When you happen to live in the Netherlands (or just nearby and you like a good drive), I’ve got some interesting news. LogicaCMG, my employer and also the sponsor behind this blog, has invited Duncan Mills from Oracle to give a presentation about the future of J2EE. Or as he has titled it, the rise and rise of the meta framework. Duncan already has spoken at Javapolis and is on the speakerlist of the upcoming SpringOne event. But the 22nd of March you can see him (and have a discussion with him) at the LogicaCMG office in Amstelveen. For free! More details can be found here. I have no clue yet what to expect. But the announcement sounds promising. And the title of his presentation is at least food for thought.
Last friday and saturday LogicaCMG organised an internal RADRace. The man who made the assignment was nobody other than Ivan Verborgh, the man who makes the assignments for the international RADRace.
The assignment was to make a webbased application with which people could apply for a license plate. It had to contain at least:
- Multi-lingual screens
- A webservice for checking credit card codes
- Role based authorisation, different functions for different roles
- Wizard like registration process
- And of course lots of business rules
Last year we (Reza Ahmadi and I) entered using Oracle Designer and Oracle Forms (after realising we didn’t have enough knowledge of Oracle ADF) and had the pleasure to win.
This year we (Gideon Liem and I) entered using Oracle JDeveloper 10.1.2 and the Oracle ADF framework. We had prepared a kick-start application that contained a new look-and-feel (Using custom renderers in UIX) and some authentication method.
From there we built almost the complete application. In the end the following stack of technologies were used:
- Oracle Database 10g (as the big Datastore, we can use another database?)
- Oracle OC4J stand-alone (as the application server)
- A small SMTP server, called JES
- Oracle ADF Business Components (as the persistence layer)
- Oracle’s implementation of JSR-227 (as the binding layer, between the persistence and the view layer)
- Oracle ADF UIX (as the view layer layer)
- Apache Axis (as the webservice engine)
- Apache jUDDI (as the webservice registry)
- UDDI4j from Sourceforge (communication with the registry)
- Apache WSIF (communication with the webservice)
- Apache POI (generating Excel reports)
One of the things that were most difficult for us was the refactoring of the data. Ivan had prepared the challenge in a way that we got the data as two big denormalised tables. Part of the challenge was to normalise the data so you could use it for your application. It took us the morning of the first day and the first hour of the afternoon to get the database right.
After that the framework kicked in: generation of the persistence layer is really a breeze. When you just had the rule of thumb to code your screens on your tables (don’t think in Objects if you got tables… it makes sence to see the whole picture and combine the two). UIX pages are the view layer we used in projects the last year and we have become quite proficient with them. The binding layer makes it possible to get your model and just drag them tables into the screen and have them work. Most of the time we could do what building an application is about: building the business logic that matters… All else should be simple, easy and quickly done.
Rest us to say we had the pleasure to finish first in the contest. Unfortunatly our competitors that used JHeadstart had to drop out for the second day (for personal reasons), we would have really liked to compare their result with ours.
Runners up were: in second place a microsoft team using Microsoft .NET 2.0 (they also had a good working application) and in third place a Java based team that used LogicaCMG’s own open-source framework: ePlatform.
Photo’s
All the teams and the jury
We, Gideon (right; in white, red & blue) & Robert (left; in grey)
Design is essential
Evaluation by the jury
Success!
Links
Oracle Technology site, you can find the database, application server and JDeveloper here.
Apache, great products here
Sourceforge, also here
bloggingabout.net, another blog sponsered by LogicaCMG that contains a post from the microsoft competitors
ePlatform (on sourceforge), the ePlatform site
We all know that Microsoft doesn’t like Java. But did you know that Microsoft in their license agreement even warns users that Java technology is potentially deadly?
Yakov Fain discovered this when he was reading a Microsoft end-user license agreement:
The software product may contain support for programs written in Java. Java technology is not fault tolerant and is not designed, manufactured, or intended for use or resale as on-line control equipment in hazardous environments requiring fail-safe performance, such as in the operation of nuclear facilities, aircraft navigation or communication systems, air traffic control, direct life support machines , or weapon systems, in which the failure of Java technology could lead directly to death, personal injury, or severe physical or environmental damage.
