Unfuddle, Free Subversion and Git Hosting

I have been working on a few small projects and I wanted to get my source into some sort SCM repository so I could easily keep track of changes. Well I found a nice site, Unfuddle, that will allow you a free repository for personal projects. It is perfect for what I am doing and allows me to update my source from any computer.

Free Online Java Training Courses

I recently found the Java Passion site by Sang Shin. If you have not been to the site I recommend you do.

Sang Shin has created numerous online training courses that are all free!! He covers all sorts of Java topics from the basic beginner's of Java lessons to advanced Java EE topics. In these times where companies are cutting back on training expenses more than ever, this is a very easy way to keep your skills up to par and learn new technologies.

I have actually started the course on Spring as I have missed the Spring train in my current job and have not had the chance to sit down and learn it. So far it is going very well. Each lesson has a nice presentation, followed by very detailed step-by-step examples and a hands-on lab. So I have no doubt that I will be "Springing" in no time.

Springing into Action

So I have decided that I need to become more familiar with Spring. Many consider this to be the main technology that should be learned for those making the move to be involved in Java EE development. So I am doing everything I can to learn about Spring and more importantly dependency injection.

So far I am working my way through a nice tutorial. I found a great package of examples, notes, and assignments on Java Passion. This is an excellent site for people wanting to learn more advanced Java technologies. The site creator, Sang Shin, has created a number of lessons and even has free online classes. So I will be using is to hopefully become a Spring natural. It will come in handy with a nice idea I have been working on for a local furniture business...

Why I Love Java Way More Than .NET

So tonight I just spent two hours trying to add a simple library to a .NET project so I can simply cast an ActiveReport object as the child class my team uses to represent reports. The library could be added to the project very easily, but when I would try to build I would get an error stating that the referenced library did not have a "strong name," meaning the library had not been signed. So I changed the library to digitally sign itself when it was built and then did a new build of the project... Same error this time, but for another library that was being referenced in the referenced library. As I daisy-chained my way through all the libraries, updating them to have a digital signature I began to wish that I was back working on a Java project.

In Java, all you need to do is set your classpath to include all the libraries you need. There is no need to sign your libraries and I am very thankful for that. I have got to find a way to do more Java development at work because dealing with all this .NET mess is starting to drive me crazy.

Bringing Java to the .NET world

I was killing some time the other day when I stumbled across a pretty interesting open source project named ikvm. With ikvm, you can take Java byte code and convert it into the .NET CIL (.NET code all compiles down to CIL. Yes, Microsoft stole the idea from Java, haha). This means that all of the nice open source Java libraries we use can be converted by ikvm and used in .NET applications.

ikvm is fairly simple to use as well.

You want to convert an executable jar to a Windows application?

ikvmc -target:exe application.jar

Output: application.exe, a Windows console app
Note: GUI applications should use 'winexe' for the target.

You want to convert a library? Easy.

ikvmc -target:library awesomeLibrary.jar

Output: awesomeLibrary.dll

You can even use ikvm to run Java programs as it is basically a .NET implementation of the JVM.

I found all this pretty amazing since there are products on the market right now that charge in the thousands of dollars to do what this project does for free. I tell you, this new age of open source development is kicking ass!! This project brought us that much closer to having .NET and Java code coexisting and playing nice with each other.

Drools, You Found Me Too Late!!!

Tonight I went to my local Java User Group meeting and the topic was the use of Rules Engines to handle business rules execution, more specifically Drools. Well as I sat there and saw how simple it was to move the business rules out of the main program logic and pass the buck to the engine I had a flashback to my senior design class in undergrad.

My senior design project was a baby monitoring device that extended on the popular Angel Care baby monitor. We added the ability to stream audio and video from the baby to any computer on the local network in addition to the lack of breathing/movement alerts the monitor sends. Well as you can imagine, there were all kinds of if/else statement logic throughout the code to handle the many different scenarios. Basically, our code was ugly and hard to read. If we had been able to use an engine like Drools we could have moved all this logic into external rule files and loaded them in at run time and had nice, readable source code. Also, it would have been a lot easier to update the rules when we found errors (of course we found tons... it was our first real hardware/software engineering adventure after all).

