Monday, July 29, 2013

Open Season: A Short Industrial Drama

had a pretty good week with endorsements from and . Both relationships were developed after I left VMware so what follows is purely speculation on my part. But some companies have a tough time getting over their history and playbooks, so it is easy to imagine how things went down.



Warning: this post contains serious "inside baseball" about the past and present of software standardization and open source mechanics. If you don't know what ECMA oxymoronically used to mean or haven't debated the merits of different open source licenses, you may want to stop reading right now (go see or read up on instead). I may be the only person who gets some of these jokes. Apologies to David Mamet.

Friday, July 26, 2013

Helpful Java Libraries: Notes from my IndyJUG presentation

INTRODUCTION



Yesterday, I gave a presentation at the meeting of the . The presentation, "Serious Game Development in Java," gave some background about how I transitioned from game hobbyist to serious game development researcher, and I talked about my two successful Java-based serious games: and .

Monday, July 22, 2013

Why we love the Eclipse IDE

REVIEW: ECLIPSE IDE



Any software developer at an IT firm, any prodigy programmer in their first year at college or even a "wannabe software developer" like me, knows and respects Eclipse as the ultimate IDE (Integrated Development Environment) for the functionality it provides to the developers. Eclipse is not only a free IDE but it is also one of the best IDE with the ability to run cross-platform.

Friday, July 19, 2013

How To Break Into Java Development

For over ten years the internet has established itself as the ultimate resource for more than just information. A majority of the applications used are using a unique programming language called java. There is a reason why this programming language is so popular and dominates a majority of the market. Here is some useful information for those that are interested in becoming a .



In the late 90 s when the internet traffic was low, dial-up connections were 'fast' and windows 95 was the OS of choice - internet browsers such as Netscape and internet explorer offered areas where anyone that was knowledgeable with html code could make changes to websites and do uploads easily. The information was not readily available and it was the beginning of most of today's dominating computer corporations.

Friday, July 12, 2013

Learning Objects Inc.: AngularJS Swashbuckler

LOCATION: Washington DC

URL: and WHO THE HECK ARE WE?

Are you in to DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION?Fired up to TRANSFORM EDUCATION?Join our growing team.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

CloverETL 3.4.1

CloverETL is Java-based tool/framework for data
integration and creation of data transformations.
It is component based and follows the concept of
transformation graphs which consist of individual
nodes/components performing simple (or complex)
operations on data. Any transformation can be
defined as a set of interconnected nodes through
which data flows. CloverETL can be used as a
standalone application or be embedded into a
larger project. Release Notes: This release fixed problems where jobs on server could get stuck and couldn't be killed via the server GUI, the Data_Intersection component dropped data silently, an NPE occurred when data flowed from JSONReader to ExtHashJoin and both components were in the same phase, Checkconfig on DBOutputTable caused JNDI connections to not be released, and SORT_WITHIN_GROUPS outputted more records than records on input.
Tags: Build Tools, Libraries, Application Frameworks, Database Engines/Servers, Workflow Frameworks, Java Libraries, ETL, Data Transformation, Data Integration, data analysis
Licenses: LGPL - Full Post

Mo Da Browser 1.beta.07

Mo Da Browser is a small, stable browser for Android mobile phones and tablets. It is a core browser with less than a dozen Java files for anyone to build up from and add their own value. Developers can then sell their own more feature-full app with its added value into the marketplace. Mo Da reworks how things are done in browsing: how to go forward and back, how to control the browser, and how to record and share where you've been. Both the source and the signed, installable apk file are available for download.Release Notes: The activity attributes in the manifest have been reworked so that the handling of screen orientation, exclusion from recents, etc., is consistent.
Tags: Internet, browser, Mobile Phone, Mobile, Android, Web
Licenses: GPL - Full Post

Saturday, July 6, 2013

How to configure Java in MyEclipse 9.1

To run java using MyEclipse 9.1 we should configure this. MyEclipse having more features to develop projects and this will be very useful for developers. This is the next generation of the MyEclipse Enterprise Workbench IDE for enterprise Java and web developers. Basically it supports Java EE 6.0 features such as:Servlet 3.0
JSF 2.0
JPA 2.0
EJB 3.1
JAX-RS 1.1
MyEclipse having some Struts 2 EnhancementsImproved connection routing
Better undo/redo suport
Struts 2 specific validation for Struts 2 configuration files
in you System.Step1: Go to MyEclipse Window menu then Select preferences option.Step2:  Select Java Option from preferences window. Select Compiler, at right side you can seed the Compiler Compliance level drop down list box.
       here select the JDK version you are going to select. Here i am selecting JDK 1.5 version to run Tomcat 1.6 in my workspace.Then click Apply button then OK.Step3: After adding the compiler version you should add the JRE location.Here Select Standard VM(virtual machine) in Add JRE window then click Next button.Step4: Click on Add button at the right side. then add the Java Home folderC:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.5.0_22 . This should be select.Add the Java folder then click finish.Click Ok button. your MyEclipse is ready to run java.Now you are able to run java in your MyEclipse.Comment on below if you have suggestions.

