Ruby and IronRuby are fashionable at the moment, which raises the question of what makes them so interesting. Mike James paints a picture of the essential Ruby.

It can be difficult to appreciate alien technology even if it’s doing exactly the same job as something familiar and well understood. Sing Li makes it easy for .NET enthusiasts to comprehend JSP by comparing it with ASP.NET.

Have you ever wanted to open a console in the middle of an application that doesn’t usually support one? Harry Fairhead explains exactly how to master the console.

Is it a dead parrot or does it fly? Mike James looks at IronPython and asks if it really is something completely different.

Who designs the interface? Dave Wheeler explains that the task can easily be split between a designer and a developer using the parts and states model.

Ian Elliot clarifies the confusion surrounding objects in JavaScript.

Testing should be an integral part of your design, and Kevin Jones explains just how to make it so.

Joydip Kanjilal looks at the problems caused by concurrency when accessing data, both online and offline, and how to overcome them.

If you need to create an application that fully exploits the facilities of a BlackBerry handheld device you need to move to creating Java ME applications from scratch. Mike James describes just how easy it can be.

Mike James discusses pointers, and concludes that they are often unsafe and generally best avoided.

Testing web applications is a problem, but Sing Li thinks the solution might be easier than you think with Selenium.

Kevin Jones explains how ActiveRecord works in Rails, and in a standalone Ruby application.

Of course you want to document your code, but how many of us do? Mike James thinks that coding and documenting can go hand-in-hand.

How do you keep a history when using Silverlight? Dave Wheeler demonstrates just how it’s done and plays a little Tic-Tac-Toe along the way.

Kevin Jones explores unit testing in Ruby, and shows how Rails offers extra features.

If you think regular expressions are trivial and boring, Mike James reveals that in .NET they are amazing powerful and not to be missed.

Is C# in danger of too much change? Mike James ponders the implications of dynamic types in C#.

Kevin Jones thinks that the key idea in Rails is routing. See how this fits in with the MVC pattern and find out more about Rails by reading on.

Kay Ewbank looks at DataDirect’s Data Integration Suite, which aims to deliver on XML’s promise to make things simpler.

Mike James explores the perils of multi-threading and explores ways of staying safe in a multi-core environment.

Sing Li shows how to add compression to your Java code when accessing files, networks or databases.

Neal Ford shares some ideas about improving developer productivity by automating wherever possible.

Ever wondered what “Rails” is all about? Kevin Jones explains what it is and why it’s important.

What exactly is functional programming, and why is it so important? Mike James explains the functional ideas embodied in F#, and provides some help with getting to grips with the language.

Ian Elliot continues to mine for hidden information relating to JavaScript.

Kay Ewbank looks at a real-time BI solution that is designed to be embedded into transactional applications.

XML, which is all about tree structures, and LINQ, which is all about querying collections, might not seem to fit together, but Mike James explains that they work together just fine.

Sing Li explores the advantages of Jython, a Python implementation created in Java.

Migration isn’t just about the simple line-by-line translation, you need to plan at a higher level. Danijel Arsenovski explains how to refactor a design for .NET.

Ian Elliot reveals another gem in the JavaScript collection.

Build more concise, elegant JavaScript code.

Mike James explains that LINQ isn’t just for SQL programmers but is usable by every .NET developer.

Isolated Storage is a solution to a very common problem, but if you don’t understand it then it becomes a problem in its own right.

Developing connected applications with InterSystems Ensemble.

Use SQLAlchemy to ease the creation, testing, and maintenance of database code – with objects.

Do you want to create web applications incorporating compelling charts and graphs? Cewolf provides a quick route.

Routed events are new in .NET 3.5 – Mike James explains exactly what the “routing” means.

Use templates and properties to take full control of the user interface.

While the majority of attention in the media focuses on traditional relational databases, the MultiValue market continues to thrive.

DotNetNuke is a silly name, but the software is anything but. Chris Cant explains how DNN can be an easy way to create ASP.NET applications.