Update:
I’ve updated all the posts of today, checked spelling, adjusted tags and uploaded photo’s. Enjoy….

He’s using an interesting approach. Weird slides with a funny story.

It’s a technical talk about the how class files are laid out and how they work with the Java memory model. It’s a lot info available on the web. So I’ll shut up now. I’ll post links later.

It is true that SOA has not proven to reduce costs. SOA projects take longer to implement because the services have to be implemented in a re-usable way. Often a SOA project boils down to an ESB selection, but is that deciding on what SOA architecture you want to implement? Discussions often focus on the implementing technology and not the underlying SOA architecture.

Tijs introduces a case study. A COBOL applications of 14500 function points. It has been transferred to a SOA based architecture. A lot of companies belief that implementing everything as a web service is the same as implementing a service architecture. But SOA is more then that. While a bottom up approach might work, a top down view is important as well. Implementing reusable services is only possible if you take the surrounding architectural landscape into account. A canonical data model is important to facilitate a standardised data language for all services.

SOA architectures are built according to a plan, but the legacy application being replaced is also often built based on a clear plan. Code is reused is built according to an architecture of days gone by.

Is the entire web of systems and services defined within a SOA application really that much simpler then a legacy system?

Is a SOA something you should do? And if so, what technologies should you use? Is an ESB a requirement or any of the other standards. (SOAP,WSDL,WS-,SCA,OSGi,etc.)

Implementing a service is easy. Just add @WebService. A top down and bottom up is available. The same goes for REST services with Jax-RS.

Java – XML binding can be challenging. You often need to write some custom code. This is due to JAXB v1 API. But there are better frameworks available. JAXB2 JIBD XSTREAM. New languages show the way to the future. Some aspects should be ported to Java.

It’s a bit of a strange presentation. First it’s all SOA, now we’re talking Groovy??

SCA is a good option, with it’s declarative configuration and flexibility in choosing the actual implementing technology. I should read up on SCA a bit.

OSGi is also a very impressive platform. A lot of implementations using OSGi are emerging. It supports all the service oriented functionality. Wso2′s Carbon is a nice example.

Next topic, does SOA entail the usage of an ESB? An ESB is a platform you can use to implement a SOA. but it’s just a platform with a high risk of vendor lock-in, under the hood it’s all custom proprietary. You always need custom code to integrate an ESB. Vendors push ESBs as the way to implement a SOA, but it is often nothing more then a tool to create a nasty lock-in. An ESB does a lot, use it, but be careful for the lock-in trap.

An ESB often only hides a lot of shit on an overview architecture slide.

An alternative would be a sort of guerilla SOA. Unlock lots of systems with restful services. Then don’t define a lot of rules and let it grow. All you need at a certain point you need a good way to resolve the locations of services.

In the end you need business level support to be able to do a service oriented approach. Also business has to be made aware of the initial impact of a service approach. But also of the long term benefits. Consolidation of services and systems is recommended. But never forget that business often steers on short term goals while they should look at long term goals.

Jos is an MDA enthusiast and as always makes a case for the model driven approach. Check the Internet for more details. I’ll post some links and info later, now I’ll just sit back a bit and relax a bit before jumping into the remaining sessions.

Due to CPU developments new issues arise in current applications when newer CPUs are used. The JVM now has more and more functionality to support multithreaded/multicore environment. The java.concurrent package. Available since java 5.

The new CPUs demand a-synchronous approach. Therefor the java NIO api was born. In java 7 they are planning for a-sync file io.

JMS is a result of the need for a-sync operation.

Ajax results in more and longer running network operations. Long lived http requests results in more overhead in the io layer of the server.

The java memory model is an abstraction of the underlying hardware memory models. It addresses atomicity, visibility and ordering. Angelika details some examples.

So far a very high level overview.

Sequential consistency does not exist in the JVM. It’s a mental model used to teach multithreaded programming, it is not guaranteed by the JVM. You have to use language construct to enforce proper visibility. Synchronisation ensures proper execution order and prevent trashing half written objects and variables. To ensure a proper execution it is required that you force updating main memory by using the volatile keyword.

