Using JavaRebel to speed up development

I was at the last JavaMUG.org meeting where the creators of JavaRebel demonstrated how this software helps out by eliminating the need to restart Tomcat or the JVM while changing classes. The presentation was very compelling but I don't just jump to every piece of software that comes along which promises to help out development speed. However, I went ahead and tried it out the day after the meeting while I needed to make some changes to some code. It really worked. After a little configuration change to my development setup to put the classes in the WEB-INF/classes directory instead of a jar file in the WEB-INF/lib it was working. I made several changes to the classes and refreshed the browser, BINGO, changes were recognized. This must have saved me a few minutes of development time already in the short amount of time that I have been using it. It should save hours in the next year.

NFJS 2009 This weekend!

Two more days until the NFJS conference !!!!!!!!!!!

Big(D) Design conference reflection

I attended the first Big D Design conference this Saturday. Overall I was impressed about the structure of the conference and how well it seemed to flow in spite of the lack of time between sessions. It did feel rushed and I was extremely tired at the end of the day after trying to take in 9, YES --> NINE <--, one hour sessions in one day. That is a lot of conference sessions to take in for one day and retain the disparate information.

Some things that I liked about the conference. Good quality of speakers for a low cost conference. This does show how much good talent that we have in Dallas. Good central location for most people. At least it was easy access off Hwy 75. The meeting facility was in good condition and had enough room for most of the events/sessions. No problem with the food. It was a great little box lunch with sandwich, chips and cookie.

Some things that I did not like as much: Parking was not great but was acceptable. This may be attributed to not knowing much about the SMU campus. The only issue about the facility is it didn't have enough power outlets to charge up the laptop. I was out of power by the 3rd session until I was in a room that had more outlets. One conference room had classroom stadium seating but not all outlets under the desks were working. The last thing is the initial wait to check into the conference. I think that it took about 30 minutes to get checked in. I would have loved to use that time to walk around the sponsors tables or even get a little breakfast or coffee. However, by the time that I got in to the conference area the first session was about to start and I wanted to get a seat and make sure that we had wireless access.

Overall I am glad that I attended and will probably attend next year. However, that may depend on the content and speakers.

Big (D)esign conference

I signed up for the Big (D)esign conference that will be held May 30th at SMU. It looks like betwen this conference and the ones that I'm attending in June it's going to be a great next few months. First is this Big (D)esign conference then NFJS Dallas June 5-7, then Dallas Techfest June 19th in Frisco...

I've ready been to the Houston techfest this year so what other conferences can I attend in 2009 that don't break the bank?


Brian

I just read....

I was just reading Chris' blog about the right way and the wrong was to do things. We read many posts every day about the "best" way to write java, or the best way to use ORM or the best way to design a database schema. However, not all co-workers are always in agreement with anything that has the word "best" in the sentence.

Let me highlight a discussion that I had yesterday about a database schema design. (names have been changes to protect their stupidity).

Overview: I found that during the initial database design that I was not involved with some items was left out. For instance foreign keys, check constraints, First normal form, etc. (Small things...) <--- scarsam... During the meeting where I found that a table is not available to hold the attachments for some data since the data relates to another part of the application. I suggested that we create another table and tie in the FK back to the original table that this data will be attached. However, the conversation when a little like this... Person 1 = Boss Person 2 = project owner and BA Person 3 = business expert and technicial architect Person 4 = team member, (Java Programmer) Me = Me, team member, (Java programmer and 12 years experience in Database design) <Me> I'd like to add in this table and then relate it back to the master table with a FK
<Person 4> We don't need FK's since the application takes care of it.
<Me> We had this conversation before and we agreed that FK's are good for the relational integrity of the data. Are you saying that we should use the current table that relates to (this other table).
<Person 4> Yes, because why have another table to store the attachments?
<Me> Because of data integrity...
<Person 2> We could create the table that links the current attachment table to the master data table.
<Me> But we cannot enforce the integrity of the attachments that way because two link tables would be related to the attachment table.
<Person 4> (calls person 3 name) what to you think?
<Person 3> I don't know about databases so it's up to you.
<Me> So we are not going to worry about data integrity on this project?
<Person 4> The application will take care of it.
<Person 2> (referring to me), can you create the table like I showed and let the rest of the team know?
<Me> Are you sure?
<Person 2> Yes


Ok, I'm sure that someone will point out that maybe I caved in too soon. However, this is not the first time that I've had this conversation about database integrity with someone. Most of the time I do convence the other side that we should use the relational database (Oracle in this case) to manage the integrity of the data. Some of the checks can be in the application but it is my belief that the database should be the last line of defense for the data. If there is something that the database can make sure is related or helps to keep the data clean why not do it. In this case there is no concern about space differences. We are adding a table either way so why not do it where the database can make sure that the data from one table can relate to the other table.

I could go on and on about this but I'll start to ramble at some point if I haven't already. I guess my question is how do you convince people to use the best practices when it seems like they are not willing to accept suggestions to make current designs better?


Brian

Comming this June!

It looks like June is going to be an incredible month in Dallas for Java. First we have the NFJS conference coming June 5th - 7th. Then just a few weeks later we have the Dallas TechFest conference on June 19th.

I'm counting the days!

Brian

Time for a Post

I've been thinking about what to post about for a while now. I have come up with an answer. Since I'm now heavily involved in JavaMUG.org and have attended several conferences about java related issues I think that it's about time that I start to post about Java? Hmmm sound good?

Ok keep looking here over the next few weeks and you will start to see posts about my idea of best practices for developing Java, Spring, IBatis, apps.

Brian