Functions in XQuery

In this week let’s talk about the functions in the xquery. 

As I described in my previous posts, all the xquery variables and functions starts with namespace. If you are familiar with XSD and XSL, then this is pretty much same.  As like other programming languages, xquery is also having predefined functions.

Before going to the user defined function, let’s talk about predefined functions.

XQuery has 2 namespaces, fn and fn-bea.

Example:

fn:string() – this function accepts any atomic type and converts it to string.

fn:number() – this function accepts any atomic type and converts it to number.

fn-bea:trim() – this function accepts string argument and returns string after trimming it.

fn-bea:date-from-dateTime() – this function accepts dateTime as argument and returns date after converting it to date.

Developers can also define their own function depends on the business needs.

Find below the example for the user defined functions

declare function tns:getValue($arg0 as xs:string?) as xs:string* {

    

       (:  your business logic :)

};

The above is an example for user defined function, in the above function getValue accepts string argument which can be 0 or 1 and returns string which can be 0 or n elements.

More about XQuery

More about XQuery

Well, Hope you are following my post regularly. In this post I am doing to talk about data types in XQuery.

Before talking about data types, let me tell you who we can comment a code / have documentation about a function. In XQuery, anything starts with “(:” is considered as comment and it’s ends with “:)” (Of course)

(: This is a comment :)

Data types

As like all programming languages, XQuery also contains set of data types for example, int, float, string, double etc….

In XQuery, everything starts with namespace, look below few data types available in xquery.

xs:int

xs:string

xs:float

xs:date

xs:dateTime

In the above examples, “xs” is a namespace and int, string, float, date, dateTime are datatypes.

Now, consider we need to define array of int / float / string etc… how is that possible in XQuery?

Very simple, the following is an example for that

$variable as xs:string*

In the above example, the variable is going to hold array string; it might have 0 elements or n elements.

You might wonder, what is that big difference in the above statement to make the variable to hold array of string elements?

Well, let’s see, in xquery we have data type ends with ‘?’ and ‘*’. If the reader is familiar with XML and XSD, then it’s pretty same as that.

? – going to hold 0 or 1 elements

* - going to hold 0 or n elements

Example:

$variable as xs:string – this variable should have only one element. Please note this will not accept null / 0 element

$variable as xs:string? – this variable is going to hold 0 or 1 element. Please note this will not accept more than one element.

$variable as xs:string* – This variable is going to hold 0 or n element. Please note this will accept n number of elements so, you need to iterate it get the all the elements. 

Introduction to ALDSP and XQuery – Part 2

Before getting in detailed about logical and physical data service, let us understand what is data service and why we need it?

Data Service: its acts as a separate layer for accessing data. It’s a query based layer that facilitates the ability of calling applications to access and manage data. Why we need data service?

Data is everywhere now; we are developing application to maintain the data. That was the reason for the evolution of data base management system. In earlier days, we use to maintain data in the files format. Now we have ORDBMS, and in earlier days we use to do manual coding in C / Java for fetching / managing data. Now we have separate service called DSP – Data service platform

DSP : Data Services Platform (DSP) is the AquaLogic component dedicated to developing and deploying integrated data services. Data services give consumers an easy-to-use, uniform model for accessing heterogeneous, distributed data.DSP significantly simplifies the task of creating and deploying reusable data services. It provides tools and frameworks for rapidly generating physical data services based on existing data sources and for creating view-like logical data services.

AL - DSP uses Service Oriented Architecture and XML Query language. As I described in my previous post, ALDSP has two types of DS – Physical and Logical DS.
Both file ends with extension “.ds” then how the compiler differentiates the physical and logical ds?

In ALDSP (please note I am talking about 3.0 version for ALDSP, wherever I use ALDSP its refer to ALDSP – version 3.0), we have something called annotations. It’s something like meta data that we define in any scripting language.


Example: If we open our physical or logical ds we can see the below annotation tag in the starting of the file.


