Abbey Workshop

About this Site

Goal of this Site

To provide information about programming, Java, Ruby, XML, XSLT, Mac OS X, Linux, and cool computer technologies. Working in the computer industry you constantly learn new things. The goal of this site is to share what the authors have learned so others can benefit from our experience.

Why Abbey Workshop?

During the dark ages, the only learning and knowledge preservation in western Europe could be found at the early Irish monasteries like Glendalough. For a great read on the effect Irish Monasteries had on western learning, take a look at Thomas Cahill's "How the Irish Saved Civilization". A few quotes:

...the monks built what would become in time a kind of university city, to which came thousands of hopeful students first from all over Ireland, then from England, and at last from everywhere in Europe.

And from the Venerable Bede:

Many of the nobles of the English nation and lesser men also had set out thither, forsaking their native island either for the grace of sacred learning or a more austere life. And some of them indeed soon dedicated themselves faithfully to the monastic life, other rejoiced rather to give themselves to learning, going from on master's cell to another. All these the Irish willing received, and saw to it to supply them with food day by day without cost, and books for their studies, and teaching, free of charge.

This site won't provide room and board, but hopefully, will provide free and useful information for all who are interested. ;-)

Authors

Michael J. Williams

Mike has worked in information technology for number of years. He has been forturnate enough to work for such great companies as: Lotus Development Corp, Netscape, Sun Microsystems, and Oracle. Currently he works in the Java education group at Oracle.

Contact Us

You can find me on the Internet at: