The Handiest Java Book in Years.

One of the constant challenges I have as a Java developer is keeping up with the numerous good FOSS dev tools. I no sooner start testing one tool and adapting my project to it, when a new one comes along. Being an analyst and naturally curious, this new product (or new release) represents a constant temptation. Is it better than what I am using? How much effort is required to try it out? What does it do better? On and on.

I can put a lot of those concerns to rest now. I just received a copy of Java Power Tools from O'Reilly and it's exactly what I've been looking for. It contains deep explanations of the principal FOSS dev tools in 10 major categories. These explanations are not two- or four-page summaries, but in-depth expositions that provide crucial info on the strengths and weaknesses of the product. The author, John Smart, then provides detailed tutorial on using the product. It's clear he's spent lots of time exploring the dark corners of each tool. And he makes good use of that knowledge in his comparisons and comments on the products.

If you want to spend an hour or so coming up to speed on what a product is about before installing it (and without having to work through the usually limited docs), this book will get you there faster and enable you get an overview of a whole lot of tools quickly and with the assurance you have a clear understanding. Here are the tools that are covered, followed by the number of pages for each one in parentheses:

BUILD TOOLS: Ant (55), Maven (60)
SCM: CVS (20), Subversion (78)
CI: Continuum (24p) Cruise Control (19) LuntBuild (32) Hudson (19)
IM: Openfire (12)
UNIT TESTING: JUnit (20) TestNG (25) Cobertura (17)
OTHER TESTING: StrutsTestCase (10) DbUnit (44p) JUnitPerf (10) JMeter (20) SoapUI (22) Selenium (30( Fest (9)
PROFILING: with Sun tools (16) with Eclipse (15)
DEFECT MANAGEMENT: Bugzilla (20) Trac (35)
QUALITY: Checkstyle (20) PMD (18p) FindBugs (12) Jupiter (18) Mylyn (14p)

All told, 856 pages of crisp, well-written explanations. A must-have reference for the bookshelf.

From Ant to Maven

I spent part of the last week migrating Platypus from Ant to Maven 2. This is a migration I've been itching to do for a while. I don't much like Ant, because I find I spend far too much time struggling with it.

Maven, by comparison, works on a "convention not configuration" model that centers on a specific build sequence and an expected file layout for your project. Understand these two, and Maven makes builds simple and very rich. For one, Maven downloads all dependencies for utilities and reports you want to run as part of your build cycle. There is no more wrestling with Ant's dependency errors. In addition, Maven's end product (beyond the build's binaries) is a website that it re-creates on each run; it loads the site with reports and data about your build. So, you and the team always know where things stand with the project.

The one complaint I read about Maven 2 is that it's hard to find the info you need to set it up and use it. This is actually not the case, if you know where to look. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of digging before you find that two excellent 300-page PDF tutorials are available at no cost. Plus a great introduction. So for those who need to know, here are the links to Maven support docs:

• Introduction to Apache Maven 2 (35 pages, good overview, and Getting Started)


• Better Builds with Maven 2 (300 pages. Very good guide. PDF only.)


• Maven, The Definitive Guide (270+ pages, HTML and PDF. The PDF looks like advance sheets for an O'Reilly book. Also excellent, and somewhat more detailed than the previous book.)

Those resources should solve nearly any issue you encounter. In an upcoming column in SD Times, I describe in greater detail the benefits I have found in migrating from Ant to Maven. Try Maven, you'll like it!