Visibility is ensured when using explicit synchronisation, thread start and termination, read/writes of volatiles and first access of a final field.

Volatile is not transitive, it is only applicable for the reference marked as volatile. She shows an example of the non volatile field. But since Java 6 there are some changes to the memory model. Changes to members of a volatile reference are propagated when they’re performed before modifying the volatile reference itself. Complicated stuff that breaks easily.

Volatile is cheaper then synchronisation, but still there’s a cost.

Amdahl’s law. Look it up, good stuff. Double the hardware will not double the performance. It depends on the amount of parallel execution paths.

It is an easy trap to think that having a queue for inter process communication will not contain blocking behaviour. Try to have the absolute minimum of synchronous code if performance is key.

There are techniques to avoid serialisation. Use immutable copies, use thread local objects instead of shared objects. Lock free programming gaining popularity, volatile declaration is still required though. Compare and Swap is an example of a technique to allow lock free programming. There are some things on the horizon, like transactional memory.

He mentions the strong points of JavaFX. He also mentions the drawbacks of JavaFX too, there are no UI components yet.

JavaFX is a completely new language targeted at the RIA platforms. Silverlight, Flex and Flash.

He goes on to describe the relevant parts of the new JEE6 spec. Especially the web profile will be an interesting part of the spec. New versions of various API’s will be released. Jax-RS is interesting in the context of this talk.

Download Glassfish v3 to start with Jee 6. Everything will be deployed as war files.

He describes the architecture of the demo application. He also implemented a desktop JavaFX application as well.

He will show a demo now…. ah too bad his vm Vista image is stalled. Hope he has more luck later.

JSF 2.0 highlights:

• Facelets
• Annotation support
• Ajax support
• Resource loading
• Project stages

Javafx runs in an applet in a browser or as a desktop application. The applet can communicate through javascript. Hope this works better then the time I tried to integrate an applet through javascript.

JavaFX will be used as a rich control on the web page.

Put a link here to the appletstageextension api. Also look for api to interop between javascript and java (aka. LiveConnect). Paul shows how in a NetBeans window and a live example.

Next up a little info on how to integrate an Applet within your web application. Do not hardcore the urls, let the applet ask for the server address tom the current context. Look for something called codebase. Be sure to expand the method called “getProperty(java.lang.String key)”.

Demo time in the Vista VM again. Failed due to windows defender this time. Poor Paul, I can tell he’s bummed about it.

Some info on how to work with JSF @ManagedProperty and @PostConstruct. Usageof the javafx javascript method is shown, it loads an applet into your web page with a single javascript call.

JFXtras is a project that fills some of the gaps in the current javafx implementation. Code of the MigLayout in JavaFX is shown.

Now Jax-RS is discussed. REST is discussed. Looks simple to implement with Jax-RS.

Now his laptop seems to have died completely. Ah it works again. But now his remote is acting up a bit. Lot of bad luck for Paul today, but he remains well composed and continuos his talk.

How to use light ejbs, how to use jndi. Something new, global jndi, javafx web service api (Pull parser, XML and json supported, no soap support)

Be sure to pay proper respect to these two friendly guys. They’re my colleagues, or I’m their colleague. Whatever rocks your boat. Anyway, say “Hi!” to them for me when you meet them.

Thanks for posing for this picture guys.

He looks a bit nervous.

Next the metrics that agile will bring a company on the long run:
Collaboration: email pile is bad, wiki is good, task management is good too. Code reviews are good too, they’re a learning tool.

Culture of improvement: People are to be allowed to make changes and empower the employees. Engine room? Small teams, and short iterations. The disturbed? Log hassle and shorten these hassle sources. Dump QA button clickers, enter Blitz Test. (What’s Blitz Test? Exploratory testing.)

Transparency: Eat your own dog-food. Issue tracker is public facing, users can see current issues. Documentation is also maintained publicly. Support for open source, projects are allowed to use products if they’re open source.