(:: pragma xds < x:xds xmlns:x=”urn: annotations .ld.bea.com”   > ::) 

The above tag is an example for physical DS annotation. Find below for the logical DS


(:: pragma xfl < x:xfl xmlns:x=”urn: annotations .ld.bea.com”   > ::)


Did you find the difference between the two, yes it’s XDS and XFL.For physical is XDS, which means the functions defined in this ds may expose to the web.

For logical, it’s XFL, which means this ds contains only library functions, which can be utilized by other physical / logical ds. Now we are clear about the physical and logical ds, but a physical ds may have both exposed function and non exposed function right?

Yes, physical ds can have both methods which are exposed to web and also a simple utility function. Like public and private methods. Then, how the complier finds the difference between these two? Do we have any change in the method declaration syntax?

NO, we don’t have any change in the method declaration. Both public and private methods have same syntax.

Again annotation helps the compiler to find out the difference between the two.
The following annotation is used before the function starts.


(:: pragma function < f:function kind= “read” visibility= ” public ” isPrimary= ” true ” xmlns:f= “urn:annotations.ld.bea.com” > ::)


In the above annotation, if the visibility is public, which means that this method visible to the world. We can hit this method using SOAP.

Also a physical ds can have more than 1 public functions. And we can define the default function which needs to be executed if a physical ds is called. This can be achieved by isPrimary=”true”.

If is Primary is true which means that this function is default function in this physical ds.As we all know, we can have only one default function in a ds.

In my next post I will write more about XQuery

My First project @ Cognizant – ALDSP and XQuery

My First project @ Cognizant – ALDSP and XQuery

On 23^rd September 2009, I joined Cognizant, after the first day induction program, I was asked to work on the project which was already started. In that project, project lead gave me a list of technologies which are going to be used.  I was offered with the backend part which was considered as tough part in the project

ALDSP and Spring Batch

Backend part – this project was designed in such a way that, batch will generate image and xhtml files ( I was not there when the design decisions were made. Before I join cognizant all these decisions were made).

I was really happy to know that, I got a chance again to work using my favorite framework – Spring. But there was couple of new technologies involved with spring batch. I always want to be a good learner, I try to do so. I have started learning ALSDP (a bea weblogic product). But un – fortunately / fortunately the basic setup / platform was already developed.

I started learning ALSDP, now I am really confident that I can convert any complex SQL query to XQuery and I can do any kind of data manipulation in XQuery. Now I am writing this post to let all the beginners to have the basic understanding about ALDSP and XQuery.

Introduction to ALDSP and XQuery

As I told before ALDSP is a Bea weblogic product, it’s helps us to create web service easier.  ALDSP – Aqua Logic Data Service Platform is a tool to develop web service and it uses XQuery language to fetch data from the database.

It has two types of DS files ( logical and physical data service).  

Physical – this DS acts as a physical table / view. We can create this DS from a table or view or stored procedure or SQL query.

Logical – We will have all the data manipulation process here. Logical DS is further divided into two types.

 1. Entity data service – here we should have functions which is getting exposed as a web service.

2.  Library data service – here we should have functions which is not getting exposed as a web service. All the function written here will acts as a reusable methods. This DS can be imported in the various entity data service.

Best Practice

DO’s

1.       All the DS files should have schema (xsd) associated with it

2.       Physical DS should only have the functions like create and table / view function.

Don’t (usually I will concentrate more on the Don’t part. Whatever be the technology, if we avoid all the don’ts, we will definitely have a standard code)

1. Physical DS should not have any user defined functions.  
2.  Entity DS should not have any functions which are not getting exposed as a web service.
3.  Logical DS should not have any functions which are getting exposed as a web service
4.  Any web service functions should not be without a schema defined. 

I will keep writing more about ALDSP and XQuery on my upcoming posts.

Linux up 60% YoY, Windows down 4.02%

I was thinking what to write…… Then I thought I can write something about my favorite LINUX. I remember there was statistics release on April – 2009. I know it pretty old news, but still I thought I can post this here….

