Developer Links Worth Looking at - August 2011

I want to share some links that I've come across lately. I hope you find the links interesting as much as I do.

To sum up, links include some useful java libraries, articles about a variety of different topics, some programming tips and news. Continue reading to see more...


LIBRARIES ( java, javascript)

• totallylazy : A functional library for Java which tries to be as lazy as possible just like Clojure's collection library
  

  sequence(1, 2, 3, 4).filter(even()); // lazily returns 2,4
  iterate(increment(), 1); // lazily returns 1,2,3 ... to infinity
  iterate(increment(), 1).filter(even()).take(10).reduce(average()); // 11

• Urlrewritefilter : Java Web Filter for any J2EE compliant web application server, which allows you to rewrite URLs before they get to your code. It is a very powerful tool just like Apache's mod_rewrite and it is very simple to use.
  
• Head-js : A tiny javascript that speeds up, simplifies and modernizes your site.
  

LEARNING

• Google Code University : Sample course content and tutorials for Computer Science (CS) students and educators on current computing technologies and paradigms by Google.
  
• MIT Lectures : Free Online Course Materials by MIT.
  
• Computer Science Lectures : Video Lectures about various Computer Science topics.
  
• Programmer Competency Matrix  : A must read!!
  
• Progressive Enhancement 2.0 - Because the Web isn't Print  : In today's world of multiple devices and multiple browsers, it's time for a progressive enhancement
  

SOME ARTICLES

• The Cost of Testing or You don’t Know what You are Missing : TDD will save you plenty of time. Start learning how to test today. If you don’t you will never know what you are missing. Besides, in a couple of years from now the places where you can just puke code into your IDE will get rare.
  
• Seven Java Projects that changed the world
  
  
  • 1-) JUnit
  • 2-) Eclipse
  • 3-) Spring
  • 4-) Solr
  • 5-) Hudson and Jenkins
  • 6-) Hadoop
  • 7-) Android
• Web based IDEs
  
• Performance is a Feature : Performance tips from Jeff Atwood, Stack Exchange.
  
• Core Java Questions with answers
  
• SOAP vs REST
  
• Nosql Movement
  
• High Performance Javascript : Some tips to make your javascript code run fast.
  
• Start taking JavaScript seriously : JavaScript is increasingly being used for more and more serious things.
  

PROGRAMMING TIPS

• Principles of Good Programming : - Don’t repeat yourself (DRY) and reuse code , - Keep it simple, stupid! (KISS), - Do not add functionality until you need it (YAGN), - Do the simplest thing that could possibly work, - Don’t make me think, - Open for extension but closed for modification (Open/Closed principle), - Write Code for the Maintainer, - Follow standard conventions (Principle of least astonishment), - One functionality in one place (Abstraction) , - One class for one task (Single Responsibility Principle), - Minimize coupling (less dependency) and maximize cohesion, - Code components should only communicate with their direct relations (Law of demeter) - Seperate concerns (SoC), - Hide Implementation Details - Avoid Premature Optimization
  
• Basic rules for code readability and the if statement
  
• Top 7 programmers bad habits
  
  • 1-) The all code is crap, except mine, attitude. : There are always better code out there
  • 2-) The “I fix that in a second” catastrophe. : Don't be in a hurry
  • 3-) The “That will only take a second” misconception. : Make better estimations
  • 4-) The Ego Spiral : Leave your ego at home.
  • 5-) “It wasn’t me!” : We always have an excuse…
  • 6-) The demotivated genius. : Repetitive and simple tasks demotivates but they are necessary
  • 7-) The premature programmer : When coding is done, the task is not done yet. Done means: tested (and not only unit tested), documented, committed, merged…
• 
  When Do You Say A Development Task Is Really Done? : People looking at “done” from a testing perspective typically state that a feature is done when it has passed its tests. In the concept of the sprint, a clear definition of done is needed. Developers tend to think of “done” as the time when the task has been fully developed and unit tested but it is not usually true. Some tasks might have defects and bugs which might be spotted later.
  
• How to solve production problems : The production problems are unavoidable. To be prepared for the problem; use a bug tracking system and keep an inventory og configs, known bugs etc. When it occurs; narrow the problem (check symptomps, read logs, reproduce error) and don't make arbitrary changes,
  

NEWS

• Tomcat 5.5 will be unsupported soon. : As of 30th September 2012, security vulnerability reports will not be checked against the 5.5.x branch. As of 31 December 2012, 5.5.x downloads, documentation etc.. will be removed.
  
• Oracle's Java 7 released. : It's good to see a new java release after 5 years but having not revolutionary changes in Java 7 and Apache's bug report made Java enthusiasts upset.
  
• Java Magazine, Premier Issue : Free bi-monthly digital magazine has been published on the same day as the long awaited Java 7 release.
  
• Eclipse 3.8M1 Brings Java7 Support : The Eclipse Foundation has released Eclipse 3.8M1, which is the first milestone release with Java7 support. Java7 support will also come to Eclipse 3.7.1, which is due to be released in September.
  
• Google Acquired the Pittpatt for facial recognition improvements : Google acquired more than 100 companies since 2001 and 16 companies in 2011.
  

I'd like to share such links in a monthly basis ( if i can ). Please do not hesitate to comment and share your links. See you next month ( I hope :) )