caelumvox - building on a cloud

In my copious free time, I am tackling "Effective C++, Third Edition" by Scott Meyers. The book is organized into 55 items which detail ways in which C++ code can be more effectively written. Through the first five items, there are two glaring deficiencies I've noticed with my own code: lack of use of const, and functions returning references to objects. This is one of those books that is starting to look like a fantastic collection of years of C++ and object-oriented experiences from many different engineers and reviewers, all mashed into one book. Could this book be a keeper? Also on deck: "Effective Java, Second Edition" by Joshua Bloch.

I have become quite interested in how this whole cloud computing thing is going, so I'm giving Google App Engine a shot. I guess the major support right now is in Python, with Java support now coming online. Of interest is how App Engine can provide all the same functions as Java EE without the need of hosting and with the ability to swap out components where needed. Ultimately, what will probably happen is that development could be restricted to what is provided on the App Engine server; for example, App Engine's database, certificates, and API's. Another reason to use App Engine is that currently Google Wave can only communicate to robots created from App Engine. I'm sure that any Wave protocol implementation can act as a robot, but it would require detailed development to the standards. Of course, none of this can be tested until I get my sandbox account!