On April – 2009, there was a statistics released by hitslink, according to that GNU/LINUX has hit 1% market share during April, 2009.

A year back Linux had market share of 0.63% (April 2008). It’s an increase of over 60% year over year for GNU/Linux. Year over year, Windows had a decrease of 4.02% (from 91.58% to 87.9%).  Still going down….

Click here to see the market share statistics

Click here to see the W3schools statistics on OS Platform

Payment Gateway selection from available service providers in India and abroad

1. Paysignet - http://paysignet.com/keyfeatures.asp

The Paysignet payment gateway provides easy to integrate payment gateway processing. But they do not have a physical address for anyone to get in touch. Call Toll Free during Business Hours (10:00 to 18:00 hrs) : 1800-425-4111 . This is the only contact info available on their website.

Paysignet

Product Features : credit cards, debit cards, net banking, mobile payments, cash cards

Startup Cost : 6000-50000

Transaction cost : 2.75% - 5%

Security deposit : Nil

Due Diligence : Nil

Recurring cost : 1500 – 5000

Integration : Easy – 1 Hour

Security : Yes

Additional Features : Live Chat, shopping cart ready, instant SMS, email, Detailed reports

Website : http://paysignet.com/keyfeatures.asp

2. CCavenue - http://www.ccavenue.com/

The CCavenue is considered one of the best and most popular payment gateway for India. Many of the Indian ecommerce based websites prefer this payment gateway of transaction in India Rupees as well as accepting credit cards with foreign currencies. All Major International and Indian Credit Cards are Processed by CCAvenue.

CCAvenue

Product Features : credit cards, debit cards, net banking, mobile payments, cash cards

Startup Cost : 7500 - 40000

Transaction cost : 3.75% - 7%

Security deposit : Nil

Due Diligence : Nil

Recurring cost : 1200 - 3600

Integration : Easy – 1 Hour

Security : Yes

Additional Features : Live Chat, shopping cart ready, instant SMS, email, Detailed reports

Website : http://www.ccavenue.com

3. ABCpayments - http://www.abcpayments.com/pricing.html

ABCpayments accepts bank transfers, credit card payments and prepaid cash cards payments. The internet banking trend has increased drastically in the recent years and use of credit cards online has been outspaced by online banking. ABCpayments claimis to offer the benefit to transact through all major banks in India by bringing them on one common platform that offers one point contact for all banking transactions.

ABCpayments

Product Features : credit cards, debit cards, net banking

Startup Cost : 10000 - 28000

Transaction cost : 5% - 7%

Security deposit : Nil

Due Diligence : Nil

Recurring cost : Nil

Integration : Easy – 1 Hour

Security : Yes

Additional Features : Live Chat, shopping cart ready, instant SMS, email, Detailed reports

Website : http://www.abcpayments.com/pricing.html

3. EBS - http://www.ebs.in/pricing_advantages.php

EBS

Product Features : credit cards, debit cards, net banking

Startup Cost : 6000 - 30000

Transaction cost : 3.25% - 6%

Security deposit : Nil

Due Diligence : Nil

Recurring cost : 2400

Integration : 7 working days

Security : Yes

Additional Features : Live Chat, shopping cart ready, instant SMS, email, Detailed reports

Website : http://www.ebs.in/pricing_advantages.php

EBS has provided detailed information about how the entire online ecommerce transaction takes place and how EBS handles the transactions.

How an online Transaction takes place.

Step 1: Customer select and adds item in the shopping cart And places the order on your (merchant) website.

Step 2: Customer selects to pay via credit card .

Step 3: Customer is redirected through EBS Payment Gateway to Transaction Processing Bank.

Step 4: Customer enters credit card details on Secured Payment page.

Step 5: Credit card information is transmitted securely to the corresponding bank for approval.

Step 6: Corresponding bank sends appropriate information to the transaction Processing bank .

Step 7: The result is forwarded to EBS (via the Transaction Processing Bank).

Step 8: Customer receives a confirmation and is redirected to your (merchant) website.

