Dustin's Software Development Cogitations and Speculations

JavaScript objects from a Java developer's perspective

Get tips for instantiating JavaScript's prototype-based objects two ways: via constructor functions or object initialization.

Codehaus: The once great house of code has fallen

The onetime home of projects such as JMock, Mule, and XDoclet has announced that it will begin taking projects and services offline in early April 2015.

Manipulating JARs, WARs, and EARs on the command line

Learn how to do essential CRUD operations on JAR, WAR, and EAR files using the command line and jar command.

Java extension mechanism loads all JARs

Although the Java extension mechanism and the classpath mechanism are both used in Java class loading, there are some important differences between them. Unpack the Java extension mechanism and get tips for working around its pitfalls....

ChoiceFormat: Numeric range formatting

Learn how to use ChoiceFormat and its patterns to customize the formatting of numeric ranges in your Java programs.

Big Java news in late summer 2014

Java modularity and updated JVM performance options spark developer interest in Java EE 8 and Java 9.

Autoboxing, Unboxing, and NoSuchMethodError

The Java NoSuchMethodError sometimes arises when pre-Java 5 classes are compiled with classes that include autoboxing and unboxing syntax. Find out why and learn how to work around it in this post.

Books that have most influenced my software development career

Dustin Marx names 9 books that have earned a permanent place in his bookshelf, and maybe yours.

Custom Cassandra data types

Learn to create and then use custom Cassandra Query Language data types in this quick tutorial from Dustin Marx.

Next generation Project Valhalla proposed

Proposed by Brian Goetz, Project Valhalla would provide long-term structure and support for evolving the Java language and platform. Voting by current OpenJDK members closes on July 7.

I don't think that software development word means what you think it means

From Agile to SLOC, Dustin Marx corrects the record about programming terminology that is commonly misused, and even misunderstood, by software developers.

Connecting to Cassandra from Java

Learn how to connect to the Cassandra database and perform basic CRUD operations using CQL and the Cassandra Java Driver.

Hello Cassandra

Get a quick guide to setting up Cassandra, using keyspaces, and creating a column family, then some caveats regarding how the NoSQL datastore differs from a relational database.

New BigInteger methods in Java 8

Unlike Value(), BigInteger's four new ValueExact() methods will throw an ArithmeticException if the number contained in a BigInteger instance isn't specified in the method's name. While nobody likes exceptions, this post demonstrates...

Dubious features of Java 8

While Java 8's updated default methods, parallel streams, and functional interfaces bring more function and flexibility to the Java platform, some developers note that change doesn't come without a price.

Contributions of individual programming languages to software development

Let's not argue anymore about which programming language is best! This post considers some of our most and least popular languages in terms of their ongoing contributions to software development.

Abstract class versus interface in the JDK 8 era

The difference between abstract classes and interfaces has long vexed Java developers. Find out how Java 8's default methods introduce both new complexity and new options to that familiar programming conundrum.

The wait is over: JDK 8 is here!

A developer's list and crib-sheet of some of the best resources on the web for learning about Java 8, now in general availability.

Serializing Java objects with non-serializable attributes

Use custom serialization as an alternative to transience for non-serializable attributes in your Java objects.

ObjectStreamClass: Peeking at a Java Object's Serialization

Learn a few tricks for using an ObjectStreamClass to analyze the serialization characteristics of a serialized class loaded in the JVM.