Month: October 2005

be careful what you type in URL’s

In response to this:

So if I, in my igorance, type in the string from your article ../../.. I can end up with my career in ruins?

What?

Mind you, as being a techie Frenchman using a mobile phone in a heavy coat can get you an arrest record then why should we be surprised?

And they want to be able to hold people for 90 days!

Birthday Message

Let me be the eye of the storm
the quiet place where all is at rest
and movement ceases

Let me pour gold on the needy
love on the friendless
help on the helpless

The hand is empty
that will give you all you need
look at it now

Say:
I am the one who can change things
the one who makes things real
I am the one who will give you back your heart

Only you can set you free
But I will be there

Utopians and dreamers

In response to this

Maybe I’m tired but I couldn’t get what you were trying to say, you seemed to wander from point to point and take a long time to do it. Not your usual fare. Demolish the dhds with your usual 3 paras.

It’s easy to mock the utopians but they are a necessary evil in that they try to make things work when others might give up. Personally I like dreamers because they think things can get better and try to make it happen. I agree with you about the dangers of authoritarian streak we keep seeing – but wtf are these nobodies anyway? No-one will use there stuff if they make it too painful to use, and that’ll be very amusing.

Who the hell is the guy giving you the finger and why should I care about him? In the wild world out there I’m more worried about all the things that might kill my kids if we don’t change our behaviour. One nobody waving his finger is neither here nor there.

I’m picky as well: criterion is singular but the guy gave you a list of points so you used the plural form of the verb. The quote later had it wrong as well but I suppose if it’s a quote then …

Java Business Componets Developer Certification

Going back to do more certification.

I was going to go straight for the Sun Certified Java Systems Architect (or whatever it is). When I read the syllabus I realised that you may as well get the Business Components and Web Services certs on the way because you cover the ground anyway. So, now reading up on EJB’s and EJB/J2EE design patterns.

To get started there’s a very good J2EE tutorial on the sun website, I’ve been using this to get back into it quickly.

Also, if you download the 1.4 JDK (get everything) you’ll get an example J2EE server that this tutorial uses. You can get the tutorial and related code as well. I’ll let you find them yourself, dear reader. Just make sure you’ve got the bin directory of the J2EE server in your path so that their version of ant will work from the command line.

Register with the server side, if you do you can get free PDF’s of the first two books in my list below, plus a ruck of other things. Very good site. I still prefer paper though.

Recommending:

Mastering Enterprise Java Beans – Roman/Ambler/Jewell – Wiley

The classic work on this topic. Accessible style, check lists of “how to” get things done. Get the 3rd edition.

EJB Design Patterns – Marinescu – Wiley

Another classic. States the obvious a bit, but you need to give the obvious a name so you don’t have to keep describing it.

Core J2EE Patterns – Alur/Crupi/Malks – Prentice Hall

Very dry, academic style. Have to work at understanding convoluted english. But the overview sections pretty good.

Enterprise Java Beans – Monson-Haefel – O’Reilly

Useful with the Roman book because it has a different take on things and helps you get them in your head.

Java Enterprise in a Nutshell – Flanagan/Farley/Crawford/Magnusson – O’Reilly

My copy’s a bit out of date now but if you want some simple code examples for JDBC/JNDI/ etc. then it’s all there. My edition stops at EJB 1.1. I think there’s a new one.

Finally: Go here for a list of topics and a brief description of what they contain. Mikalai Zaikin has done a great service for the rest of us and should be thanked.