See also the article on TheServerSide, one of the major J2EE community websites.
The year has almost come to an end so it’s time to look back. In general I have to say, 2005 was a surprising year. Surprising as refreshing. Surprising as emerging. Finally the tendency, already started in 2004, to make (enterprise/web) development more straight forward has been evolved into mainstream body of thought. Some (won’t mention names, won’t call them dropouts, won’t call them visionaries either but I encourage their way of thinking) have turned this evolution rather drastic into a revolution and the idea to leave java behind our back is alive and kicking. And the good, surprising, emerging and fresh aspect of this situation is the java world finally has opened their eyes and room is created for new approaches.
Most promising framework on the move: Wicket
Component oriented web development with a twist. And a very nice twist! Over the years I have played with several frameworks that applied the Swing approach in web applications. And somehow all those frameworks did not fit. Mostly because when doing web development, fine grained control over rendering is a must. And wicket is one of the first frameworks doing rendering web look and feel the right way (by plain HTML!). Yep, Tapestry and XMLC are build around the same paradigm but the first has a way to steep learning curve (assuming your axis are layed out correctly) and XMLC is not an application framework but a presentation engine. Wicket is just wicket! And that is exactly its power.
Most over-hyped but o so beloved abbreviation: AJAX
It’s a combination of old technologies that brought something new to the web: RIA, another abbreviation: rich internet applications. Sometimes I wonder what is wrong with the desktop? Why on earth do we need a hyper text markup language rendering engine to give an application a decent look and feel? Your browser has been designed to bring you information, not to interact with you. Okay, admit, browser based applications are handy. Wherever you are, you can access them. Actually, when writing this text, I use an application that has been delivered to me through a browser. And I can not ignore the fact this really is handy! But I doubt the combination of XML, Javascript and asynchronous calls from client to server are the most ideal solution to pimp a web application. Nevertheless, AJAX is here (And in combination with for example Wicket a nice way to decorate your app) and why not use it while waiting for technology that will enable even more richness to the client.
Most eye-opening technology: DB4O
DB4O rocks! Object oriented databases have always been a bit clumsy. Either the way they interacted with a programming language (JDO for example) or the way they are installed, setup and configured (Ozone for example) never felt comfortable. DB4O takes a fresh approach: It’s embedded in the language and you can embed it into your application. Code needed to persist and re-retrieve your objects never has been that simple (I’ve been flabbergasted by their native queries: just write actual, no criterium api alike, java code to express a query). Forget ORM but go OO the right way!
And finally the music album that has boosted my java performance: LCD Sound system
Java development is not efficient. It’s not handy. There is a lot of overhead. It is complicated. It is cumbersome. It is redundant. It is everything you can imagine to slow you down. But happily there are frameworks, tools, code generators, model transformers and whatever to speed you up. But what really speeds up my personal productivity is some groovy music that fills the room.
By the way, Echo2 is also a nice Ajax based, component orient web framework like Wicket, but it misses the fine control (or at least, it is not implemented in a natural way).
Another by the way: SOA is also a pretty over-hyped (and by some beloved) abbreviation but I’m sure it will die like any other enterprise buzz for the sole reason money can only be made by new buzzwords and in 2007 SOA is so 2005!
and some more music that made java programming a party: Bloc Party, Death from above 79, Kaiser Chiefs, Art Brut, Nine inch nails, Brazilian Girls, The ponys and Patrick Wolf
Cheers!
Last couple of months I’ve been using this online bookshelf from Safari.
