Java

Ant, the Apache open-source build tool written in Java, is now the subject of an O'Reilly book, Ant: The Definitive Guide by Jesse Tilly and Eric Burke. The book sounds promising, but I have to lodge a protest about the cover. What's a horny toad doing on the book instead of an anteater? ... (read more)

2002/06/29

Sun's official Java site has been redesigned for the first time since 1996. The only reason I know the date is because of long-dormant bitterness. I was hired back then to write several "introduction to Java" articles by the Dallas office of Eagle River Interactive (now part of Agency.Com). As the project was underway and most of my work was done, everyone I knew at the company suddenly stopped talking to me, though I did manage later to get paid. It's the only time I can remember being fired ... (read more)

2002/06/27

More than 1,500 books have been published about Java since the debut of the language in late 1995. I don't think any of them has a better title than Bruce Tate's Bitter Java, released this April. The book is a hands-on, example-heavy advanced tutorial on how Java programmers can find and get rid of anti-patterns, problem solutions in your code that aren't as good as you think they are. ... (read more)

2002/06/25

If anyone is looking for a Type 3 JDBC driver, I'm having great success with the JDataConnect driver from NetDirect. The company offers the driver under a sensible evaluation program: All features work for 30 days, after which you're limited to one concurrent connection and some advanced features are turned off, but otherwise the product continues to work. To remove the connection limit and get the advanced features back, you can buy the Professional edition for $699 or the Professional Secure ... (read more)

2002/06/21

Dutch software developer Jeroen Frijters is developing a Java virtual machine for .NET and documenting its progress on his Radio Userland weblog. His reasons for going to these lengths, rather than using J#, are interesting: "The J# object model is fundamentally broken. In order for it to function, it requires a huge security hole. I reported this to Microsoft and gave up on the tool." This 1999 bio of Frijters makes it sound like he's got serious Windows and Java programming chops. ... (read more)

2002/06/19