The Pragmatic Craftsman :: Simplicity from complexity : by Stanley Kubasek ::

I’ve been reading some really good articles lately. Below, you’ll find the best ones.

Readings of the Month

J2EE Project Dangers by Humphrey Sheil

If you are involved in J2EE development (seems like everybody is, lately), this article is a must read. It’s well written and very practical. And the article makes me think about today’s IT marketplace. Even though a lot of people call themselves J2EE developers, very few understand the whole architecture. Very few see the whole picture. What comes with it, a great possibility to mess up. It’s almost safe to say that if you’re using J2EE, you are doing something wrong (unless you have a true J2EE guru). I have to admit, I know several different J2EE technologies, but I’m still not seeing the whole picture (different beans, expertise in app servers, and more). J2EE is a beast. But in a year or two, I’ll have it conquered.

J2EE in PracticeContinuing the J2EE theme. This article, actually a chapter from this book, asks some important questions (answered in different chapters in the book) about J2EE development. If you consider yourself a J2EE guru, you should be able to answer most of them. Challenge yourself. If you feel that you need more training, read the rest of the chapters from the book. I will try to. (I would definitely like to see the book published, though, as I I’m having hard time finding a good, practical J2EE book.)

Better Software Magazine — April 2005 issue

This is a great issue of Better Software magazine. I marked three of the articles — It Takes Two to Tango, Injecting Testability Into Your Designs, and The Pleasure of Finding Things Out — as excellent and two other as very good. If you go to BetterSoftware.com and request a subscription, they give you three issues for free (that’s what I did). The articles are short and very practical. If the quality of the articles will be that high every issue, I might have to pay to extend my subscription.