interface cobalt

My thesis work at the Knowledge Management Research Group at KTH is going to involve the Semantic Web, REST and some JavaScript. Because of that, I’ve been reading up on those technologies. These are some of the books that I’ve been reading:

A Semantic Web Primer by Grigoris Antoniou and Frank van Harmelen is a very good introduction to the Semantic Web for those new to the field. While I used it mainly to make sure that I hadn’t missed anything important, I did gain an improved understanding of some areas. Particularly the chapter on mathematical formulations of the Semantic Web was interesting to me, although perhaps not all that useful for my work.

RESTful Web Services by Leonard Richardson and Sam Ruby offers an architecture for RESTful web services: the Resource-Oriented Architecture (ROA). What is and isn’t REST is a much debated topic.  Richardson and Ruby describe what they believe is RESTful and what isn’t. Thanks to their discussions, I was able to form my own opinions on what I consider to be good RESTful web services and what their advantages and limitations are.

JavaScript: The Good Parts by Douglas Crockford explains which features of JavaScript are good, and which are not that good and should be avoided. Everyone who’s programming in JavaScript ought to listen to Crockford (you can watch his talks at YUI Theater). And perhaps everyone who isn’t should listen to him as well; JavaScript is actually a great language once you get past the bad parts.

I’m busy with final exams today and in the next couple of days. I just had one in Information Systems Management. Tomorrow, there is an Engineering and Technology Management final and Logistics Management the day after tomorrow. Yes, lots of management oriented stuff this semester.

Right before Christmas, I’ll have an E-commerce Data Mining final exam (why, oh why did they move it from December 16th, ruining my travel plans). One down, three to go.

In case you are going to learn Chinese (Standard/Mandarin Chinese), here is one recommendation for you: get the Oxford Starter Chinese Dictionary.

I needed a small dictionary containing most of the words that I needed to know, preferably with pinyin and many examples, and then I found the Starter Chinese Dictionary on Amazon.com. It had many good reviews and I got it as soon as I saw it in a Hong Kong book store.

Actually, even if you don’t intend to fully start learning Chinese, you could use it as a small introduction to the language (through its explanatory sections). China is becoming more and more important nowadays, and a little more understanding of their language could prove useful.