4. Transecute - https://www.transecute.com

Kindly note that Transecute is currently not giving out any new accounts.

5. HDFC - http://www.hdfcbank.com/wholesale/corporates/payment_gateway_services.htm

HDFC Credit card service provider. This is provided by HDFC Bank one of the most reliable banking service providers in India. HDFC payment gateway follows very stringent rules and does a lot of due diligence of the company who wants to have a payment gateway service. We at Dimakh Consultants have used their service for a few of our clients are we are very happy with the service provided by HDFC payment gateway.

HDFC Bank

Product Features : Credit Cards

Startup Cost : 10000 - 50000

Transaction cost : 3.5% - 6%

Security deposit : 50000 - depends on Due Diligence

Due Diligence : YES

Recurring cost : 12000

Integration : 3 weeks

Security : Yes

Additional Features : Email and Telephonic support available

6. WorldPay - http://www.worldpay.com/business/content.php?page=pricing2&c=UK

WorldPay is more used for those transactions which are for foreign transactions. They payment can be linked for Indian Payment currency. It has a very strong and secure system. The charges are very high as compared to other service providers.

WorldPay

Product Features : Credit Cards

Startup Cost : GBP 200

Transaction cost : 4.5% - 6% + GBP 0.50 per transaction

Security deposit : NIL

Due Diligence : NIL

Recurring cost : GBP 30 per month

Integration : 1 hour easy

Security : Yes

Additional Features : live support

Website : http://www.worldpay.com/business/content.php?page=pricing2&c=UK

7. Paypal - http://www.paypal.com/

Paypal is by far one of the most popular and widely used service provide for online payment worldwide. Paypal has a strong network and presence and also offers multi currency support. For India it has a special facility by which you can accept payment in foreign curreny and transfer the money to your Indian bank account at the prevailing $ rates. The payments reaches you in 5-7 working days.

PayPal

Product Features : Credit Cards

Startup Cost : Nil

Transaction cost : 1.9% - 6% + $ 0.30 per transaction

Security deposit : NIL

Due Diligence : Applicable for Non Profit Organizations

Recurring cost : NIL

Integration : 1 hour easy

Security : Yes

Additional Features : Currency conversion fee - 2.5% added to the exchange rate

Website : http://www.paypal.com/

8. ICICI Bank Payment gateway - payseal

The Popular ICICI Bank allows companies to accept secure payments using credit cards via the Internet. They operate under the brand of Payseal. The integration is very complicated and needs knowledge of java for integration. The charges vary based on transactions volume. This is one of the oldest service providers in India.

ICICI Payseal

Product Features : Credit Cards

Startup Cost : 40000

Transaction cost : 3% - 6%

Security deposit : 25000

Due Diligence : Yes

Recurring cost : 20000

Integration : 3 weeks

Security : Yes

Additional Features : Needs java support for your website.

Website : www.payseal.com

A few other payment gateway service providers are

Authorize.net - http://www.authorize.net/

Google checkout - http://checkout.google.com/

HSBC Payment gateway - No Information available - contact your local bank branch

eazy2pay - https://www.eazy2pay.com/

Billdesk - http://www.billdesk.com/

This will give you all the details of selecting the correct payment gateway for your website. You can accept Visa cards, Master cards and also do bank transfers.

myLot User Profile

Home Loan Tips

The home buying process can seem complicated, but if you take things step-by-step and you know how to choose the right home loan, you will soon be holding the keys to your own home!

Ten steps to buying a home

Step 1: Figure out how much you can afford. What you can afford depends on your income, credit rating, current monthly expenses, down payment and the interest rate. The calculators can help, but it is best to visit a lender to find out for sure. A housing counselor can help you figure out how to manage and pay off your debt, and start saving for that down payment!

Step 2: Know your rights

Step 3: Shop for a loan. Save money by doing your homework. Talk to several lenders, compare costs and interest rates, and negotiate to get a better deal. Consider getting pre-approved for a loan.