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Configure Tomcat in MyEclipse 9.1

Once the is done in your local system, configure it in MyEclipse IDE.
Follow the below steps to configure Tomcat 6.0 in your MyEclipse.Step1: Go to MyEclipse menubar and select Window menu from there select preferences. Step2: Select MyEclipse from the Preferences  window. Select Tomcat menu and Enable the radio button and select the Tomcat home directory, and automatically the below base directory will select by default.As show given below Select the apache-tomcat-7.0.8 directory Step3: Select jdk from Tocat menu. Add the Jdk home directory.If you are using any JVM arguments to run give it there. Step4: Select launch submenu option from Tomcat and then select default Tomcat 7.x launch mode as "Debug mode". Debug mode is the option used for developers.Step5: After coniguring 6.x or 7.x you can check run the server in debug mode Step6: The server will strart running in debug mode. you can check it in console window.Comment on below if you have suggestions.

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Head-First core Java-2nd Edition Download


Learning a complex is no easy task especially when it s an object-oriented computer programming language like. You might think the problem is your brain. It seems to have a mind of its own, a mind that doesn't always want to take in the dry, technical stuff you're forced to study. The fact is your brain craves novelty. It's constantly searching, scanning, waiting for something unusual to happen. After all, that's the way it was built to help you stay alive. It takes all the routine, ordinary, dull stuff and filters it to the background so it won't interfere with your brain's real work--recording things that matter. How does your brain know what matters? It's like the creators of the approach say, suppose you're out for a hike and a tiger jumps in front of you, what happens in your brain? Neurons fire. Emotions crank up. Chemicals surge. And that's how your brain will learn Java.  combines puzzles, strong visuals, mysteries, and soul-searching interviews with famous Java objects to engage you in many different ways. It's fast, it's fun, and it's effective. And, despite its playful appearance, Head First Java is serious stuff: a complete introduction to and Java. You'll learn everything from the fundamentals to advanced topics, including threads, network sockets, and distributed programming with RMI. Because Java 5.0 is a major update to the platform, with deep, code-level changes, even more careful study and implementation is required. So learning the Head First way is more important than ever. If you've read a Head First book, you know what to expect--a visually rich format designed for the way your brain works. If you haven't, you're in for a treat. You'll see why people say it's unlike any other Java book you've ever read.By exploiting how your brain works,  compresses the time it takes to learn and retain--complex information. Its unique approach not only shows you what you need to know about Java syntax, it teaches you to think like a Java programmer. If you want to be bored, buy some other book. But if you want to understand Java, this book's for you.




Comment on below if you have suggestions.

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Databene ContiPerf 1.0 released

ContiPerf is a lightweight testing utility that enables the user to easily leverage JUnit 4 test cases as performance tests e.g. for continuous performance testing. It is inspired by JUnit 4's easy test configuration with annotations and by JUnitPerf's idea of wrapping Unit tests for performance testing, but more powerful and easier to use:
* Using Java annotations for defining test execution characterisitics and performance requirements
* You can mark a test to run a certain number of times or to be repeatedly executed for a certain amount of time
* Performance requirements can be maximum, average, medium or any percentile exectution time
* Perfect control and readability of performance requirements
* You can run tests in two different modes, using them as simple unit tests or performance tests
* Easy integration with Eclipse and Maven
* Export of execution summary to a CSV file
* Small library without external dependencies (only JUnit)
Find more information at and download the tool at - Full Post

ContiPerf 1.02 released

ContiPerf is a lightweight testing utility that enables the user to easily leverage JUnit 4 test cases as performance tests e.g. for continuous performance testing. It is inspired by JUnit 4's easy test configuration with annotations and by JUnitPerf's idea of wrapping unit tests for performance testing, but more powerful and easier to use.
Former releases expected a Maven-like project structure, other structures were causing NullPointerExceptions. Release 1.02 provides a bug fix.
Find more information at and download the tool at - Full Post

ContiPerf 1.04 released

ContiPerf is a lightweight testing utility that enables the user to easily leverage JUnit 4 test cases as performance tests e.g. for continuous performance testing. It is inspired by JUnit 4's easy test configuration with annotations and by JUnitPerf's idea of wrapping unit tests for performance testing, but more powerful and easier to use.
ContiPerf 1.04 fixes a bug in verification of the 'max' requirement which was introduced in 1.03.
Find more information at and download the tool at - Full Post

ContiPerf 1.06 released!

