How to build a source code generator

1. A model that describe your application - you don't need to define it yourself, you can use XMI or XML schema as the reference model. The only problem is how you parse them to the object model.
   
2. A template engine - Velocity or Freemaker are good template engines in Java.
   
3. Templates that corresponding to the model - Generate code Java, PHP, C#, etc.
   
4. A configuration of templates - There would be configurations for desktop app, web app, RIA, or web services, etc.
   
5. A parser that parse the configuration - If the configuration is an XML file, Apache's commons-digester library can help.
   
6. A driver to glue up everthing.
7. Optionally, a validator for the template is good - JavaCC or ANTRL for syntax validation. For the extreme, use a compiler to verify the correctness of the generated code.
   

Web 2.0 is Just a Milestone

After reading some articles and blogs, I found that Web 2.0 is not really new thing. It's just a milestone that saying the internet has evolved into new phases. People are not working alone but collaborated. XML and HTTP make different platforms more integrated comparing to the DCOM and COBRA. Thanks to AJAX, web applications are almost as dynamic as desktop applications. Whenever you go, whereever your are. You can access the application with your electronic devices (mobile phone, PC, PDA, etc). No more deployment and update patches is need.

If Web 2.0 is a milestone, what else we can do with it? Just celerbrate and get back to work! Have we rearched the milestone yet? Not really! Let's work harder for it.