Dr. Dobb's Journal, February 2006
TransGaming Technologies has launched SwiftShader, a software-based rendering tool that enables the use of 3D graphics in games and applications, without the need for dedicated graphics hardware. SwiftShader supports both Pixel and Vertex Shaders. Direct3D 8- and Direct3D 9-compatible APIs are available, and OpenGL-compatible APIs are also under development. Vertex Shader 1.1 and Pixel Shader 1.4 features are currently supported. The company claims that SwiftShader can perform over 50 times faster than Microsoft's Direct3D Reference Rasterizer in tests with sample applications. SwiftShader is currently available for x86 CPUs with Intel's SSE multimedia instruction set extensions. SwiftShader runs on Microsoft Windows 98 and higher, and on Linux through TransGaming's Cedega portability technology.
TransGaming Technologies Inc.
55 Byward Market, 2nd floor
Ottawa, ON, Canada K1N 9C3
http://www.transgaming.com/
Aonix has released Version 8.2 of its ObjectAda for Windows' development environment. In addition to supporting an Eclipse-based development environment, ObjectAda for Windows integrates current Microsoft platform improvements for compatibility with Microsoft Visual Studio .NET. ObjectAda for Windows includes a Java-call interface, enabling Java applications to be called from an Ada program. ObjectAda for Windows 8.2 includes the comprehensive Ada libraries needed for calling Windows Win32 and the Visual C++ .NET 2003 MFC interfaces from application source code written in Ada. In ObjectAda for Windows, these Ada-binding libraries are fully compatible with the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 tools and libraries.
Aonix North America Inc.
5930 Cornerstone Court West, Suite 250
San Diego, CA 92121
858-457-2700
http://www.aonix.com/
Systinet has announced Version 6.0 of its Systinet Server family for creating Java and C++ web services. Systinet Server for Java 6.0 is a platform-independent tool for creating and deploying web services in Java and J2EE applications. Version 6.0 includes support for limiting the number of concurrent JMS threads, WS-RM (ReliableMessaging) in clusters, WS-Interoperability (WS-I) Basic Profile 1.1 and WS-I Attachments, publishing to any UDDI registry including V.3, and platform support for JBoss 4, Sun JDK 1.5 on Windows, Sun, and Solaris. Systinet Developer for Eclipse 6.0 is a free companion product for Systinet Server for Java. It is designed to make it easy to create, test, debug, deploy, and publish Java web services, all from within the Eclipse IDE. Systinet Server for C++ includes: interoperability support, WS-Interoperability (WS-I) Basic Profile 1.1 compliance, and easy publishing to any UDDI registry including v.3.
Systinet
One Van De Graaff Drive, 5th Floor
Burlington, MA 01803
781-362-1300
http://www.systinet.com/
Smart Bear has released CodeCollaborator, a program that lets you perform peer code inspections via a web browser, Windows GUI client, or command-line utility. CodeCollaborator enforces peer code inspections by integrating with version control, issue tracking, reporting, and other external systems. The customizable workflow provides a variety of options based on current inspection processes. The workflow can range from formal rules-based inspections, to casual "buddy pass-arounds." CodeCollaborator's reporting tool provides you with metrics, such as average defects per KLOC and defects per person-hour. It also provides a side-by-side diff viewer with an IM-style audit trail.
Smart Bear Inc.
12885 Research Boulevard, Suite 210
Austin, TX 78750>877-501-5651
http://www.codecollaborator.com/
QNX Software Systems has announced QNX Momentics MultiCore Edition, an integrated set of development tools and OS features for developing software that targets multicore processors. Among other multicore features, Momentics supports Asymmetric Multiprocessing (AMP) (for managing individual processors on a chip independently) and Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP), Bound Multiprocessing (BMP) (which combines the resource management of SMP with the application control of AMP, letting you assign applications to specific processors). The package also includes a system profiler and system builder tools to support the unique architectures of multicore processors.
QNX Software Systems
175 Terence Matthews Crescent
Ottawa, ON, Canada K2M 1W8
613-591-0931
http://qnxsoftware.com
SDMetrics has released SDMetrics 2.0, a software-design quality measurement tool for UML. SDMetrics measures structural design properties such as coupling, size, and complexity of UML designs. SDMetrics also checks design rules to automatically detect incomplete or incorrect design, and to point out violations of style guidelines such as circular dependencies or naming conventions. UML-design measurement helps you identify opportunities for design refactoring, and supports effort estimation, project planning, and monitoring. SDMetrics features a suite of object-oriented-design quality metrics and rules covering all UML diagram types. You can add new design rules and metrics that are tailored to your local development process. SDMetrics works with all UML modeling tools and reverse engineering tools that support the UML model interchange format XMI. Version 2.0 includes support for UML 2.0 and XMI 2.0/2.1 standards, with an extended set of design metrics and rules for the new UML2 diagrams and model elements.
SDMetrics
In der Lache 17
67308 Zellertal-Harxheim, Germany
+49 6355 954 761
http://www.sdmetrics.com/
Canoo has released an upgrade of its free Eclipse Integration plug-in. The Canoo plug-in for UltraLightClient's Rich Internet Application (RIA) development. It integrates UltraLightClient into the Eclipse IDE, thus letting you efficiently deliver pure Java-based RIAs. The plug-in is compatible with Eclipse 3.1.
Canoo Engineering AG
Kirschgartenstrasse 7
4051 Basel, Switzerland
+41 (61) 228 94 44
http://www.canoo.com/
DDJ