Kathy Walrath's Blog

Javadoc: How Do We Improve It?

Ten days ago, a survey came out aimed at people who use the automatically generated API documentation for the Java platform. (Many people call this the javadoc, but, strictly speaking, that's just the name of the tool that produces the API doc.) Amy Fowler blogged about the survey back then, but we want still more responses. So, if you haven't already...

Please take the javadoc survey!

It's short. It's sweet. It's your chance to influence the direction of javadoc. Even if you've already given feedback via comments on Amy's blog or mine, please take the survey so your votes can be counted and all the feedback kept in one place.

How can you pass up a chance to answer these questions:

What source of information (online doc, book, article, forum, etc.) have you found to be the MOST useful for doing Java development?
Which way do you prefer to view J2SE generated API documentation?
Which of the following questions would cause you to consult the J2SE generated API documentation FIRST?
Who's funnier, Stephen Colbert or Jon Stewart?

Maybe that last one's not really on the survey, but the fact that you've read this far means you certainly have the attention span the survey requires. So how about it? Take the survey!

Help Wanted: Intern to Spread the Word

The Swing team has a job opening for a half-to-full-time student intern to help us get the word out about using JavaSE for rich client apps. Your primary job would be to help us publish a bunch of Swing Sightings. Other work, as time permits, could be working on the Swing Depot, helping us manage and improve javadesktop.org, and — if you're familiar with Swing and other rich client APIs in the JDK— maybe writing/editing technical articles, blogging, or writing demos. There's lots to do, and it should be fun!

The skills we're looking for:

Strong graphic design skills.
Strong written English language skills.
Strong HTML skills, via either hand HTML coding or an automated tool such as DreamWeaver.
Strong knowledge of graphics editing software (for example, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, ImageReady) for creating and generating images for web production.

Some other requirements:

You must currently be enrolled in school full time.
You'll need to work onsite in Santa Clara.
Because the position doesn't offer relocation/housing expenses, you should either already be in the bay area or have a place to stay here.

More details: http://www.sun.com/corp_emp/search.cgi?req=545653.

If you're interested in this job, please send e-mail to jeff at sun dot com. Good luck!

Take the Swing Text Survey (Please!)

I'm posting this for Swing's lead text engineer, Igor Kushnirskiy, who doesn't have a blog of his own (yet!). Here's what Igor has to say:

One of the most wanted Swing bug fixes is for 4296022 [html4.x support within a JEditorPane]. We are planning to resolve this problem in the Dolphin (J2SE 7.0) release.

To make sure all the important features are implemented we need your help. We've created a survey to help us to understand your needs better:

http://java.sun.com/webapps/survey/display?survey_id=5370

(It might take about fifteen minutes to finish it.)

Thank you for your time.

Igor

There you have it. If you care at all about Swing text support, please do your Swing duty and fill out the Swing text survey. Thanks!

Now Hiring

The client group in Java SE-land is looking for someone smart enough to automate themselves out of a good job — and into an even better one.

Some Background

Currently, whenever a client team (Swing, 2D, AWT, etc.) needs to integrate its changes into the main Java SE workspace, the team's integrator does the job. The integrator is just an engineer on the team — generally someone without any special skills pertaining to build automation and process improvement. I don't know about the other client teams, but on the Swing team the integration job traditionally is rotated through every engineer on the team (including leads), with each engineer having a 6-month stint as integrator. The Swing integrator is currently moi*.

* "Moi" means "me", as my 4-year-old French-American niece says it. Actually, she usually says "pas moi" ("not me"). For example: "Who hid Daddy's wallet?" "Pas moi."

The Position

The client group has opened a position for a person to do all the integrations for all the client teams. We're looking for someone who's smart, skilled, and enterprising enough to improve the current build procedures. Our hope is that the integrator will automate the process so much that they'll be able to transition to doing something else they're interested in, such as client-related development. In the end, we'd have a better, more reliable build process, plus we'd gain many engineer hours that were formerly spent on integrations.

If you look at the page for req # 543803, you can see that the experience level for the job is wide open. What we care about are the candidates' skills* — their ability to perform what the job page calls essential functions — and their capacity to contribute in other ways once integrations no longer take up all their time.

* Who has these skills? Pas moi.

Apply!

If you have what it takes to do this job, please submit your resume. Good luck!

The Java Tutorial: Updated at Last!

Almost a year since its last revision, The Java Tutorial has been updated again. Most of the changes are in the basic trails — the ones all new programmers might need. But even if you're not a beginner (actually, especially if you're not) the Tutorial team would like your feedback on the new stuff.

The history page says what's changed. Most of the differences aren't terribly noticeable — minor updates from 1.3 to 5.0, new figures, etc. However, there are some new pages the team would like you to check out. They include:

Working with Manifest Files: The Basics: A series of pages telling you how to specify a main class in a JAR file, seal a JAR file, and perform other tasks that require modifying a JAR file's manifest.
The "Static Import" Construct: Covers the 5.0 feature that lets you refer to static members of other classes without using prefixes. (This can be a dangerous feature, so use it wisely!)
Chained Exceptions: Shows you how to use chained exceptions (a 1.4 feature) to avoid losing exception data when rethrowing an exception.
Thread Pools: Describes how to use this feature, which is part of the concurrency utilities added in 5.0. (Most of the concurrency utilities are for "rocket scientists", but thread pools are more generally useful.)
Generics: The new home of Gilad Bracha's Generics tutorial.

Expect more updates soon. They'll add coverage of other post-1.3 features such as for-each, enums, and so on. Also, Getting Started will cover Mac OS X. And finally, the writers are working on something readers have requested for a long time: a completely new deployment section, which will include information on Java Web Start (for applications) and Java Plug-in (for applets).

To give your feedback to the Tutorial team, use the Feedback Form link that's at the upper right of most pages. Thanks for your support!

Want to Write for a Living?

Writing for developers is a rewarding job if you're interested in technology and enjoy playing with words. You're constantly learning, you get to practice the craft of writing, and you can make a real difference for developers.

Ever since I graduated from college with a CS degree, I've had writing jobs. All but one of them took advantage of my technical background, but I've never officially worked as a software engineer. Until now.

I've accepted a position with the Swing team. In a way, it's not a big change. I'll still go to Swing meetings and work with the JavaDesktop community. However, I'll be transitioning away from work on The Java Tutorial and other J2SE-related doc, and into bug fixing and feature work for the Swing libraries. Although it's hard to leave the Tutorial and its great team of writers, ten years on one project is a very long time, and I'm looking forward to trying something new.

If you're interested in working with the J2SE doc team, now's your chance! You can submit your resume for this technical writer position, as described at the bottom of the position description's page. If hired, you won't necessarily work on the Tutorial — that's up to you, the Tutorial team, and the J2SE doc manager — but whatever you do, you'll have the chance to learn about interesting technologies, hone your writing, and make a difference in the professional lives of developers. Plus, hey, it's a paying job!

Don't miss the Swing chat!

Update: The chat has already occurred, and a transcript is now available.

Scott Violet and Shannon Hickey — the Swing architect and project lead, respectively — know everything there is to know about Swing. They're in the midst of planning the next couple of releases, so tomorrow's Java Live chat is a great opportunity to find out what's happened and going to happen, and to let them know what you want.

Tuesday, November 9. 11:00 A.M. PST/19:00 UTC. Be there.

PS: Scott and Shannon, besides being top-notch technically, are really nice guys. So please treat them well!

PPS: This is my first blog entry on java.net. Short and sweet, that's how I'm gonna blog.