ARM, Java, Groovy!

No I'm not having flashbacks to the 60's (with awful memories of teens running around wearing sack clothes chanting something ... ew!). I've been busy working with my Sheeva Plug computer (and a second unit on the way). I have installed Misterhouse on it and I decided to get Java and Groovy thrown on to boot. Misterhouse is written in Perl and I'd like to write my next HA package in something a little more Object Oriented. I'm surprised at how well Misterhouse runs and I'm hoping my new HA package will surprise me as well. Of course the business with Oracle and Java has me considering other options (anything but Oracle!) as a backup.

Now don't get me wrong, I like Perl. It's great for tearing into strings-n-things but it's not objected oriented and converting back and forth between strings-n-things is maddening!. It turns out Java has many of the features I need, OOPs and threads for instance and Groovy removes some of that nasty verbosity that clings to Java. It has that comfortable feeling to removes some of the things that gets in the way of programming. With Java's RegEx library allowing me to tearing into strings-n-things it seems it should match what I'm used to with Perl. Also the Grooysh make it easy for me to experiment with code. So far I've been attempting to get a handle on concurrency but it's harder than it looks. So I've got more reading to do on that subject. I've also been working with RxTX and the Elexol USBIO24. That's been going pretty well. I'm able to talk to and control the IO board with no problems.

For my next project I may attempt to get the Sheeva plug talking to my HCS II via the RS485 port (I have a USB dongle for that). I'll also hook up the HCS serial port to a terminal server I have. That way I can build a network daemon to control the information (I hate the continuous stream the HCS sends out. I only want to know about updates and poll when I need something else). All of this ties back to my DollHouse project and my 2011 Trenton Computer Festival presentation. This year I demo working home automation using the DollHouse.