I’ve summarized the EJB3.0 spec (JSR220) into a shorter condensed version, covering most of the major areas that are going to be changing. You can read the summary here.
Getting started with JMX
Sun have a good article on Getting Started with Java Management Extensions (JMX) on their site, giving a good overview of the technology, how it is architected, how it is used. There is also a brief section giving an overview of the JMX implementation in J2SE 1.5
Book summary – “Debugging the Development Process” by Steve Maguire
I’ve posted a summary of the excellent book “Debugging the Development Process” by Steve Maguire, to my Book Summaries section.
This is an excellent book, recommended reading for any team/project lead, and also well worthwhile for any developer who wants to understand how they can work more effectively in a project environment (“Work smarter, not harder”).
I particularly like the main gist of this book, that so much time and effort is wasted on projects on “misguided effort”. A project/team can be made to be far more effective if the main goal is identified and held as the number 1 priority. I have seen this time and time again on projects – people get sidetracked off onto issues, either administrative or other non-essential development tasks, that do not contribute to the main goal in any way. An effective team/project lead needs to keep the teams focus, and shield the team from non-essential tasks.
Is Apple’s iMac Mini a good deal?
Apple released their new iMac Mini this week, which without keyboard, mouse and monitor is selling for $499 in its base config. For that you get:
- 1.25GHz G4 processor
- 256MB of RAM
- 40GB hard drive
- combo CD burner and DVD-ROM drive
- ATI Radeon 9200 graphics chip (32MB)
- FireWire port
- 2 USB
- Ethernet
- a modem
- digital and analog outputs for connecting a monitor
This seems like a good deal, and compared to other Macs, this probably is a good deal. However compared to a similarly featured PC, you could still probably get a PC for cheaper. But if you want an entry level Mac, then this is definitely the one to get. Plus compared to PCs, this is definitely pretty cool looking 🙂