With this service you can search across, read, browse through 3500+ technical books. I should note that they have all the recent titles, be it on Java, OO, WebServices, .NOT etc. I’m using this service on a personal account (about € 10,- per month) and I am very pleased with it. (Though I wouldn’t mind if my boss would pay for it, as it is of both personal and professional value)
On a yearly basis this amounts to +/- € 120,- which is the price of 3 books. For this I have a virtual bookshelf with 5 slots. Some books take 2 slots, most take 1. Once you place a book on this shelf, you have to keep it there for at least a month. After that you can swap it for another one. This seems like a long time, but I usually don’t read more than 5 technical books a month 
Most books I read, are read and put aside. There are ofcource some books I like to keep as a reference guide. For those this is a perfect place to make a decision before buying. They also offer a nice discount when you buy books online through their site.
I think it can also be very valuable at a corporate level. Think of study material, training, research, etc.
I know I would like to have an unlimited version of this service at my immediate disposal
for some other reviews have a look at this or this page (or google for safari review).
Actually, I can’t believe that some of you aren’t also using this…
I would like to know if some of you are using this and if so, what you think of it.
If not, why not give it a try.
Within LogicaCMG we organize an event called the NLJUD. A strange acronym for something called “Nederlandse Java Update Dag”. The guy or girl who invented this aconym is yet to be found and propably hiding somewhere. If I had made up such an awfull acronym I propably would do the same thing. But nevertheless
The NLJUD is an internal event where people from within LogicaCMG have the opportunity to express their idea’s and knowledge. It is a perfect way to get in touch with Java enthousiast from within the entire LogicaCMG company.
During the event a spy from our Microsoft competence was spotted. He was taking pictures from people attending the event! We apprehended the spy and confiscated the contents of his digital camera. If you want to take a look at the contents please follow the link below
I will update this post with presentation material as I receive this from the speakers!
See you all next year during the next NLJUD! Or maybe someone can come up with a nicer acronym
During a session at the JavaPolis, hosted by Sun and BEA, a few carefully placed sentences attracted my attention. The Vice President/General Manager of the BEA Workshop Business Unit aka Bill Roth mentioned that 75% of preparing WebLogic is put into the effort of making WebLogic scalable, extensible etc. So why not open up WebLogic for other upcoming languages!
The ability to deploy applications implemented in PHP/Ruby or even .Net onto the WebLogic application server could open a whole other revenue stream for companies like BEA. These companies have already put a lot of effort into the application server space but are feeling the heat of competitors like the Apache Foundation and JBoss.
Opening up WebLogic to other languages would be a logical step into the evolution of WebLogic!
Java is fun, Java is nice but most of all Java can be damn complex! This is something that hit me when visiting several sessions during the JavaPolis. A creepy feeling got hold of me when watching some ego’s fighting over the question “what is the best framework to use!”. People started talking about Spring, Seam, Rife and every framework you can think off. Offcourse frameworks are invented for some reason, but why is the Java community not able to settle and choose 1 standard framework?
Creativity is something that must be encouraged and nurtured but sometimes it is nice to share the same idea and head towards one direction.
One question stays on my mind:
Are we as Java developers taking pride of our own invented complexity?
Also visiting the JavaPolis? If not, you are missing one nice event! After being plunged into Java technology for the last three days and two more to come. I already can say that the JavaPolis is worth every penny. The things I like most about this event are very the informal atmosphere and speaker quality!
Some figures:
- 2100+ visitors and 150+ speakers (50% increase with respect to last year)
- 11.500 registered users on the JavaPolis wiki
- visitors from 43 countries
There will be another JavaPolis event next year so make sure you will be there..
You don’t have to be at the Javapolis event to get informed about Oracle’s ADF-Faces donation to the open source community. Read all about it in this, this , this and probably a dozen of other blogs. A don’t think MyFaces Cherokee, the name of the apache incubation project, is the greatest thing since sliced bread as one of these blogs is calling it. The problem I have is when eating sliced bread, every slice is exactly the same. In other words, sliced bread is disastrous for creative breakfast like using standard JSF components is blocking creative web design. But like sliced bread is speeding up my morning ritual, JSF can speed up web development. And in this context I personally think Cherokee it is a major step forwards! It’s the greatest thing since peanutbutter I would say. Wait for it to show up in the list of incubating apache projects and go wild on JSF in 2006. In the mean time, get creative using Tapestry or Wicket
