James McGovern

Unlike the doctor who works for your HMO, I won't require a copayment for each visit nor ask you to fill out long arduous forms.  I'm here to help readers of Java Developer's Journal find a cure for their Java system ills. Q. What unique parameters accessible from pure Java can be used to identify a machine? We’re working on a licensing mechanism for software currently in development. We’ve toyed with using the IP address, but this won’t work with dynamic IP addresses or if there’s no network connection. There doesn’t seem to be a lot that can be discovered about the machine using only Java, and if there is, it isn’t very well documented. A. You can do a ton of things to add licensing features to your product. Let’s discuss some of the techniques and the pros and cons of each. Let’s first consider the use of dongles within your application. If the user is running Wi... (more)

Learn Debugging Skills

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 ... (more)

Evaluating Enterprise Applications

CIOs are seeking to reduce the risk associated with investing in mission-critical enterprise applications and gain control over how vendor offerings are evaluated and selected. IT investments are no longer allowed to fail and must work correctly the first time. This session will discuss practical considerations surrounding evaluating enterprise applications and provide alternative approaches. The goal of the session will be to walk away with a framework for conducting evaluations of both packaged solutions and in-house developed systems that will work in an efficient disciplined ... (more)

Extreme Performance Tuning

The performance of J2EE-based applications sometimes doesn't live up to users' expectations. Usually it's impossible to quantify exactly where the bottlenecks are. Many developers spend time searching for articles on the Internet only to find the same old tips about using the synchronized keyword and string concatenation without ever finding information that's useful. This article will help you find the holy grail of Java performance. In my previous article (JDJ, Vol. 6, issue 9) we focused on tips that are common to most applications. The tips presented here focus on common probl... (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)