Step 4: Learn about home buying programs

Step 5: Shop for a home. Choose a real estate agent, Wish list - what features do you want, Home-shopping checklist - take this list with you when comparing homes.

Step 6: Make an offer. Discuss the process with your real estate agent. If the seller counters your offer, you may need to negotiate until you both agree to the terms of the sale.

Step 7: Get a home inspection. Make your offer contingent on a home inspection. An inspection will tell you about the condition of the home, and can help you avoid buying a home that needs major repairs.

Step 8: Shop for homeowners insurance Lenders require that you have homeowners insurance. Be sure to shop around.

Step 9: Sign papers. You're finally ready to go to "settlement" or "closing." Be sure to read everything before you sign!

Terms used in Housing Finance

• EMI: Equated Monthly Installment till the loan is paid back. It consists of a portion of interest and the principal
  
  
• Floating Rate of interest: Rate of interest which varies with the market lending rate. This means that there is an element of risk of paying more than budgeted amount in case the lending rates goes up
  
  
• Monthly Reducing balance: In this system interest reduces monthly with repayment of Principal amount
  
  
• Annual Reducing Balance: In this system principal is reduced annually at the end of the year so you end up paying interest even for the portion of principal you have actually paid back
  
  
• Fixed rate of interest: Rate of interest remains unchanged throughout the period of the loan
  
  
• Processing charge: It's a fee payable to the lender on applying for the loan
  
  
• Prepayment Penalties: When loan is paid back before the agreed term of the loan, then banks/ institutions charge penalty for the prepayment
  
  
• Commitment Fee: Some institution charge commitment fee in case the loan is not availed within a stipulated period, after it is processed and sanctioned
  
• Miscellaneous Cost: It is quite possible that some lenders may charge documentation or consultant charges .

Choosing the Right Home Loan

If you are planning to buy home, you need to know about home loans processes, troubleshooting and how to choose the right home loan for house that falls within your budget. There are various types of home loans offered by different financial institutions. You need to figure out which type of home loan is beneficial for you.

Types of Home Loans Available:

• Home Equity Loans


• Home Extension Loans


• Home Improvement Loans


• Home Purchase Loans


• Land Purchase Loans


• Mortgage Loans

Many banks and financial companies offer home loans. But before choosing any home loan option, consider few points as mentioned below.

Property Types: You should know more about type of property in lieu of which you seek loan. There are loans offered by banks to Resident Indians and NRIs for ready property, under construction property, self-construction and home improvement.

Loan Tenure: The loans provided by financial institution are offered in tenures or period of years. You should check out the tenure for loans available in the market. There are loan tenures available for upto 25 years.

Repayment Options - You need to choose between fixed and floating rate home loans. Many banks and financial institutions will provide you with the option of switching from a floating rate home loan to a fixed rate home loan once a year at no extra cost. But you need to check out the facts first with the loan providing firm.

No Penalty option - There are also no penalty option offered by few finance companies. In this mode, you can opt to pre-pay up to 25% of your loan every year. Pre-payment is permitted after a minimum of 6 months following loan disbursal.

Tax Benefits - You should know the right of your tax benefits on home loans. Resident Indians are eligible for certain tax benefits on principal and interest components of a housing loan under the Income Tax Act, 1961.##

List of Premium Banks Offering Home Loans:

• ICICI Bank - ICICI Bank Home Loan


• HDFC Bank - Adjustable Rate Home Loan


• Bank of India - Star Home Scheme


• Standard Chartered - HomeAssist


• State Bank of India - SBI Unique Housing Scheme


• Bank of Baroda - Housing Offer


• Citibank- Building & Renovation of House

Always check with a financial home loan expert or financing company to understand home loan processes and to avail the best bargain on your home purchase.

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BACKLINKS

Get Free Links
Automatic Link Exchange
Website Traffic

HOW TO SEND A COMPLETE WEBPAGE VIA EMAIL

You share the sites of your interests with your friends and colleagues. Generally you share them over sites like Twitter, Facebook or via IMs. Well if you like, you can also send a whole webpage to your friend via email. Emailtheweb can help you do it.