So I will be adding Drools to my list of things to research and learn. I am already envisioning a use for it on the job if I can get enough people to buy in and get on the band wagon.

I Am "Android"-ing

So I have been working through the Google Android tutorial and I have it actually working somewhat. I'm starting to understand the mechanics of it all and how one would create an application with the various screens that are needed. Once I get the tutorial completely finished and have a better understanding I will probably start creating a small app of my own to get some more experience. Either way, I have learned a lot about developing an Android app in the past week and I look forward to learning more.

I Be... S-C-J-P

So I just made it home from the SCJP exam and I passed!!

I am not quite sure what it means for me yet as the certification is not really required for most jobs here in the US. I just hope I will be able to skip out on some of those stupid Java programming tests you have to take on job interviews. More than anything I was excited to know that my ability to cram knowledge in my brain in a short amount of time is still active from my days in college. I literally studied for the exam over the past week and was unsure if I was really prepared going into the test.

Oh well, this is done and I just have to wait for my score to be reported to Sun so I can access the certification manager site. I'll let you know if there is anything special going on there.

Java Is Where the Heart Is

As I was studying for the SCJP exam I realized how much I enjoy working with Java. I can still remember when I first started learning Java back in 2002 while I was in college. I had finally "mastered" C++ and was looking for a new challenge, when surprisingly my university added a Java course. So not only did I get to learn the language that would be the launching pad to my software engineering adventure, but I would get to knock out a course elective at the same time.

A lot has changed in Java since then, but it still remains my "go-to guy" when I am starting a project. So from this point on, I will be leaving .NET at work and spending my time with Java. I think I will be able to do a lot more as far as contributing to the Open Source community by spending more of my time with Java and that is the direction I am headed.

Anyone have any suggestions on a nice Open Source project to join to get my feet wet???

Java Certification

Around this time last year I got the crazy notion that I would drop $200 to get a voucher to take the Java Certified Programmer exam and get become a Sun Certified Java Programmer and eventually get the Developer certification so I could have some padding on my resume. Well a year has passed and I still have not used my voucher and it expires the end of this month. So I finally have scheduled my exam and will be cramming in Java semantics into my head until then. I have no idea why I thought this would be a good idea as the Programmers certification is nothing more than a test and does not involve the test-taker to actually write any code.

So we will see if I pass or not even though I have been programming in Java since 2002. I think I should be okay though and once I pass I will be able to use the SCJP gif in my email and on here, haha.

Possible Next Project...

I've come to the conclusion that I need a nice side project to do this summer. I spent most of last year working on a simulation for my thesis. It was done in C++ with the simulation framework created by my professor. The entire time I worked on it I wished there was a Java version of his framework so I wouldn't have to deal with all of the pointers and memory allocation/de-allocation issues that come with C++. At the time I wanted to create a nice Java simulation engine and framework to use for any simulations I, or others, might do in the future.

Now six months have passed since I finished my thesis and I still feel like I want to create the framework so I am going to do it. I will be creating a nice, simple, and easily extended Java discrete event simulation library and engine. This will be my first real experience with building software for the "community" so it should be something I will be able to use to further increase my craft.

After attending Dallas TechFest and getting to interact with some of the speakers in the time since, I've realized that I need to put my knowledge to good use. This means becoming active in some of the local user groups, attending more conferences, and creating projects that can be of use to others. Just going to work and doing the limited amount of development that happens in an office environment will not get me where I want to be. I have to take my craft and career development in my own hands and take them to the next level.

Android TrivialGPS Demo

I made contact with Jason Hudgins of Droidworks and he graciously gave me a link to a blog post he did on the Android GPS application he demonstrated at Dallas TechFest 2008.

Blog Post: http://jasonhudgins.blogspot.com/2007/12/cruising-around-with-android.html
TrivialGPS Source Code: http://code.google.com/p/trivial-gps/

He explains how the application code was written and gives some pretty good insight on some of the basic concepts of the Android SDK.