Articles

Good Fences Make Good Functions
In some ways, Groovy programming can be as much like Java programming as you want it to be. You can use it as syntactic sugar to simplify some of your least-favorite Java tasks or you can embrace it and explore language constructs unlike anything the typical Java programmer encounters. In this article, you will get some background and a quick introduction to closures. May. 19, 2005

Configuration Blues
Configuring an application should be painless for a user. It requires careful design on the developers part. This article looks at three techniques: properties, preferences, and JMX. Oct. 10, 2003

Living with Leaks
Selecting the correct level of abstraction that hides the complexity of the implementation (but provides adequate control of the relevant details) can be a daunting task. Everyone has different ideas regarding "adequate control" and "relevant details." This article looks at five levels of abstraction. Jul. 3, 2003

Weblogs

Noted Cocoa Programmer Contemplates Switch to Java: Cocoa isn't the only beverage for the holidays. Java can also really hit the spot.
Posted by castelaz on December 16, 2004 at 20:50 PST | Permalink | Discuss (2)  

Help maximize screen space with a small UI trick: A dropdown combobox is an extremely useful control, but its associated button isn't really needed until the control has focus. A small UI trick can help you maximize precious screen space by hiding the dropdown button until it's needed. You can size the combobox control to show all of the selected item text without wasting space on the button.
Posted by castelaz on October 19, 2004 at 19:32 PST | Permalink | Discuss (11)  

Pair programming: Everyone's favorite argument: Pair programming may be the most controversial part of extreme programming. If you have any doubt, start a conversation on extreme programming, and see where it ends up.
Posted by castelaz on September 17, 2004 at 03:42 PST | Permalink | Discuss (26)  

Ambiguity: As developers, we frequently concentrate on resolving misunderstandings between users and ourselves. So much so, we tend to forget that ambiguities can exist between programmers. Standard practices and Java idioms can go a long way in keeping this problem at bay. Patterns and practices are more than ways to implement solutions. They are also an important way for programmers to convey intent.
Posted by castelaz on August 31, 2004 at 21:13 PST | Permalink | Discuss (0)  

The best laid plans: You've done the research. You've reviewed the specs. The technology appears to fit your needs like a glove. Then, you find it doesn't work as specified, or it exhibits weird and contrary behavior. The project goes poof, and you find yourself back at square one. Perhaps it would have been better to let the mice do the planning.
Posted by castelaz on August 10, 2004 at 07:47 PST | Permalink | Discuss (0)  

Hesitant Acrobats: You can’t stand on the shoulders of giants, if you never climb up.
Posted by castelaz on July 21, 2004 at 12:15 PST | Permalink | Discuss (6)  

Buried treasure can be found nearly anywhere: There are nuggets of useful code to be found all around, if you take a moment to scratch beneath the surface. A particularly rich treasure can be found in the Jakarta Commons.
Posted by castelaz on July 14, 2004 at 04:30 PST | Permalink | Discuss (4)  

The Catastrophe Cycle: Sometimes an iterative development process sorta happens on its own.
Posted by castelaz on December 18, 2003 at 21:32 PST | Permalink | Discuss (3)  

Are Encapsulation, Polymorphism, and Inheritance peers?: The three principle features of object-oriented languages are encapsulation, polymorphism, and inheritance. How we rank them in importance influences our use of OO.
Posted by castelaz on September 24, 2003 at 10:20 PST | Permalink | Discuss (5)  

Robogrammer 2303: Even it's not particularly useful, it's always fun to speculate about the future of programming.
Posted by castelaz on August 06, 2003 at 19:36 PST | Permalink | Discuss (6)  

Development Tug-o-War: Rave may have some interesting consequences
Posted by castelaz on July 09, 2003 at 15:52 PST | Permalink | Discuss (6)  

When GOTOs roamed the land: Are the green fields of development gone?
Posted by castelaz on June 13, 2003 at 13:21 PST | Permalink | Discuss (2)