You don’t need to sign up to use the service. Just open up the site, go ahead entering the URL and click on “email web page” button. Now you’ll be prompted to sign in using your Gmail Account or if you don’t have one, it gives you an option to sign up for it. Now you’ll see a page for entering email ids of your friends, add subject, notes and send the web page via email.

You can also do it by installing a small tool for your browser. You can download the tool for Google Toolbar and email any webpage right away by clicking on it. Or you can also send a webpage via email by downloading EmailTheWeb addon for Mozilla Firefox.

WEB BROWSER SECURITY

If you are still using Internet Explorer, think about using an alternate browser for web surfing such as Mozilla Firefox, opera, safari at least until Microsoft fixes the latest security vulnerabilities in its web browser. If you must continue with IE, Microsoft advises users to set ActiveX to prompt the user under Tools, Internet Options, Security tab. Let's hope that Microsoft will improve things in IE 7 and Longhorn.

FORGET YOUR WINDOWS XP PASSWORD?

Oops! Did you forget your password on your Windows XP computer? No worries! You can reset it using your Windows XP CD by following the instructions in this article. There are other ways of resetting your Windows password as well. This just shows that if you have physical access to a Windows machine, security is out the window. Let's hope Windows Vista will solve some of these vulnerabilities. (Source: Digg)

WANT TO ACCESS BLOCKED WEBSITES ? TRY GOOGLE PROXY

Many a times friends ask me give the address of a working proxy server, so that they can access the blocked websites in their Offices or Computer Labs. A proxy server is a kind of buffer between your computer and the Internet resources you are accessing. Thus by connecting to a Proxy Server you can actually bypass the filtering mechanism.

Thousands of free Proxy servers are available on Google results. But why searching for a Proxy Server when Google can itself be used as a proxy.

This trick is slightly old but pretty cool nevertheless. Just use the following syntax:

http://www.google.com/translate?langpair=en|en&u=www.site.com

Replace the www.site.com with the site that you are trying to access. In this case, Google will access the pages like a web proxy and translate it back to the same language (english to english here). If you are accessing a site in a different language change the langpair to the appropriate tags.

Do remember that this technique is not guaranteed to work everywhere or with every kind of firewall or access-control system out there, nor will it hide your IP address. But do let me know how the Google proxy idea worked for you.

POST/WRITE YOUR ARTICLES/BLOG OFFLINE

There are many ways to answer a question like How to Write a Blog Post. There are many web tools available. Some bloggers use blog writing tools like Windows Live Writer, while others use the built in WYSIWIG text editors. Some of the Blog Writing Tools are mentioned below.

1. ScribeFire: ScribeFire is an extension for the Mozilla Firefox that integrates with your browser to let you easily post to your blog: you can drag and drop formatted text from pages you are browsing, take notes, and post to your blog.

2. Windows Live Writer: One of the most popular web tools for writing blog posts from the stable of Microsoft.

3. MarsEdit: Powerful Blog Publishing For Your Mac, which allows you to write, preview, and publish a blog post without a web browser. However it is not FREE.

4. BlogJet: BlogJet is a blog client for Windows that allows you to manage your blogs without opening a browser.

5. Qumana: Qumana features include easy text formatting and image insertion, simple Technorati tagging, and advertising insertion with Q Ads.

6. Elicit: Elicit is a desktop blog client that integrates Web and RSS services from Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Bloglines etc. in one desktop application for the purpose of creating content for blogs. But it is also not free.

7. Ecto: Ecto is a feature-rich desktop blogging client for Mac OSX, supporting a wide range of weblog systems.

8. RocketPost: It is touted to be designed for serious bloggers and business users.It claims to be the only blog editor with WYSIWYG editing, full local editing and full blog import. You have to buy to use it.