Metrics and analysis: Know what to solve, is the change an improvement? Dashboards should make looking at metric data pleasant and fast.

Agile is about the individual within the company.

He sure is a believer. Now he says how wonderful and easy (??) it is to implement in big bad company. Anyway, start small and targeted. Perhaps it’s easier then you think. Again Agile isn’t a methodology, it’s a set of beliefs.

At the start of the session he was sitting there looking like one of my preschool teachers.

Introduction on JAZZ. Why, how and overview.

Web2.0, Internet as a platform. Software as a sevice. What does web 2.0 mean for the colaboration when building software?

Different business roles require different views on projects. CIO needs high level status, developer needs something that doesn’t get on his way.

Software development needs to improve. Customers are not satisfied with quality, speed and turnaround. Lots of business speak. Knowledge is divided by location, organizations and infrasctructure.

Agile has gone mainstream apperently. Based on data from 2006. 65% says they are using agile methodologies. I wonder why the current adoption rate is. I’ll post some links on this later.

So apparently JAZZ is web2.0 and agile.

JAZZ is a middleware platform for software development. JAZZ is developed by the team behind the Eclipse project. JAZZ is a system based on the problems encourered in the day to day operation of the Eclipse project.

JAZZ services all aspects off the server side of software dwveloment. Version control, issue tracking, dailly build, planning, design, integration, feedback, learning, etc… All continuous. Agile requires process, discipline and planning.

Eclipse way of software development is somewhere between xp/scrum and RUP.

What do Agile teams need? See picture.

Software development server components as a restfull service. Underlying architecture of JAZZ is restfull.

I need to look into restfull web applications.

DB2 pure XML is the backing store of JAZZ. Can be queried by JQuery.

Need to look into javascript libbs as well.

Insert article of Royd Fielding on REST.

JAZZ was a research project within IBM. JAZZ management speak. Took another picture of this slide, the one with the jazz band.

OMG, he said visual server team system.

Was really an overview presentation. Nothing technical. Check jazz.net. Lookup IBM Rational Team Concert. JAZZ is not open source.

Closures are from functional languages. I’ll add some more links on this subject later.

Interesting subject, nice technical depth.

Smooth talker, says what have you a lot. As expected java fx is the next best thing. I’m curious when it will become final. Rich Internet applications are fun and easy to write with java fx. Riiiight….

Interesting note, December 2nd sun will release java 6 update 10, an important update for swing based desktop java. Sun will rebebrand the javafx stack to platform specific brands (mobile, desktop, tv/topset box) some day next februari.

Chum-Munn Lee takes over with a demo of the latest Netbeans beta with a as of yet undisclosef java fx beta. Creates new fx project.

He creates a “under the sea” demo. Declarative display of an image. Next he makes the image dragable by implementing a few mouse listeners. Looks nice. Now he adds another picture. Adds a fade in/out with keyframes Looks simple enough, but it takes very little code. The end result is very rewarding considering the little time he used.

Next he deploys it on a browser. The end result is a java applet started from a jar through a standard javascript library.

Reginald takes over again and provides a few details about the upcomming java fx release. Something is up in 3 to 4 weeks.

Standard details about the java 6 update 10 release.

Simon Ritter takes over and kicks off another demo on an applied manner. He watched some guy (Johny Lee???) YouTube videos and wants to do the same with Java technology.

Wooden board with a Wii-mote and a projector??? Ah, he projects a playing card on the board. If he moves the wooden board, the image on the projector moves to stay on the board. The Wii-mote detects infrared signals sent by the board and based on the Wii-mote input the image is moved.

It is a problem domain with a logarithmic or quadratic increase in size when parameters increase. Doubling the number of ships and docks can make easily make problems insolvable in a reasonable time constraint.

Lots of talk about a problem he wants to solve. Bit of basic set theory, not much java code.

Java offers frameworks to facilitate solving such problems. ILOG and Cream are examples of java frameworks suitable for constraint satisfaction discovery.

Fun subject. But get a book, read an article: you’ll know more in less time.

Expect to see a lot of short posts with some pictures.

For those attending, see you there.