Therefore, I would like to introduce a new concept: RESTful Semantic Web Services. The proposed set of protocols to formally describe a RESTful SWS includes HTTP, WADL, OWL-S, and URI. The following table compares this protocol stack with the one powering RPC SWS:
| Group | Access | Syntax | Semantics |
| RPC | SOAP | WSDL | OWL-S |
| RESTful | HTTP | WADL | OWL-S |
It is important to bear in mind that both semantic and syntactic descriptions have to be provided by any given service. Only then will the service be considered to be fully described. Semantics and syntax will respectively let software agents to automatically discover and invoke the service.
The OWL-S protocol had to be extended in order to allow for RESTful SWS, because its original specification covers RPC SWS only. Fortunately, OWL-S defines an abstract layer that enables software engineers to create multiple grounding strategies. A more detailed description of OWL-S goes beyond the scope of this blog post, but grounding can be seen as an approach to mapping a semantic description to a syntactic one.
The extension proposed is classified as Web ontology, and it’s been named RESTfulGrounding. The page describing this ontology contains the full paper that introduced RESTful SWS to the academic community in 2009. It also contains the ontology description in OWL and a proof-of-concept on a Web service provided by Yahoo.
Full Semantic Web is a place in which I’ll be posting content about the next generation of the Web. I’d like other people to contribute as well. Major topics include Semantic Web Services, Web Ontologies, Web Standards, and Extensible Markup Language. Comment freely!
Strong focus on object oriented analysis and design, software architecture, design patterns, and UML. Deep experience in designing Web services based on HTTP, REST, ROA, WADL, JSON and XML. Agile software development evangelist and coach, focused on Scrum, Kanban, XP (Extreme Programming), TDD (Test-Driven Development) and CI (Continuous Integration).
Experienced in markets such as e-commerce, comparison shopping, online classifieds, online payments, fraud control, behavioral targeting, data exchange, social networks, search, and user-generated content.
Research on Semantic Web and Linked Data has been another major topic of interest. Masters’ thesis defined a new Web Ontology aiming at semantically describing RESTful Semantic Web Services. Full paper published by IADIS (International Association for Development of the Information Society) in academic conferences in Europe, more specifically in Madrid and Rome.
Skilled in business development, due diligence, risk assessment, merges & acquisitions.
Head of Product & Technology, in charge of managing all related disciplines, including Software Engineering, Quality Engineering, System Operations, Product Management, Process Management, Usability, SEO, and Back-Office Infrastructure.
As for the company, Baby.com.br is Brazil's leading baby products e-commerce company. Investors include Accel Partners, Tiger Global, Monashees Capital, SV Angel, Felicis Ventures, Social+Capital Partnership, Menlo Ventures, Greenoaks Capital, Valor Capital and Thrive Capital.
Leading the SWAT team in Latin America.
SWAT (Strategic Worldwide Applications & Technologies) is an R&D (Research & Development) division of Naspers/MIH (Myriad International Holdings).
Have been responsible for designing the architecture of Web applications and Web services; running the internal development process; and managing the team.
Also involved in providing technical advice and support for the various Internet companies within the MIH group, as well as coaching their technical teams in AD (Agile Development) and SE (Software Engineering).
Finally, member of the DD (Due Diligence) team, in charge of risk assessment and the technical evaluation of investments carried out by the M&A (Merges & Acquisitions) division in Latin America. Evaluated the investment in major players in the Internet space, most remarkably Buscape, which is the leading e-commerce group in this region.
Hired to set up the technology department of Urudata in Brazil. However, after one month, the company decided to cancel the operations in the country.
Responsible for hiring and managing development teams in the Consulting/Outsourcing division. Had projects in the fields of Logistics (Oil & Chemical) and B2B (Fashion & Clothing), where customer-facing Web applications had to be integrated with back-office ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems.
In the Training division, created the UML (Unified Modeling Language) and OOAD (Object Oriented Analysis & Design) courses in order to address the demand for platform-agnostic content on Software Engineering.
Initiated the development of Web applications in the company. Field: Health & Medical.