Category: Archive

After reading my previous blog entry on teaching kids Java, Ransika De Silva from Sri Lanka told me this story about 13-year old twins:

“Last year there was an exhibition related to computing in Sri Lanka and the Sun Certified Java Professionals’ Association (www.scjpa.org) was there too. So these two kids got to know about the power of the Java Programming Language and the value of the Sun Certification at the exhibition when they visited us. Since the SCJPA is a charitable organization it doesn’t conduct any training courses. So they joined a course which was conducted by the Institute of Java and Technological Studies (Pvt) Ltd which is an authorized training center of the SCJPA.

They had no knowledge in the Java programming language at the beginning, but day by day they followed all the instructions given by me and got the hang of the Java language. They did a lot of self studies, a lot of practical work and they always worked as a group.

Yasith always tried to compile and see what the out put is, but Rajith was more studious, he reads a lot, but compiles less compared to his brother. Within 5 months they were able to sit for the SCJP examination and pass the exam with flying colors. Due to the hard work of the members of the SCJPA, the Java programming language and its certifications are getting popular in the country. Many companies hire a lot of Java programmers and they specifically say that the candidates should have the SCJP as a primary qualification.

SCJPA has become the center point of the SCJP community in the country, and many companies do consult us when they are recruiting Java programmers. There is a good trend in the country about Java. ”

Good job Ransika, Yasith and Rajith! Sri Lanka may start competing with India in outsourding soon 🙂

Here’s my other article on teaching kids Java.

Yakov Fain

http://www.smartdataprocessing.com

My new client is using Weblogic Workshop, which means I have to learn it. The IDE looks nice and I’m going through a tutorial of yet another GUI tool that promise to make a Java development a breeze. They’ve wrapped up struts under nice looking components like Page Flows and introduced so called controls (you just drag and drop and it generates the code for you).

So I started learning how to create a Java Control: you just give a method name and click on something to create a callback that will notify a client when the method (it was a credit approval calling a Web Service emulator) is done. Initially I was happy reading detailed steps of the tutorial periodically watching auto-generated code, which was well written. Closer to the end I saw that there was a method call on the interface that was never implemented. I was ready to learn some new cool trick…but at this point the tutorial suggested to click on some button. Voila, and the rest of the example has been magically completed (probably in one of the supporting files) and the application started running displaying the log that proved correct asynchronous callback after the credit approval was done … I guess, I should be happy that everything works, but the problem is that I do not know WHY and HOW it works. I’m sure I can spend more time and find some explanations somewhere deep in the generated files… Maybe it’s OK: when you drive a car you do not have to know what’s under the hood. Ten years ago I was happy using PowerBuilder without bothering how its powerful DataWindow control actually worked.

But for some reason I am not happy now…

I’m starting teaching kids (age 12 to 18) Java on Sundays in August. This should be a fun project. It’s not a profitable business, even thought there will be some nominal tuition, but I’d like to prove that kids are smarter than many adults.

The classes will take place in Central New Jersey. For more details see http://www.smartdataprocessing.com

Yakov

http://www.weekendwithexperts.com

On June 8, 2005 I’ll have a talk “Financial Trading Systems Using JMS and Message-Oriented Middleware ” for the Java SIG at the New York Software Industry Associasion. See details at http://www.nysia.com/events/calendar.cfm?year=2005 amp;month=6a#426

Stop by if you are in the area.

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This is my PERSONAL, uncensored, unedited blog. My other texts are located here, here, and here, and here. And in other places: Java lessons, Flex Blog, JDJ and JavaLobby.

After publishing my article “Another Brick in the Wall ” ( see http://java.sys-con.com/read/83056.htm)

I’ve received an e-mail from a Java
programmer (let’s call him Joe). He’s
facing a typical challenge: how to become more marketable on the Java job
market. Here’s our correspondence…

Dear Mr. Fain:

I recently read your article in the Java Developer’s
Journal’s May 2005 issue about the brick in the wall. I am one of those junior
java developer who, as I am feeling right now, made a mistake of choosing to go
with Java instead of C# and .Net, about 2.5 years back at the start of my
professional career. I am currently
employed with a small firm. The
technology we use is basically JSP and Servlets in an MVC kind of architecture
identical to Struts.

I recently had a couple of interviews at financial giants and the interviewers made me realize that
though I am the best java programmer at my current job I am far from what
people expect me to know. I was asked questions about deadlocks (application
deadlocking a database etc.), serialization, EJBs, some Database design
questions, some design pattern questions. I have an MS in computer science and
am a SCJP for Java 2 and SCWCD as well, but do not have had any practical
experience with these designing issues.

At my current job, we do not even use any specific design
patterns or design principles. The architecture we have right now is an MVC as
I discovered. It was not intended to be, but became one. Same thing happens for
database connectivity kind of issues. We have a DAO (again, I realized this
thru my reading of design patterns) that accesses Weblogic connection pools.
So, we never really have to do any connection management.

Now, my issue is that if I am going to work in such an
environment, what is the best way for me to learn and keep up with what is
happening around me in terms of J2EE? I was thinking of developing an
application on my own but then I was not able to figure out what to develop.
Can you please suggest me some way to go further in my learning?

Your help is greatly appreciated in advance.

Thank you very much.

Regards,

Joe

Hi Joe,

I hear you, but you did not make a mistake by selecting Java over C#. Your problems are not specific to any language. First, spend more time with the books. How many Java books did you read during the last year? If you are a junior developer, you need to purchase an read at least 5 technical books every year. Speaking of design patterns… Head First Design Patterns book should help. Go over my sample interview questions at: http://java.sys-con.com/read/48839.htm

Periodically, I teach Java Sunday classes (www.smartdataprocessing.com ) that usually include design and work on a sample project. Try to find a similar class in your geographical area.

Keep studying, the Java market is good!

Regards,

Yakov Fain

Dear Mr Fain:

Thank you very much for taking time to respond to my email.

I understand the point you are making on reading more Java books.

In fact, I do keep up with the latest technologies by
reading several magazines and articles. I agree, though, that I have not been
reading as many Java books as you are suggesting I should. But, the bigger
hindrance is the practical aspect to that learning. Unless I will implement
something, all that reading is going to get washed out in a couple of months.

And as I mentioned in my previous email, I am unable to get
where to start – should I just work with the examples in books and be satisfied
or should I take my knowledge to a next level?

Regards,

Joe

Hi Joe,

Read the books (find the ones that have sample case studies), go through multiple choice tests and…constant interviewing. You need to get a new job on a new project. Do not get disappointed after failing yet another interview. Take good notes of what you have not answered, and do your homework. These interviews for you are like free Java lessons!The market is good and you’ll get another interview soon. Every rejection just brings you closer to your goal. Read my upcoming article in July’s JDJ on preparing for the Java technical interviews.

Good luck,

Yakov