ContiPerf is a lightweight testing utility that enables the user to easily leverage JUnit 4 test cases as performance tests e.g. for continuous performance testing. It is inspired by JUnit 4's easy test configuration with annotations and by JUnitPerf's idea of wrapping unit tests for performance testing, but more powerful and easier to use.
Release 1.06 provides improvements in the framework's performance, resource allocation and measurement precision
Find more information at and download the tool at - Full Post

ContiPerf 2.0 released

ContiPerf is a lightweight testing utility that enables the user to easily leverage JUnit 4 test cases as performance tests e.g. for continuous performance testing. It is inspired by JUnit 4's easy test configuration with annotations and by JUnitPerf's idea of wrapping unit tests for performance testing, but more powerful and easier to use.
Release 2.0 provides consistent behavior among JUnit releases 4.7-4.9 and is able to create HTML reports with statistical summaries, violation details and latency distribution charts.
Find more information at and download the tool at - Full Post

iUI Web Development with Grails article

I am excited to announce my iPhone article iUI Web Development with Grails was just published as the cover story of the December 2008 edition of . In the article I explain why you might want to consider iPhone web development over native iPhone applications, how to add native iPhone looking support to an existing Grails application using the and the as well as tips for testing and debugging iPhone web applications. Check out my article and the other great GroovyMag articles at . - Full Post

3D Internet

I am taking a 3D Modeling course at Columbus State starting this week. Several people have asked me why I am taking such a course. The simple answer is I find 3D fascinating. The long answer is I think 3D is the future. 3D is currently playing an important role in movies, games and even mobile applications like those found on the iPhone. But I also think 3D will be the future of the Internet. I think our children will look back at today's two dimensional Internet like I look back on black and white TV. Every time I see a B&W movie or TV program, I ask how could they watch this when they live in a colored world. I think our children will ask how could you live with a 2D Internet when you live in a 3D world. I think is a glimpse into this future. So I think at some point 3D skills will be an important skill to have if not a required one. - Full Post

Creating a simple iPhone checkbox

I was disappointed to discover the iPhone SDK did not include a Checkbox component. Yes, I know there is the UISwitch component. But sometimes that is just to big and does not look right for your design.After googling, I could not find a checkbox component that somebody else had made or a good tutorial. So below are the steps I did to create a simple checkbox.I began by adding a UIButton to my view and setting its Type to custom and its background to my unchecked png image with transparent background. Then I implemented the auto generated viewDidLoad method to set my background image if the button state was selected to the checked png image.- (void)viewDidLoad { [super viewDidLoad]; [checkButton setBackgroundImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"checked.png"] forState:UIControlStateSelected];}Finally, I attached a changeSeletected method to the button's Touch Up Inside event that changed the selected state of my button.- (IBAction) changeSelected: (id) sender { UIButton *button = (UIButton *) sender; button.selected = !button.selected;}I think the final outcome turned out pretty nice. - Full Post

First CIDUG (Columbus iPhone Developer User Group) Meeting

The first CIDUG (Columbus iPhone Developer User Group) meeting was a huge success. We had 50 people in attendance. In addition to a presentation on how to get started in iPhone development we also talked about the future of the group and what we want to do from a meeting and website perspective. There is a strong desire to meet frequently even monthly and some of those meetings to just be coding events where we can help each other.Most importantly, we officially desided CIDUG is pronounced sigh-dug. - Full Post

The Ultimate Enterprise Java Build Solution

Early in my career I took on the role of setting up and operating the build infrastructure of many of the projects I have consulted on. I started in this role before Apache Ant released its 1.0 version. I have struggled with using Cruise Control as my continuous integration server including lava lamps for broken builds. Finally, I have also used and configured just about every code quality tool for Java and built a dashboard to try to combind all the results.Now after all these years, I think I found the right solutions for Enterprise Java Builds. The solution involves 5 open source projects: , , , , .At the core of the solutions is Apache Maven, a build, project, dependency management framework. Maven makes it easy to declaratively describe a project or collection of projects that generate artifacts like binary jars, source jars, doc jars, dependency lists and other artifacts. All these artifacts can be versioned to ensure all developers are using the right artifacts. These artifacts can also be published to a Maven repository making distribution of the artifacts seamless.In order for developers to collectively own code and integrate often, a source code repository is necessary. Subversion has been a proven enterprise scale repository which integrates well with may tools like Eclipse, Hudson and Maven. But there are many other quality source code repositories that could fit in Subversion's place such as Git. The exact source code repository for this solutions is not as important as having one and having one that integrates well with the choosen tools.One of the biggest challenges in developing software with a team of people is integrating the software so the practice of continiously integrating has become a staple in many enterprises. After every developer check-in, a continious integration server will check the code out, compile and run all the unit tests. Hudson is possibly the easiest and most powerful continious integration server available for Java. It has a very simple web console that makes creating and configuring build jobs a cinch especially Maven jobs. Just incase that is not enough, it has a very nice plug-in system and community making it very flexible and robust.After Hudson builds artifacts (jars) that developers need it must publish them to a Maven repository hosted within the enterprise. Nexus is that Maven repository. It enables you to publish both release and snapshot artifacts, provides different views into the respository and includes searching for artifacts even their contents. In addition, it can act as a proxy to external public Maven repository providing traceablity into where artifacts came from as well as improve download performance. Both developers and Hudson can use Nexus to keep their local artifacts up to date providing continious integration for everybody all the time.Finally, it is valuable to keep metrics about code quality. This can help show if code is improving or declining. This can help easily identify problems, risky areas and bad pratices. Sonar is a server that provides a dashboard into your code quality. It integrates with many common code quality tools like PMD, Checkstyle and FindBugs. It include metrics for code coverage, unit testing and lines of code. The trending capabilities make it easy to identify patterns. - Full Post

