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Java EE 6 Predictions

Posted on Jun 29, 2008 at 5:12 AM by Ryan de Laplante · Filed under Java

When I first started working in Java a few years ago I was overwhelmed by the number of choices I had to make about frameworks, APIs, etc. I studied both JCP and defacto standards. I find it interesting that JSF, JPA and JAX-WS have gained widespread adoption despite some limitations. This tells me that developers do want standard APIs, and only shy away when the standards are overly complex or incomplete. When the standards improve developers come back. For example, EJB 2.1 CMP was replaced by JPA which is based on Hibernate's API. Choosing JCP standards make decision making easy (like .NET developers enjoy today), and makes it easier to work at other companies or to hire developers with the standard skills.

I have experience with J2EE and Java EE 5 technologies and am well aware of their limitations. Lately I've been closely following Java EE 6 technologies and really like what I see. Based on my perception of limitations in EE 5, and having read the JCP pages on EE 6 technologies, I am betting on widespread global adoption of the following technologies in new projects:

  • JSF 2.0
  • JPA 2.0
  • JAX-RS
  • JAX-WS
  • GlassFish V3
  • Java FX
  • Java 7's built-in module system

The last two aren't part of EE 6, but I think they will be popular too despite what the vocal minority says today. I'm also predicting the return of EJB. You watch and see. Version 3.1 finally completes the picture and integrates nicely with the new WebBeans JSR. They've added all of the important missing features and made it possible for EJBs to live inside of the servlet container. WebBeans for dependency injection and EJB 3.1 for enterprisy features eliminates the need for Spring. Those who are open minded enough to taste technologies outside The Church Of SpringSource will be delightfully surprised. New Java developers who managed to avoid brain-washing by close minded developers that think Java EE == J2EE/EJB 2.x will make up their own minds and will likely choose the JCP standards.

Shopping Lowered My BMI by 1%

Posted on Jun 15, 2008 at 12:50 PM by Ryan de Laplante · Filed under General

Yesterday I decided to go buy a bathing suit that fits so that I can finally try out the pool in my new building. I took the subway to Queen St. hoping to go to The Bay, but ended up in the Eaton Center (across the road). Thinking this was a regular shopping mall I decided to walk it from one end to the other. Little did I know that there were 3 huge floors of stores, and other stores like Sears that have 6 HUGE levels! It was fun checking out all the stuff, but since I'm a penny pincher I only bought what I came for. When I exited the mall I found The Bay across the road. I decided to check it out. This one was 8 stories of HUGE floors. I've never seen stores this big in my life. I even found some of the same fancy furniture that I saw in the Art Shoppe (very expensive). Toronto shopping sure is great, but make sure you are wearing good walking shoes. I was probably walking for 4-5 hours? When I got back, my dog wanted to go out. Since I had no food in the fridge I decided to take him to Pizza Pizza after he finished his business in the park. The place was so packed I kept walking. Quiznos was packed too! Then I saw a huge crowd across the road at "The Terminal Building" on the waterfront. It was the last day of the "Illuminat'eau" festival and people from all kinds of ethnic backgrounds were playing music, walking around on stilts, dancing, etc. I bought a hotdog from a stand, and we watched that for a while. By the time I got home I had been walking for about 6 hours and my feet were extremely sore. I remembered that I had weighed myself in the morning so I got on the scale again. I gained 4 lbs, but my BMI went down by 1%. Amazing, I've only ever seen my BMI go up and up. I'm technically obese according to their charts :) I tried on the swimming trunks (XL) and realized they are way too big for me!!! Now I have to go back.

Surprise on the balcony

Posted on Jun 11, 2008 at 9:16 PM by Ryan de Laplante · Filed under General

Tonight after work I decided to sit on the balcony to enjoy the view, and eat yogurt. It didn't take long before I realized that someone was smoking pot below. I didn't hear anything so they could have been more than 1 story below me. By the time I finished my yogurt I realized that I was stoned! I immediately went back into my condo. My clothes, hair, and dog smell like pot -- and we've got the munchies :) We went straight to kitchen. I ate a bunch of chocolate chip cookies, and Bandit ate some doggy biscuits. I think we'll have to go on the balcony more often. Cheap entertainment! JK.

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