In my daily work, I use both an RDBMS and MarkLogic, an XML database. MarkLogic can be considered akin to the newer NoSQL databases, but it has the added structure of XML and standard languages in XQuery and XPath. The NoSQL databases are typically storing documents or key-value pairs, and some other things in between. Given… Read More Is Object Serialization Evil?
There is an interesting discussion occurring regarding data transfer in web applications. The discussion has centered on the differences between JSON and XML in the JavaScript heavy sites. It started with Norm Walsh commenting on Twitter and Foursquare removing support for XML in their APIs. The basic idea of his post was that if you are… Read More The Problem Is Not JSON Or XML, It Is About Data Context
For many years, people have been concerned with how applications were structured. This concept became very popular with the client-server applications built with tools like PowerBuilder and Visual Basic. In the late 1990’s, there was a move towards 3-tier applications (client, middleware and server) as web development first started to take hold. As developers started… Read More Development Concerns Moving Away From The Controller
The Java is dead meme has resurfaced, this time the instigator is Mike Gualtieri from Forrester. Given his general premise of Java is dead for enterprise development, I find it odd that he basically starts with: Java is still a great choice for app dev teams that have developed the architecture and expertise to develop… Read More For Enterprise Development, If Not Java Then What?
The other day I was asked how much I knew about Java garbage collection. I am not a performance guru, so I admitted that I knew very little, basically only that it works. As the conversation continued, I realized that while I did not know much about the internals of the garbage collection mechanism, I… Read More Simple Tips For Clean Memory Management In Java
Some days, you have to search the news and various sites to find something interesting to write about. Other days, the topic appears in your email. Today, there was a blog post and an email that just fit nicely together. The email asked what being a software engineer was like, and I will answer that… Read More Can You Defend Your Technical Decisions?
Image via CrunchBase By now you have heard that Oracle bought Sun. I did not want to write about it yesterday as I wanted to sit and think about the effect this has on anything Sun related. There is some good high-level business analysis from Reuters as well. There is one important quote from that… Read More In A Surprising Ending, Oracle Buys Sun
As a java developer, I write unit tests all the time. There are a lot of ways to do this, but sometimes unit testing becomes difficult. This could be because you need to test a Struts action or you do not want your unit tests to hit your database. So, the question is what tools… Read More Tools For Unit Testing Java Web Applications
In case you did not hear the news, Google has announced the availability of Java on Google App Engine. This is a very big development for many developers as Java is widely used, but not typically supported cheaply. Many hosting services allow for Java applications, but normally you just get the ability to drop in… Read More Google App Engine Makes A Play For Startups
If you write code for a living, then the “Which framework do I use?” question arises fairly often. I have been slinging code for over 13 years and it seems like I need to answer this question every month. The real question we should all be asking ourselves is “Do I need a framework?” If… Read More 10 Questions to Ask When Choosing a Framework
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