Columbus taking over the iPhone game market

Over the past year, I have been reading articles about how Columbus is becoming a hot bed for game and 3D movie development. This week was an especially exciting for Columbus since two Columbus based game companies release iPhone games. released their game. The first and only true 3D cornhole game. The second is with their release of . A really fun farming game. They both have awesome graphics and great game play.Another fun game produced here in Columbus a little while ago is from .I own all three and they are a lot of fun. - Full Post

Announcing Remarkable Ohio iPhone App

If you are interested in history, the Ohio Historical Center has erected over 1,300 physical markers around the state representing historical locations. You can learn more about these marker by visiting or by using the iPhone app I just developed for the join venture of eTech Ohio and the Ohio Historical Center. This free application identifies on a map where the 600 markers containing geo codes are. It also provides details about each of the markers. So, check out the app, I think you will be surprised how much history actually surrounds you. You can check it out in the Apple App Store at . - Full Post

Magic Mouse Experience

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iPad Longevity

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iPad is the perfect conference device

As a software developer that relies on heavy duty hardware, I have been reluctant to attend any of the many tech conferences without my full size and capable laptop. This weekend I decided not to break my back caring my 17in MBP. This weekend, I only carried my first gen WIFI iPad to the No Fluff Just Stuff conference. I was pleasantly surprised it was all I needed. I even attended a git hands-on workshop by Matthew McCullough and was able to complete all the labs.There were several things that enabled me to do this. First NFJS provides a great iPad app for the conference. It sets the bar really high for other conferences because it includes the schedules, evals, and presentation slides you can make notes on. I personally choose to get the PDFs and use GoodReader to annotate them so I could use them on my Mac later. Second I kept Textastic in the back ground to make notes that had nothing to do with the presentation or something I wanted to do immediately when I get back to the office. Third I used iSSH to ssh into my server for the git workshop. Finally the hotel offered free Internet and for a tech conference it worked surprisingly well.I am alway surprised at how many people say the iPad is just a consumption device. After this weekend I am convinced the iPad is the perfect conference device. This is probably why NFJS is getting rid of paper next year and will be loaning devices out to all the attendees for the weekend. - Full Post

Butterflyzer Alpha 5

When I first thought about turning Butterflyzer into a product, I really had no idea whether people would grok it or not. It seemed to me that if I couldn't at least get that hard-core group of "pioneers" to take a look and find some value in it, it really wasn't worth doing. Now, Butterflyzer has about 75 followers on Twitter, which is getting frighteningly close to 100, the point at which we've said we'd deliver that promised Beta. So what to do now? Why, add a whole bunch of features / potential defects, of course! In this case, these are features that I've been wanting to build in from the beginning, but they've also been driven by the survey feedback we've been getting.
One request had been to provide Butterflyzer as an Eclipse plugin. Done! This means that if you're already using Eclipse you can fully integrate Butterflyzer with the rest of your workbench and workflow. Just head on down to the Eclipse Marketplace and grab yourself a free alpha! (But remember, it is Alpha software and you might end up with that dreaded spinning wheel of death, or worse, so you might not want to keep it in your main production environment just yet.) After installing the plugin, just open the Butterflyzer perspective, create a new general project, create a new Butterflyzer model using the wizard, open it up, and type a search phrase into the toolbar text box. And then see what comes up!
One of the least expected feedback items I've received is that while many people find the graph visualization to be really compelling, a lot of people don't see much obvious value in it -- they often see the real value in the organization and curation capabilities. I do think there is a huge potential for dynamic graph visualization in allowing people to understand deep semantic relationships, but I also am getting the idea that the graphs are not the point -- the information is. Tools like Mylyn / Tasktop have done a great job of putting the graph behind the scene without losing the representational power that the graph structure provides. And that's what this release has been focussed on... - Full Post

