At the very beginning of 2014 I decided to start to track my reading habits and share the best stuff here, on Baeldung.
Curating my reading has made it more purposeful and diverse – and I’m hopefully providing value to you as well by allowing the best content of the week to raise to the top.
Here we go…
1. Java
>> Understanding Spring Web Application Architecture: The Classic Way
The start of a new series from Petri – on system architecture. This piece is going over the classical approach to architecting a system.
>> Hibernate application-level repeatable reads
Another writeup in the Hibernate Master Class series – this one is about operations with repeatable read isolation semantics.
If you’re doing Hibernate or writing any kind of data to a relational database, it’s critical you understand these core concepts.
>> Java CPU and PSU Releases Explained
Although a bit over a week old, this official announcement is worth looking at to understand how Java updates will be released going forward. It looks like the CPU releases will be quite safe to upgrade to immediately.
>> Let’s Stream a Map in Java 8 with jOOλ
Quick and to the point – streaming a Map in Java 8 should be easier, and now it is.
2. Spring
>> See how to build, test, secure, and add hypermedia with this new tutorial, “Building REST Services with Spring”
That title says it all, doesn’t it?
>> Using Spring MVC with JRebel: Refactoring XML config files without restarting
>> Using Spring MVC with JRebel: Changing RequestMappings without restarting
Two in-depth articles on how JRebel removes the need to restart the server after making a change in Spring – which is very cool indeed.
If you do go the JRebel route, I recommend doing so early on because wrangling an existing codebase into compliance with the tool is a difficult thing to do (I tried).
>> Introducing Spring Sync
An introduction to what might be an important piece of the Spring ecosystem – support for PATCH operations (inspired from the Json Patch spec).
I can see how – for some usecases – this might be a big deal in terms of client-server communication efficiency.
3. Technical and Musings
>> The DSL Jungle
Configuration tips from the actual trenches – I like this piece a lot because it’s super pragmatic. How often does someone say – look, XML is actually good in some cases, don’t just discard it out of hand.
>> Elasticsearch Testing and QA: Increasing Coverage by Randomizing Test Runs
This kind of testing tactic can make such a difference in pretty much any non-trivial system. I need to bring in more of this kind of randomized input in my tests – that’s for sure.
>> SacrificialArchitecture
The architecture of a system natural moves forward. Pragmatically replacing it with a new architecture is in no way a failure, but instead an event that we need to be aware of and plan for intelligently. Very engaging read.
>> Your Community Door
Building a community is no easy task – not by a long-shot. Should you be strict with bad behavior or not? Are there mute and ignore options in the system – and are these even a good idea?
I think it takes a lot of experience (and probably a lot of mistakes) to craft the kind of community that remains healthy in the long run, but it’s a very interesting problem to have.
>> Agile: False Hope and Real Promise
Here’s a piece about Agile that does its best not to make judgment calls or spew out trivialities.
4. Comics
Finally – some XKCD quirkiness in comic form:
>> Command Line Fu
>> Restraining Order
>> Conspiracy Theories
5. Pick of the Week
I recently introduced the “Pick of the Week” section here in my “Weekly Review”. The interesting part is that it’s entirely exclusive to my email list subscribers.
So – if you came to this article from my email list, you have the pick already – hope you enjoyed it. If not – feel free to subscribe and you’ll get the next one.