Phurnace Blog tagged 'java'

What You See is What You Get � A Bit About Java GUI Toolkits

Shawn Spiars — Mon, 05 May 2008 01:00:00 +0100

There are quite a few toolkits available for Java developers. Let me help point you in some directions and maybe save you some research time.

Many of you will be familiar with the Abstract Windows Toolkit (AWT) that is available with every Java Runtime Environment (JRE). AWT is the original Java GUI toolkit developed by Sun Microsystems. AWT is a peer-based toolkit meaning that each AWT control is dependent upon a host operating system control. AWT usage is limited because it was designed [...]

Dull and Boring == Errors and Omissions

Robert Reeves — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 01:00:00 +0100

BBC has a news report on how boring tasks can lead to errors and omissions. Evidently, your brain will go into 'autopilot' mode when performing redundant, boring tasks. Apparently, there is a specific bit of brain activity that can occur right before you are about to make a mistake.

Until they can make a portable MRI for data ce [...]

"No Punks Allowed" - Thoughts on Developer Jobs

Shawn Spiars — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 01:00:00 +0100

As a software engineer I often find it entertaining reading the technology job postings. You can learn a lot about a company's values and culture by what they reveal in their job postings. I once had a job interview with a VP of Engineering who was bragging to me during the interview about how much money he saved his company by sending half of his development positions offshore. So I am thinking to myself "if I take this job just how long until my position goes offshore"?

On [...]

The Evils of Scripting - Part 2

Robert Reeves — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 01:00:00 +0100

In the first part of this two part post, I discussed how scripts are terrible at eliminating errors. In fact, scripts simply replace typos with system errors. A rather poor trade-off, I think.

The second problem with scripts is the burden they place on employees to maintain them and the decrease in productivity they can cause. This maintenance burden and productivity sinkhole are the two areas scripts were supposed to fix!

Frankly, I hold the tools architecture res [...]

SDLC's Dirty Little Secret

Daniel Nelson — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 01:00:00 +0100

If you have never been in the datacenter in the wee hours of the morning, trying to figure out what's wrong with a server, stop reading this. If you have never been in an all-hands-on-deck meeting where everyone is trying to figure out what went wrong with a deployment, then stop right now and go do something more useful with your time. Because if you haven't lived through that, then the rest of this post won't mean much to you.

I've been through plenty of thos [...]

Getting Past the iPhone Diatribes...

Alexander Bibighaus — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Apple's iPhone represents a revolutionary mobile platform that has attracted people of all sorts to download the SDK and take a look. Today, it seems I search the internet for "iPhone" related information only to find hundreds of rants. Most rants are either about the lack of Flash and/or Java support for the iPhone. Perhaps this is because [...]

The Evils of Scripting - Part 1

Robert Reeves — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Up until the release of Phurnace Deliver last year, there were two choices when it came to Java Application Server management: manual data entry or scripts. Typically, a company starts with manually entering configuration data via a web-based admin console. Then, either organically or via a concerted effort, the company will move to using scripts to manage the Application Server configuration and deploying binaries.

Companies begin this migration for two reasons. The first is t [...]