The Arab Spring, Zest Cloudio and Butterflyzer

One of the goals that I'm really trying to drive Butterflyzer toward is finding a middle ground between the level of detail that hard-core social network analysts get into, and the incredibly over-simplified executive dashboard approach that so many of the social media analysis startups are providing. A big part of this is providing fluid, interactive visualization. So far a lot of that has been based on graph visualization, but we're also experimenting with integrating other approaches.
One of the cool things that we've got lying around to play with are a bunch of tweets collected during the start of the Arab Spring. We've used a lot of different techniques for visualizing and analyzing this data, but when the Eclipse toolset came along recently, I thought it would be an interesting way to quickly see what exactly people were really talking about. I think the results speak for themselves. Thanks to Stephan Schwiebert for this . One of the downsides of this approach is that unlike in our graph visualizations, you lose concept proximity. So for example, looking at the cloud you can instantly see that Tunisia and Lebanon are frequently mentioned, but what you can't see is how frequently they are used together. That's what our graph visualization tools do now, and I think there are some neat possibilities for marrying the two approaches.
Butterflyzer work has kicked back into high gear, and I'm currently collecting live streaming data from Twitter on the OccupyWallStreet movement. I can't wait to put together a similar word cloud for it. Obviously, a lot has changed in Egypt in the nine months since this data was collected. Who knows what will have changed here nine months from now?
Methodology: The data was collected from 10,000 tweets between Jan 23 and 29th containing the word "egypt". We then extracted word counts, removing common english words and other noise, and then visualized the remaining words with Cloudio, sizing for frequency of use. - Full Post

Off to Croatia!

I'll be enjoying the nice seaside of Dalmatia (Croatia) for the next 3 weeks and, hence, won't be updating packages or be otherwise reachable to fix stuff.
That being said, I really haven't been very active (to say the least) the last few weeks. Lost the moment(um), somehow. Dunno. Maybe the motivation problem will have fixed itself after my holidays. I sure hope so.
For really urgent matters, a few people in the openSUSE and FOSDEM projects have my phone number, just poke the right people ;), e.g. Andreas Jaeger.
I most probably won't be checking my email, but I should be , so that's an option to poke me as well. - Full Post

Countdown for openSUSE Conference 2011

Hacked up some quick artwork for a countdown image for the .If you want to use it on your blog, website, whatever, use the following links to the image:
Large (400x400 pixels):
Medium (256x256 pixels):
Small (130x130 pixels):
If you don't like the artwork, patches are welcome;)
Obviously, the number of remaining days is updated every day and, hence, that countdown is always up-to-date (it is relative to the CEST timezone though, where the event takes place). - Full Post

Oracle related packages for openSUSE

Petr Vanek and I are maintaining some packages for openSUSE (and SLE) that build against the Oracle Instant Client libraries (I mean Oracle the database). Now, those libraries are not open source in any way, but are .
There are a few open source projects that are of interest, at least for people who have to work with the Oracle database, and we do package a few of them and in his .
As of now, they're all built against version 10.2 of Oracle Instant Client, for , , and .
Packages include ocilib, perl-DBD-Oracle (the Oracle database driver for Perl), php5-pecl-oci8 (the Oracle database driver for PHP5), python-cx_Oracle (a Python module to access Oracle databases), ruby-oci8 (the... - Full Post

http://counter.opensuse.org/link/

Since quite a while, we're having those for openSUSE, which we've used for releases as well as for the countdown to the openSUSE Conference.
One issue with it is that it does not ship a link to point to when clicked upon, obviously, as it is just a plain image (and no javascript nor flash). Well, if you have put that picture on your blog/site/pants, please consider surrounding it with a link that points to http://counter.opensuse.org/link/, and we will adapt that link (which is a plain HTTP redirect) accordingly over time (e.g. now it points to the openSUSE conference page, then it will point to the 12.1 release page, etc... - Full Post

Loop mount iso files without being root

There is a rather convenient way to mount ISO files (CD/DVD images) onto a directory on Linux, which goes as follows:mount -o loop,ro /path/to/image.iso /path/to/mountpoint
(where the mountpoint is a directory).

This method works very well, but has one essential drawback: you must be root in order to do that. So how do I get to do so as a regular user ?
A barely known alternative lies in , which uses the filesystem in user-space layer to accomplish that.
In order to use it, you must install the package fuseiso, which is available with the openSUSE distribution, and from the release repository (e.g. ) as well as from the and :zypper install fuseiso
Once that has been done (as root ;)), you can simply mount ISO files like this, without being root:fuseiso /path/to/image.iso /path/to/mountpoint
Note that as an additional benefit, fuseiso also supports images in NRG, BIN, MDF and IMG (dd) format, as well as zisofs.
In order to unmount, simply use fusermount -u, e.g. like this:fusermount -u /path/to/mountpoint - Full Post

gpodder 2 vs 3 in Packman

The project and, unfortunately, it seems like I didn't pay attention to the complete change announcement, as I just bumped the to 3.0.0 (from 2.18).
Now, gpodder 3.0.0 does introduce a lot of changes, notably in the UI but also regarding its database format and requires migrating the database from 2 to 3. It doesn't seem to have all of the features of 2.20 either. So what happens is that when you just upgrade the gpodder package, you end up with something you don't necessarily want to use. At least as of now.
Upstream will still maintain the 2.x branch for quite a while, and gradually port features from 2 to 3 and, hence, it actually makes sense to do it differently. What I have done now is to revert the to the 2.xx branch (and upgrade to 2.20 at the same time).
If you want to use gpodder 3.0.0, then just install the package instead: zypper or YaST2 will tell you to remove gpodder in order to do so, as you cannot have both installed at the same time (they have file conflicts).
Now, if, in between those changes, you already did the upgrade, do one of the following:
if you want to keep using 3.x: then run rpm -e gpodder && zypper install gpodder3 (as root)
if you want to go back to 2.x: then run rpm -e gpodder && zypper install gpodder (as root)
On a side note, please wait a couple of hours (after this blog post) before doing so, as our main repository server is only synced to some mirrors after 4 hours (after 1 hour for most though).
Sorry for the inconvenience. - Full Post

