I have just released the latest version of my open–source code–generator: Jostraca. I first released Jostraca in late 2000 and I have been unable to get rid of it since, despite repeated kicking!

So what does Jostraca do? It takes a template and generates a lot of repetitive code. Anytime you have loads of repeated code, you can use it. Now maybe with EJB3 that's not such a big deal anymore,
but if you still want just one definition of your data objects, templates can keep them DRY.

The other thing about Jostraca is that is uses JSP-style syntax, so you don't have to learn any new-fangled semi-language. You just use the language you know. And you can also use regex macros to completely define your own template syntax if you really want to. Jostraca is also language agnostic. Currently you write templates in Java, JavaScript, Python, Jython, Ruby, C, Rebol and Perl (of course!). And you can even define your own code generator formats so you're not stuck with the standard one (which just wants to dump out a load of files).

That said, Jostraca is warty. It's a work in progress and the project iterations are about 1 year(!) in length. In this business it can be quite rare to work with a piece of code for such a long time. Most projects come and go. You move on, others take over (and curse you), and the merry-go-round continues.

The nice thing about running an open-source project is that you get to step out of the coding rat-race once in while. Jostraca has been through many refactorings, and is a lot better for it. Of course, there's still a lot to do and there's a bit pile of user stories in the unassigned bucket. But no harm. I've got years to get it right. You don't often have that luxury as a coder.

One last thing. I'd like to welcome Morten Christensen on board. He's done some great work on the Eclipse Plugin for Jostraca, which was sorely lacking. He's doing some good stuff for code-generation in Eclipse.

By the way, you may have noticed that I love competitions. So here's another one. If you can figure out how I came up with the name "Jostraca", you can get a free XML Manager license. BUT DON'T POST THE ANSWER HERE! To qualify you have to send me the answer in a private mail. That means everyone has a fair chance. (The standard competition rules apply, blah-de-blah etc.)

Oh yeah. The Sphinx is kind of a clue…

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