Artur Hefczyc Application 2009

My name is Artur Hefczyc and I live in UK, Cambridge. I am applying for XSF membership.

If you need to contact me send either jabber or e-mail message to address: artur.hefczyc AT tigase.org.

History
I am the maintainer and the main developer of the Tigase XMPP Server. Apart from the Tigase project I used to participate to a few other open source projects: GeoTools, GenerGuide, WTTools. Most of my professional work was around implementation of network servers and network protocols. I also wrote a few articles about working with Emacs, Java and XML: "Emacs and JDEE", "Tools and methods for XML" and "Editing XML files".

Software development is not just a way to earn money for me. I like doing it, I enjoy creating something new and I have a big fun when I can see as other people use my software.

A few years ago I found information about new IM protocol - Jabber. As that was (and still is?) the first fully open protocol and the idea about distributed IM network seemed very interesting I started to use it. After some time, using Jabber client was not enough for me. I decided I want to have my own server installed.

In 2004 years ago I started to think about own implementation of a Jabber/XMPP server. That was start of Tigase project.

At the moment Tigase project includes not just Jabber/XMPP server but also dedicated XML parser and test suite with built-in scripting language for testing network servers and also web, AJAX based clients.

Jabber/XMPP Projects
I am involved in only one Jabber/XMPP project: Tigase. This project, however, consists of a few subprojects which are not directly dependent on Jabber/XMPP server implementation.

Code

 * Jabber/XMPP server implementation for Tigase project. The new version of the server should be available in coming weeks. Previous version is available now. It is simple but fully functional Jabber/XMPP server.


 * Dedicated XML parser for streamed XML data like XMPP streams. The first version is available on Tigase project. And the new version is ready. It is more generic (XMPP specific code has been removed and XML parser code has been separated from the server code). New release will be available together with the new release of the server.


 * Test suite to test network servers. It has been, of course, designed and implemented to test and compare Jabber/XMPP servers but the implementation is generic enough to make it easy to extend it for testing other network servers. Part of the suite is scripting language designed to build different test scenarios like functional tests, performance tests, stability tests or other kind. The release of this suite will be available at the same time as a new version of the server.

Plans for the future
In short term my main goal is to make release of the new version of Tigase components (server, XML parser and test suite).

Long term plans are: first to continue development of Tigase project add lacking functionality, make it more robust, stable - just make it fully functional and useful application. Another plans are to actively participate in Jabber/XMPP evolution.

Jabber - Why I like it
Modern world is in most cases about effective communication. People live in distant areas and they often work together so they have to communicate. Before IM there was phone and e-mail. And IM takes the best of them and offers this as a very effective way of communication. Jabber/XMPP as open technology brings it even on to the next level. Thanks to Jabber/XMPP we are not dependent on a particular company.

Everybody can have own server installed and use it for private needs being even disconnected from the Internet.

But Jabber/XMPP is not only about effective communication its flexibility allows easy implementation of many different services where instant reaction is required.

Why I'm applying
Until now my participation and involvement was not very active due to time constraints.Some time ago I started to work on the Tigase project full time and I thought I have more time for other activities. This is not always true, howver I hope I can dedicate more time for XFS and XMPP community. I want to share my ideas with the community and receive feedback from other people working on similar goals. I have dedicated much time to my project development and I would like also to actively participate in developing ideas around that technology.

I think this is the right time to attract more people to Jabber community as now we have excellent client applications which are far ahead of commercial alternatives.