openSUSE election platform 2011

Yep, I'm running for the privilege of being on the openSUSE board again. Lots of fine candidates this time, which is pretty cool in its own right.I finally managed to fill out the remaining bits of , so if you're interested, please have a read -- yes, I know, it's long ;)The short summary:I care about the contributors, their environment, it must be a fun place where people feel comfortable, with friends
I care a lot about the people aspects of the project, probably even more so than for the technical bits
I believe that I have a few ideas on concrete things we (and specifically, but not only, the board) should get involved in
All that "I, I, I" comes quite tedious, to be honest, and I'm under the impression that I'm bragging around, which is something my inner beast is spanking me for, endlessly. But well, the whole purpose is specifically to explain what each candidate proposes so I guess it's fine.So if you adhere to and/or if you trust me to do the right things, do vote for me -- don't think that oh well, I'll be elected anyway, if everybody thinks like that, I won't ;D - Full Post

Speaking of Packman mirrors...

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New Development Snapshot


My burst of inspiration ended. So I guess it's time to do a release soon.


Changes:


Expose Java 8 static interface methods as static methods via nested __Methods type.

Expose Java 8 default interface methods as static methods via nested __DefaultMethods
type.

Build fix. When doing a clean build the two generated Java source files don't exist
yet, so we process the .in files instead.

Added nuget package creation build file.

Binaries available here:

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Spring Social Facebook 1.0.3 Released

Dear Spring Community,
I'm happy to announce the release of Spring Social Facebook 1.0.3.RELEASE.
Spring Social is an extension of the Spring Framework that enables you to connect your Java applications to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers such as Facebook and Twitter.
Spring Social Facebook 1.0.3.RELEASE is made available to address forthcoming in Facebook's Graph API to be applied on July 10, 2013. Specifically, the following breaking changes have been addressed:
The removal of the 'count' property in a list of comments.
Deprecation of checkins via the /checkins resource. All checkins should be done as posts with a location now.
Removal of the 'version' property for groups.
The Graph API no longer returns images for photos with sizes larger than the original image size.
In addition, a handful of small improvements were made to Spring Social Facebook's API binding. See the for details.
To get the software, download the or change the Spring Social Facebook dependency in your build file to reference 1.0.3.RELEASE.
Important: This release includes changes to enable Spring Social Facebook to work after the . In order for this version of Spring Social Facebook to work prior to July 10, 2013, you'll need to configure your application at Facebook to enable the July 2013 Breaking Changes. Within Facebook's application configuration, go to "Settings->Advanced" and click the "Enabled" radio button next to "July 2013 Breaking Changes".
We invite you to discuss this release as well as the continuing work toward Spring Social 1.1.0 in the and to report any bugs or improvements in the . - Full Post

Webinar Replay: Building REST-ful services with Spring


Today's applications don't exist in isolation. REST applications and web services are a great way to connect applications together. REST is a design principle that imposes no constraints on the client except basic HTTP support, which all platforms provide. Designing REST services, however, is still as much art as it is science, as standards are emerging. Join Spring Developer Advocate Josh Long as he introduces some of the ins-and-outs of REST API design with Spring, building on Spring MVC, Spring HATEOAS and answers some commonly- asked questions like how to secure REST-ful services, and how to tailor payload serialization to your specific use cases.











About the speaker


Josh Long
Josh Long is the Spring developer advocate. Josh is the lead author on Apress’ Spring Recipes, 2nd Edition, and a SpringSource committer and contributor. When he's not hacking on code, he can be found at the local Java User Group or at the local coffee shop. Josh likes solutions that push the boundaries of the technologies that enable them. His interests include scalability, BPM, grid processing, mobile computing and so-called "smart" systems. He blogs at blog.springsource.org or joshlong.com.


















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Spring Security 3.2.0.M2 Released

The second milestone release toward Spring Security 3.2 is now available from the SpringSource repository at . See for a quick tutorial on resolving these artifacts via Maven.
I'd like to extend a special thanks to all those that contributed to this release by submitting bugs, pull requests, and feedback.
The highlights of this release include:
Spring Security Java Configuration Support
resolves an issue with Async support when a timeout occurs and the same Thread handles both the original request and the timeout.
Added support for configuring the remember me parameter via the XML namespace. Special thanks to for submitting a pull request for this feature!
Added SessionFixationProtectionEvent. Special thanks to for submitting a pull request for this feature!
Improvements to the Embedded LDAP container
Stay tuned to the over the coming week for more information about Spring Security Java Configuration.
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Browser