9. Thingamablog: Unlike most blogging solutions, Thingamablog does NOT require a third-party blogging host, a cgi / php enabled web host, or a MySQL database. In fact, all you need to setup, and manage, a blog with Thingamablog is FTP, SFTP, or network access to a web server.

Besides all these software and tools to write a blog post, I have recently learned that Word 2007 is also a powerful Blog Writing Tool. I have been using Windows Live Writer to mostly write Blog Posts till now, but I find Word 2007 to be even better in some cases. Word 2007 seems to give you a richer interface.

For instance, with one click, you can insert any of the following into your blog post.
* Pictures
* Shapes
* SmartArt Graphics
* WordArt
* Symbols

Formatting your blog post is much more easier in Word 2007, than in Windows Live Writer. I also found that the speed of Live writer to be slower than Word 2007, both to start and work.
However, the availability of many useful plugins make Live Writer a useful piece of software to write blog post, which is missing in Word 2007. Yet another thing is that Live Writer supports Technorati Tagging while it does not seem to be possible for Word 2007.
You have to first open a new document in Word 2007, and select the option of a Blog Post. When opening for the first time, it asks you to add new blog account, where you enter the URL address of your blog and the username / password of your blog. Thereafter you will know for yourself, how to write a blog post with Word 2007.

BRING TRAFFIC TO YOUR BLOG

Here are few steps to build up traffic for your blog :

· Use lists.

· Be topical.

· Write posts that need to be read right now.

· Learn enough to become the expert in your field.

· Break news.

· Be timeless.

· write posts that will be readable in a year.

· Be among the first with a great blog on your topic, then encourage others to blog on the same topic.

· Share your expertise generously so people recognize it and depend on you.

· Announce news.

· Write short, pithy posts.

· Encourage your readers to help you manipulate the technorati top blog list.

· Don't write about your family members or relatives.

· Write long, definitive posts.

· Be snarky. Write nearly libelous things about fellow bloggers, daring them to respond (with links back to you) on their blog.

· Be sycophantic. Share linklove and expect some back.

· Include polls, meters and other eye candy.

· Tag your posts. Use del.ico.us.

· Coin a term or two.

· Do email interviews with the well-known.

· Answer your email.

· Use photos. Salacious ones are best.

· Be anonymous.

· Encourage your readers to digg,stumble your posts. (and to usefurl and redit) Do it with every post.

· Post your photos on flicker.

· Encourage your readers to subscribe by RSS.

· Start at the beginning and take your readers through a months-long education.

· Include comments so your blog becomes a virtual water cooler that feeds itself.

· Assume that every day is the beginning, because you always have new readers.

· Highlight your best posts on your Squidoo ens.

· Point to useful but little-known resources.

· Write about stuff that appeals to the majority of current blog readers--like gadgets and web 2.0. Write about Google.

· Have relevant ads that are even better than your content.

· Don't include comments, people will cross post their responses.

· Write posts that each include dozens of trackbacks to dozens of blog posts so that people will notice you.

· Run no ads.

· Keep tweaking your template to make it include every conceivable bell or whistle.

· Write about blogging.

· Digest the good ideas of other people, all day, every day.

· Invent a whole new kind of art or interaction.

· Post on weekdays, because there are more readers.

· Write about a never-ending parade of different topics so you don't bore your readers.

· Post on weekends, because there are fewer new posts.

· Don't interrupt your writing with a lot of links.

· Dress your blog (fonts and design) as well as you would dress yourself for a meeting with a stranger.

· Edit yourself. Ruthlessly.

· Don't promote yourself and your business or your books or your projects at the expense of the reader's attention.

· Be patient.

· Give credit to those that inspired, it makes your writing more useful.

· Ping technorati. Or have someone smarter than me tell you how to do it automatically.

· Write about only one thing, in ever-deepening detail, so you become definitive.

· Write in English.

· Write about obscure stuff that appeals to an obsessed minority.

· Don't be boring.

· Write stuff that people want to read and share.

· Feel free to post your own ideas (satirical or otherwise) in the comments below.