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News from National -- Current Articles
7/5/2002
9:32:04 AM
JAVA Expert Andy Longshaw
Interview by S. Ibaraki, I.S.P.
This week, Stephen Ibaraki, I.S.P., has an exclusive interview with Andy
Longshaw, one of the authors of SAMS Teach Yourself J2EE in 21 Days with EJB,
JSP, Servlets, JNDI, JDBC, and XML. Andy is an internationally known
consultant, writer, educator, design and architecture guru specializing in
J2EE, XML, .NET, Web-based technologies and components.
The other authors include: Martin Bond, Dan Haywood, Debbie Law, and Peter
Roxburgh. Each of the authors is an international expert in application
development, deployment, consulting, training, and technical writing. We were
able to catch up with them at Content Masters Ltd., a technical authoring
company in the UK specializing in the production of training and educational
materials — http://www.contentmaster.com
*****
Q: Your combined accomplishments are staggering. Thank you for agreeing to
this interview.
A: You are most welcome.
Q: I reviewed your most informative and useful book. What led you to write
this masterful work?
A: J2EE is a large subject - both broad and deep. It can be quite daunting
for beginners to know where to start. Having "grown up" with J2EE
over the years you don't really notice this yourself for a time until you
become aware of a knowledge gap. I normally see this at conferences when I'm
giving sessions on subjects such as J2EE Patterns and some of the people I
talk to are really keen to learn but their understanding is quite patchy in
some basic areas of J2EE.
Q: What ten or more tips can you provide from the book and about developing
in the Java space?
A: They are:
- Gain at least enough
understanding about each of the parts of J2EE that you could give an
"elevator pitch" (60 second lowdown) on it.
- Keep looking for
patterns and best practices in books and email lists or newsgroups.
- Start getting a
grounding in the essentials of Web Services (SOAP, WSDL, etc.).
- Be clear on what the
different types of EJB give you and use each appropriately.
- Don't use Entity EJBs
"just because they are there" or they'll look good on your CV.
- Don't use EJBs at all
if you don't need them.
- Find a good IDE and
get it to generate as much code as possible. Writing from scratch is fun
when you are learning but painful when developing.
- Choose your
application server with care. The money you save on buying it could be
lost on days of struggling with a cheaper one. However, cost is not the
only indicator of quality - check out the newsgroups to see what people
say about it.
- Get a broad education
- if you get a chance to look at other platforms (such as .NET) then try
to do so with an open mind.
- Find the right sweet
spot for J2EE in your organization. J2EE is aimed at commercial
applications (N-tier, web-oriented, etc.), so don't try to use it to
solve every problem.
Q: How would you contrast enterprise development in Java versus .NET and is
there a winner? What do you see for the future of both development
environments?
A: The biodiversity of the Java world in terms of IDEs and application
servers means that there is healthy competition but it does fragment things
somewhat. In the .NET world, the use of Visual Studio .NET (by most
developers ) and the single .NET framework does make it easier to exchange
information and code.
I don't see a "winner" since both environments have their pros and
cons. Also, when the "brave new world" of Web Services arrives, it
will be less relevant which platform they are running on. Just don't hold
your breath…
Q: Can you describe your work at Content Masters and where you see this
company evolving in the short and long term?
A: Content Master provides a stream of varied and interesting writing work -
from complete books down to individual whitepapers. It provides me with a
useful outlet for knowledge that I have built up. As Content Master uses a
mixture of fulltime and associate writers, there are very few topics that we
cannot find an experienced author to write on.
Q: Describe future book titles and articles can we expect from you?
A: I tend to be quite eclectic in my output. I am currently writing a book on
.NET development and an article on Web Services for Pearson's informit.com.
Q: Can you describe some of the projects that you have worked on and what
tips you can pass on?
A: I think that the best tip from all project work is "don't trust the
marketing, try the tools". A bit of technical architecture work up front
can save a lot of tears later.
Q: What are ten or more traps or pitfalls that developers should be wary of
and avoid?
A: I'd probably refer you back to the previous answer.
Q: Can you share your leading career tips for those thinking of getting into
the computing field?
A: They are:
- Get a good grounding
in OO fundamentals
- Learn UML
- Learn one of the
curly-bracket languages such as Java or C# - it will stand you in good
stead.
- Learn XML
- Have at least a
passing acquaintance with SQL
- Read as much as you
can on design and patterns
- Remember that you are
writing systems for real people to use
- Don't be afraid to
say "I don't understand"
Q: What are the hottest topics that all IT professionals must know to be
successful in the short term and long term?
A: UML, XML, Web Service principles
Q: What would be your recommended top ten references for the serious
developer?
A: They are:
- J2EE Patterns
(Crupi, Alur, Malks)
- Java Server
Programming J2EE 1.3 edition (Wrox Press)
- UML Distilled
(Martin Fowler)
- Refactoring (Martin
Fowler)
- Extreme Programming
Explained (Kent Beck)
- Design Patterns
(Gamma et al.)
- http://www.google.com - rarely fails
me, especially Google groups
Q: If you were doing this interview, what four questions would you ask of
someone in your position and what would be your answers?
A: Probably some of the above.
Q: It’s a blank slate, what added comments would you like to give to
enterprise corporations and organizations?
A: Take time to think up-front, but think by writing code and trying things
rather than writing copious documents. Also, find a good modeling tool.
Q: Thank you for sharing your valuable insights with us today and we look
forward to reading your books, and articles.
A: You're welcome
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