Interesting Poll on Java Coders

Geek nirvana...programmer paradise...whatever. Developers and those who manage developers have been looking for the "right" software development process for as long as there's been software to develop. Whole segments of the software industry have been built around the latest development process. A recent Java.net poll asked the question: What term best describes your software development process? The most popular answer: No process (cowboy coding).

Truthfully, is anyone surprised by this answer? I'm not. Most development shops do not have the time or resources to adequately enforce a software development methodology. The ones that do are usually seen by those they serve as being slow to deliver solutions. Any of the established processes (XP, Waterfall, etc.) can and do work as long as things run smoothly. Introduce a problem that has to be resolved in the middle of the night, and most of us will revert to what we know best...do whatever it takes to fix the problem. In other words, no process.

Borland To Drop JBuilder

Those of you who've read my Java articles know that I'm a big fan of Borland's JBuilder IDE. Recently, though, my open systems development manager Nick vanMaarth has been working on me to switch to Eclipse. Personally I have nothing against Eclipse...it's just I've been using the JBuilder IDE for a long time and don't want to learn something new. Well it seems that Borland has helped Nick push me to start using Eclipse. ComputerWorld has recently reported that, as part of its new strategic direction, Borland is selling off it's development tools such as JBuilder and C++Builder. Don't be surprised when my next Java articles feature examples developed using Eclipse.

Click here for more on Borland's stated direction.

Ajax in Action

I just finished reading Ajax in Action by Dave Crane and Eric Pascarello. I was surprised to find that I'm already incorporating pieces of Ajax into sites I've developed...I just didn't know what I was doing had another name. And, if you're like me, you've been attempting to create rich (fat) client interfaces into your web applications using CSS, JavaScript, and DHTML for some time. The book's examples involving these concepts will be very familiar to you.

I particularly enjoyed examples involving the XmlDocument and XMLHttpRequest objects. The authors did an excellent job of explaining the use of these objects within the Ajax framework...some of you may object to my calling Ajax a framework, but that's how I categorize it. Crane and Pascarello also do a good job of tying Ajax into the MVC pattern. Another bonus, for me at least, was an introduction to the X library of JavaScript functions for handling JavaScript across multiple browsers. You can find out more about the X library at cross-browser.com

If you're looking for a good book on Ajax, try Ajax in Action. It's money well spent.

Blackberry Blues

Here's a couple of ComputerWorld articles concerning the potential Blackberry injunction that I was recently interviewed for: Exemption for government BlackBerry users riles others facing shutdown and BlackBerry users 'wiggin' out' over RIM/NTP patent battle.

Java's Demise?

A couple of weeks ago BusinessWeek published an article titled: Java? It's So Nineties. The main points of the article are some somewhat questionable stats and comments about companies moving away from Java to .NET, PHP, LAMP, etc. At one point the article mentions that large web companies like Google do not rely on Java. Hmmm...I recall an interview last fall with a Google software engineer who stated "Google makes extensive use of the Java platform. Large parts of popular Google products are written in Java. We also use Java in many internal systems and products under development. " For the rest of the interview, click here. Before taking this article too seriously, I suggest you read the on-line responses to it as well as other responses around the web such as those found at Slashdot and TheServerSide.com.

Personally, I think scripting languages like PHP are fine for lightweight web applications. For those needing more computing power, Java is a great choice. What scares most neophyte developers is the sheer volume of libraries, apis, etc. that make up Java. It's hard to know where to start and what to adopt. For a language/platform (because let's face it, Java is more than a language) that is "so Nineties" there's a lot of work being done in the open source community that extends Java. Is the same thing happening for platforms such as .NET? Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking .NET. I'm just not seeing the same buzz of activity around it that I do Java.