Code Generation

Since my last project, I gained much interest in code generation. The application we were supposed to reimplement using GWT consisted of around 60 entities and had as many dialogs to be implemented. Moreover, the database schema we had was in german. Since we did not want our code to be a mix of English and German, we needed to create a lot of typical classes for this: entities, DAOs, business logic, service layer, controller as well as more or less straight forward dialogs.

Since I did not have any of my usual tools, I decided to create my own generator, which could generate simple (still to be edited!!!) versions of the diverse classes we needed. This went quite well except that I needed to write java code to perform these actions. So the first generation was somewhat of a procedural code generator. This was a tedious task which made it quite difficult to maintain the code in the always evolvin software infrastructure we had.

A more useful approach is template generation. However for templates to be adapted for such a task you need a template language capable of looping over fields and methods of the code model.

Interesting Topics for Code Katas

Since I discovered about Code Katas (?here link me please?), I played with the question as to know which code kata would be appropriate for me. The following is an extensible list of topics which should be covered by these Katas.

Code katas:

• algorithmic katas
• architecture patterns
  • View architecture pattern
    • MVC (Model view controller)
      
    • MVP (Model view presenter)
      
    • MVC
    • Formular Web page
• Web Frameworks
  
  • JSF
  • GWT
  • RAP
  
  
• Web Service and Gui library choice
  
  
• javacript libraries
  • jquery
  • ext.js
  • dojo
• Jpa and hibernate
  • jpa -> schema
  • schema -> jpa
  • query jpa
  • query plsql
  • query criteria


• Aspects
  • logging
  • security


• Testing
  • Unit Tests
  • GUI Testing
  • test coverage


• Build framework
  • ant
  • maven
  • gradle


• frameworks
  • spring
    
  • AOP
    
  • MVC
    
  • Web Flow
    
  • Security
    
  • hibernate
    
  • OSGi
    
  • roo
    
  • flex
    
• scm
  • git
    
  • server
    
  • svn

Please do not pay attention to the formatting this should be improved soon.

Maven Repository in PHP or Virutal machine for Maven Repository

Since I would like to put my software in a maven repository, and since it is difficult to find Java/JSP enabled providers in Europe. I was wondering whether I should not try to reimplement the archiva project directory with PHP or perhaps Ruby.

After having a look, it does seem quite a lot of dirty work. But it is probably not too complex to perform. But is it worth it ?

Hosting and Server types

I have been searching for diverse information lately on Servers and possible hosting of my own stuff. I found the web page: Hotsuche.de. It is a typical site to look for the currently available offers in the hosting and servers.

They present the offers according to the following category, and quite extensive search formular to define the kind of offers one might prefer.

I give here a summary of these categories:

• domains
• Web hosting
• dedicated server
• server housing
• Buy Server
• Virtual server
• Game server
• Internet access
• Shops
• SSL Certificates
• Test accounts

I discovered the possibility of server housing, i.e you buy a server and you have some company keep it in its computer center. I have to take a look at the prices. But I suppose that this is not cheaper as using a server from the company. You can also have Game servers or buy servers. This sounds also interesting.

Where do I get a cheap Java/JSP Server ?

ac - user connect time

I just discovered a new command that I did not know: ac. It gives the connect times of users. This may prove useful.

Vendor Lock-In

Here is an interesting blog entry on vendor lock-in.

It lists three types of vendor lock-ins each based on some component of the application: platform, data or tools.

Postgresql Info Website

I just discovered this postgresql info website: http://www.postgresonline.com/. I guess I will learn quite a lot from this website.

I learnt that the new version of postgres is nearly out, since the version beta 2 is out. It should not be long before the 9.0 comes out.

It might also be good to follow: http://www.planetpostgresql.org/.

Quo Vadis with Software Patent

After I read this news, I had to sit: German High court ruled in favor of software patents.. Unfortunately, this is not an April joke. However, the strange thing is that it does seem like there is already a patent for the technology provided, and that even if it should be obvious that the technology described in the patent existed already at the time of the patent submission.

Privacy on Facebook

Thanks to a friend, I heard about the site: http://www.reclaimprivacy.org. It contains certain useful information on privacy settings onf Facebook. For instance, there is an interesting page on the privacy on facebook (hosted by the New York Times).

In order to check your own privacy on Facebook, you can follow the instructions on the website:

This website provides an independent and open tool for scanning your Facebook privacy settings. The source code and its development will always remain open and transparent.

Note: we are still working on privacy scans for your photos and status updates. The tool does not check these yet, so stay tuned for updates!

1. 1. Drag this link to your web browser bookmarks bar: Scan for Privacy
2. 2. Go to your Facebook privacy settings and then click that bookmark once you are on Facebook.
3. 3. You will see a series of privacy scans that inspect your privacy settings and warn you about settings that might be unexpectedly public.
4. 4. Follow us on Facebook to hear about the latest updates.

New Advances in Neural Networks

There is a great google talk about recent advances in pattern recognition in Neural Network. It is given by Goeff Hinton. The title of the talk is Recent Developments in Deep Learning.