James McGovern

In my travels I've run across lots of bad Java code (some of which I've written myself). Usually it's due to unrealistic project deadlines, bad estimates for how long something will take, no architecture in place, and developers' not really understanding the subtleties of the language. Many people have learned Java by reading those 1,000-page books where you cut and paste code from the accompanying CD. Usually this teaches you how to get simple things working but doesn't help you learn Java. This book is the solution to all these problems. The author, who has years of experience teaching computer science, emphasizes the importance of learning debugging skills. Industry research has shown that people who learn these skills first, master computer languages significantly faster. For the beginning developer, this helps you avoid picking up bad coding habits. The book i... (more)

Extreme Performance Tuning

There are many articles about basic performance tuning a Java application. They all discuss simple techniques such as using a StringBuffer versus using a String, and the overhead of using the synchronized keyword. This article doesn't cover any of this. Instead we focus on tips that can help make your Web-based application faster and highly scalable. Some tips are detailed, others brief, but all should be useful. I end with some recommendations that you can present to your manager. I was inspired to write this article when a co-worker and I were reminiscing about our dot-com days... (more)

Enterprise Architecture & Open Source

Enterprises often resort to costly, inflexible, solutions from proprietary vendors as they look to build or upgrade infrastructure for deploying and managing business applications. Use of open source software within the enterprise is gaining traction in the minds of architects. This movement is being fueled by the need in today's economy to make IT become more cost-effective while providing increased business value. The increased consideration of using open source software is also being driven by the frustration of many enterprise architects when it comes to the noise created w... (more)

Prescriptions for Your Java Ailments

I'm developing an Internet application where the user can register. How would i check if the e-mail address entered is valid? I have a couple of ideas you can implement. First, I suggest using JavaScript in the browser to check for allowable characters by scanning the input. The JavaScript could also look for a single instance of the @ character and at least one period. For a list of all allowable characters go to www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc822.html. Now for the server side. Make sure (1) the e-mail address is syntactically correct, and (2) the supplied domain name is valid. The reason... (more)

Extreme Performance Tuning

Many development shops have used J2EE to build a successful business-logic tier but have fallen short on obtaining the desired look and feel. On my current project we considered using applets as substitutes for GIF-based buttons, creating a utility to modify tree-based structure data as well as an application that will allow a secure file-based transmission. In my spare time I'm also working on an idea for a video game. All of these require an architecture that takes performance into consideration. Performance tuning is an integral part of any Java-based application development ... (more)