Open Source XML Applications

 

Overview

The worlds of XML and other open standards are often closely linked to the world of open source software, or FOSS (Free Open Source Software). The open standards/open source combination can make a compelling business model which appeals equally to the technical geek and business operator. This course presents an overview of the current state-of-the-art in open source software, with a particular emphasis on XML applications and products, covering both commercial and technical viewpoints.

Classes for 2009

Open Source XML Landscape

Taught by Simon Phipps.

The widespread adoption of XML has been helped, in part, by the timely availability of open source software. Just as XML has risen to become a ubiquitous technology since the 1990’s, so the open source landscape has extended to cover almost every type of application. The landscape for open source software has changed significantly since the early days of Richard Stallman’s Gnu project and the beginnings of the Linux and Apache communities. In the last five years the solid platform provided by open source application frameworks and core services such as design tools, databases, business process engines, UI frameworks and reporting engines has enabled the development of open source products and applications which compete strongly with proprietary offerings in most mainstream software sectors. This class provides an overview of the overall landscape of open source technology, licensing models, commercial models and the link between XML, open standards and open source.

XML Tools and Applications with FLOSS

Taught by Michael Sperberg-McQueen.

From the very beginnings of XML, open source parsers and processors have been freely available to the XML development community. Over the last ten years, building on these basic foundations, a huge library of free/libre open source software (FLOSS) has grown up to support and capitalise on XML open standards . This class explores some of those XML tools and applications – covering both the essential and esoteric – and shows how it can make a real impact for you and your organisation.

Open Source Application Development

Taught by Norm Walsh.

Whether you’re developing a small desktop application, a game for a mobile phone or a large scale enterprise system, its now possible to develop, test and deploy almost any application using an entirely open source technology stack. This class shows how to develop an application using XML with an open source Integrated Development Environment (IDE), source code control and testing suite and deploy it into an open source application framework.

Getting Real with Open Source

Taught by Neil Cowles.

Here we put together everything we have learned so far, as we look under the covers of a real life XML product, developed by a commercial organisation as open source software. The class covers some of the commercial and business experiences, the development process, the open source community and the XML technology behind the product itself.