Everyday as I use , I wonder "Why are they not coming up with a new version? It's been almost two years now and every month they add something new to the ." Be it invisible mode, conference chat, video chat or even emoticons - the web gadget has it all. Whenever I read about a new feature in the web version, I make up my mind to start using the talk gadget or Gmail chat. I login through the gadget, start chatting with people, in parallel do my work, and at some point when I do an alt+tab to bring the browser to focus, I see my friends irritated - I have not seen their messages for the past 30 minutes :-( Yes, those notifications are something I miss the most in the web version. If you minimize the browser, while a different tab was on focus, you would not be able to see the blinking Google talk tab, when someone messages you. For me, when it comes to an instant messenggers, the usability is much higher when it sits on the desktop.And the need to use Google talk - All my friends have moved to it. Otherwise I still prefer Yahoo! Messenger. Thank God I am not a Linux user - they don't even have the desktop version on Linux. Sigh.After seeing Google Chrome, my doubts of Google never again releasing a new desktop GTalk version has gone up steeply. The new home page, the new tab page, the very idea of application shortcuts, the browser task manager etc. look a lot like Google's attempt to make the browser the new home of the PC. Does Google consider browser to be the next desktop? Sometimes it looks like; but remember - Microsoft Sells and would continue to. - Full Post

Java Developer- JavaScript, J2EE & DOT.NET / STI Inc / Phoenix, AZ

STI Inc/Phoenix, AZJob Description:
̢ۢ Senior Java Developers are required in the city of Phoenix in Arizona. Candidates only from US and Canada, holding Green Card and EAD are considered.
̢ۢ No H1B Candidates will be considered.
̢ۢ Candidates from Western or North-Western Part of USA are preferable.
̢ۢ Candidate needs to relocate the job location.
Responsibilities:
Extensive developing in Java, J2EE, JavaScript, etc.
Qualifications:
̢ۢ Bachelor's degree or equivalent
Required Experience:
̢ۢ Minimum 5 or more years of related experience
Required Skills:
̢ۢ Solid Development experience in Java, J2EE and JavaScript.
̢ۢ All other required experience that a Java Developer should have.
̢ۢ Development experience in .NET is a plus.
̢ۢ Should be able work in a team as member or lead a time.
Contact:
If you meet these qualifications and are looking to join a growing and stable organization, apply by emailing your resume to Us. - Full Post

Java Developer- JavaScript, J2EE & DOT.NET / STI Inc / Phoenix, AZ

STI Inc/Phoenix, AZJob Description:
̢ۢ Senior Java Developers are required in the city of Phoenix in Arizona. Candidates only from US and Canada, holding Green Card and EAD are considered.
̢ۢ No H1B Candidates will be considered.
̢ۢ Candidates from Western or North-Western Part of USA are preferable.
̢ۢ Candidate needs to relocate the job location.
Responsibilities:
Extensive developing in Java, J2EE, JavaScript, etc.
Qualifications:
̢ۢ Bachelor's degree or equivalent
Required Experience:
̢ۢ Minimum 5 or more years of related experience
Required Skills:
̢ۢ Solid Development experience in Java, J2EE and JavaScript.
̢ۢ All other required experience that a Java Developer should have.
̢ۢ Development experience in .NET is a plus.
̢ۢ Should be able work in a team as member or lead a time. - Full Post

Microsoft Partnering with Oracle To Extend Java Support

ADT MagazineMicrosoft and Oracle today outlined a new partnership to support all of Oracle's key software offerings including Java on Microsoft's Windows Server, Hyper-V and in its Windows Azure cloud service. While the two rivals have always jointly supported ... - Full Post

Friday, July 5, 2013

Oracle Java virtual machine putting the brakes on high frequency trading, says Azul CEO

Oracle’s Hotspot java virtual machine (JVM) is putting the brakes on the development of low-latency applications for high frequency trading (HFT), according to Azul Systems CEO.
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Early Access Release of Oracle Java ME Embedded 3.3 for the Raspberry Pi and Java ME SDK 3.3 now available (The Java Source)

Oracle has announced Early Access releases for Java ME Embedded 3.3 and the Java ME Software Development Kit (SDK) 3.3. This release provides an early access version of the reference binary for the Raspberry Pi, and is available on the Oracle Technology Network. Developers can start testing out the new features and functionality in the first complete Java runtime client optimized for ARM architecture connected microcontrollers and other resource-constrained devices

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Splunk SDK Now Lets Developers To Build and Deploy Real-Time Big Data Apps

Developers would surely relish to be in a position to start developing their own big data software apps without having to learn complex big data processing techniques. Splunk has released general availability of its new software development kit for its big data platform for Java and Python. The Splunk SDK for PHP is also stated to be in public preview.

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Data Visualisation and all things shiny!

Seen below is an abstract clean approach to data visualisation, often used in reports to showcase a metric over time and or to support numerical data visually. Raphaelis-Java--Visualisation ... Artistic Data Visualisation.

