Coding the Architecture - javaee tag

Following the specification

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:29:00 GMT

Back in the days when J2EE app servers were the best thing since sliced bread, I remember having lots of discussions with people about the J2EE specifications and I don't mind admitting that it was always my goal to build a truly spec compliant application. For example, file access from the EJB tier was explicitly forbidden in the specification; because of reasons around portability, lack of file system transactionality, etc. Fast forward a couple of years, and I started to realise that a lot of this stuff didn't really matter. File access via the EJB tier actually did work and it was much simpler than writing JCA connectors. In addition, and in the same way that I have almost never swapped out a database during a development project, it didn't really matter if my J2EE application was portable or not. We'd develop on WebLogic/WebSphere/etc and we'd deploy on the same platform.

Earlier in the week I was talking to a group of people who were defining the architecture for a Java EE system and they started asking how they were going to access the file system from within their EJB tier. I'm curious ... what's the general feeling about specification compliance these days? Do you care whether your applications follow all of the recommended guidelines, or do you take a pragmatic view that just asks whether it works? How important is this to you as an architect?

The Top Ten Ways to Botch an Enterprise Java Application

Wed, 25 Jan 2006 13:28:33 GMT

If you're planning on heading to JavaOne this year, Cameron Purdy will be presenting what sounds like a very interesting talk on the top ten ways to botch an enterprise Java application. From his blog...

Two of my presentations were accepted for JavaOne, including a new one that I've been working on: The Top Ten Ways to Botch an Enterprise Java Application. I think the hard part will be limiting myself to only talking about ten of the things that I've seen! ;-)

I've given some funny (and unfortunately real-world!) anecdotes as part of some of the presentations that I've done on scalable performance and distributed caching, including the "checking the HR database on each HTTP request to see if the current user got fired since his/her last HTTP request" (one of my favorites). So what is your personal "Top 10 List" for ways to completely botch an application?

Reading through the comments, there are some funny stories and I only wish that I could say I've not seen these myself. One of the best ways to learn about architecture, what works and what doesn't, is to listen to others talking about their experiences. If you're at JavaOne, don't miss this opportunity.

Developing Java EE 5.0 applications with EJB 3.0 and JSF

Thu, 19 Jan 2006 12:51:34 GMT

If you're looking to start designing and building systems with EJB 3.0 and JSF then the following session might be for you.

Title : Developing Java EE 5.0 applications with EJB 3.0 and JSF
Date : Thursday January 26 2006 12:00-14:00
Location : Cheapside Room - SUN City Offices, 45 King William Street, London EC4. Nearest tube is Monument.

Java Enterprise Edition (Java EE) 5 introduces fundamental changes to the way standards-conformant enterprise Java applications are written. The innovations in EJB 3.0 are of particular significance, as they bring the enterprise Java standard to the same level of sophistication that commonly used open-source projects like Hibernate and XDoclet have made popular.

More details, including registration information can be found on the JSIG website.