It seems, with the development of the internet, and supporting technology in our everyday lives, our time is more and more precious. This is why many of us are so accepting of taking time out of our hectic schedules (even if it is a few minutes) to digest information in the form of an ‘image’ as an expression of data. Data visualisations applications are far reaching, from boardroom presentations, report generation, creative content generation for websites (linkbaits), advertisments and education to name a handful.

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Functional JavaScript: Introduction to Functional JavaScript

Brendan Eich claims that hiring him to embed the Scheme language, might actually have been a “bait and switch operation”. But at that point in time Netscape was also negotiating with Sun to embed Java in the browser. Note that JavaScript was for embedding in HTML while Java was for embedding in the Browser. The idea was that Java would be used for component development while JavaScript would be used for lightweight scripting within HTML.

We don't know what actually transpired, but the orders from above to Brendan where clear. The new scripting language must “look like Java” and must be “object based”. Any hopes Brendan might have harboured for Scheme, where now out of the window. We will see why.

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YouTube Developers Live: Setting up your Java Dev Environment

Want to learn how to setup your IDE and Maven for YouTube API Java development? Join +Ikai Lan and +Ibrahim Ulukaya as they start from scratch and end up wit...
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USB to Raspberry Pi Console Connection for Java Embedded Development (Hinkmond Wong's Weblog)

Blogs.Oracle.Com - Hinkmond Wong's Weblog ("@OracleBlogs: USB to Raspberry Pi Console Connection for Java Embedded Development http://t.co/8Q3jvkuY")...
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InfoWorld review: Top Java programming tools

Eclipse, IntelliJ IDEA, NetBeans, and Oracle JDeveloper continue Java's tradition of rich and diverse development tools ($InfoWorld review: Top Java programming tools http://t.co/mUjfB6hwBn #java...
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Oracle releases Java EE 7 with eye on HTML5 development

Oracle releases Java EE 7 with eye on HTML5 development | Malaysia Sun Malaysia Sun Oracle has announced the availability of Java Platform Enterprise Edition 7, a release that brings new capabilities for HTML5-based application development to the...
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InfoQ: How The Guardian (Mostly) Moved from Java to Scala

Graham Tackley discusses how The Guardian switched all new development from Java to Scala, why they did that, what were the benefits and the problems, and why they did not choose Python+Django.
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CloudBees Blog: Play! Framework

Even the Scala haters had to admit that it was pretty cool. Most of all, the Play! framework made java web development fun again (again? If we are honest, it never really was that fun to start with !).
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Java™ Application Development on Linux®

Free eBook to Java™ Application Development on Linux® - Free 599 Page eBook. Linux is the fastest-growing Java development platform because it saves money and time by serving as a platform for both development and deployment.
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play-jaxrs

a jax-rs router plugin for play java apps. Contribute to play-jaxrs development by creating an account on GitHub.
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What Makes a Good Developer?

Here at Unidev we pride ourselves on the diverse skills and years of experience our development teams bring to their projects. Whether it’s or , our developers have what it takes to provide innovative and elegant solutions to our clients.
But what exactly makes a great developer? Are there certain traits, skills or habits a successful developer needs? Well, we asked the talented members of the Java, .Net, and mobile development teams at Unidev to find out.
Testing
Of course, a great developer tests her code thoroughly to ensure it performs just as the client expects. Christine of the Unidev West development team in Las Vegas submitted the mantra, “testing, testing, testing” to highlight its importance. This element is essential in delivering high-quality code with confidence.
But testing isn’t simply a phase at the end of a project; it’s a mentality integral to the entire development process. We couldn’t say it any better than one of Unidev’s talented developers, Teresa:
“Besides having some test cases before he starts coding, [a great developer] is also thinking of test cases as he goes, so he can try to break his code in the testing phase. Oh yeah, and he tests his stuff- thoroughly.”
Communication
This development skill may not seem as obvious as technical skills or problem solving abilities, but it is extremely important nonetheless. Great code cannot simply exist in a vacuum, it needs to comply with client needs and function properly with code from other developers.
Strong communication skills reduce errors and can catch minor problems and miscommunications before they become major headaches. Kevin from our development team in St. Louis puts it best:
“A good developer must be a good communicator. He must be able to understand a client’s needs and then be able to respond with useful solutions. He must also be able to explain his development strategy to co-workers.”
Teamwork
Another intangible skill a great developer must possess is teamwork. Successful development may rely heavily on individual abilities, but without positive interactions between other team members, things can fall apart quickly. Brian, another member of our development team in St. Louis, shares his thoughts:
“Although development is largely an individual activity, ultimately the efforts of all the individuals on the team are combined to make the final program, product, or website. If a developer cannot handle the teamwork aspect, he/she will likely be limited to projects where his or her efforts will not adversely affect the larger team.”
These are just a few aspects that the Unidev team thought distinguished a “competent developer” from a “great developer”. Do you agree or disagree? Tell us what you think makes a great developer in the comments below!