Network programming in Java

Today we concluded multi-threading in Java and strated network programming in Java using sockets.

The session on multi-threading was summarized by Jaya, and Rajesh Choksey.

On Sunday we will conclude Sockets and start with RMI.

For further resources on Sockets, and RMI, please see the Java tutorial:

1. Networking with Sockets
2. RMI

In the networking with sockets tutorial, the part on Sockets in most important. We will not cover DatagramSockets and URLConnection in much detail in this class.

Concurrency in Java

In the next lecture we will learn multi threading in Java. The topics for multi threading are as follows:

• Fundamental multi threading concepts
• Creating and running multiple threads
• Thread states
• Controlling threads
• thread priorities
• sleep
• yield
• join
• Access to critical resources and the synchronize keyword
• Deadlocks
  

No lecture on Sunday (18/3/07)

We will NOT have a lecture on Sunday - 18 March, 2007.

Introduction to making user interfaces in Java

This is a very brief introduction to making user interfaces in Java using Swing. In this section we will learn:

• The JFrame class and making a simple frame in Java
• Handling UI events
• Events
• Listeners
• Adapters
  
• Brief introduction to Layout managers
• FlowLayout
• BorderLayout
• GridLayout
• BoxLayout
• Using other components like Buttons, TextBoxes, TextAreas, and ScrollPanes
• Java Beans
• What makes a class a Java Bean?
• public default constructor
• naming convention for property getter/setter methods
• naming convention for methods that add event listeners
• The manifest.mf file should contain the line Java-Bean: True
  

How to be a Java Specialist

I just heard an interview of Java specialist Heinz Kabutz. The interviewer asked him how regular programmers can become Java specialists. Even though this answer was given in reference to Java, it holds true for any programming language.

According to Heinz it is very important to take some time out from programming. What he means is do not just program incessantly. Take time out to reflect and learn. Think about what you are programming, is there a better way to solve the problem? What design tradeoffs are you making? Are the tradeoffs appropriate?

Reading source code is one of the most important things developers can and should do to improve their skills. There is a lot of code freely available. A good starting point is the Java source code.

Read the JVM specs and language specs whenever you get a chance. Well read specs of whatever you are working on. They are all written in perfactly readable English, and not some strange legalese language that only lawyers can understand :-)

Have an open mind and try to think why things work in a certain way. Get under the hoods as often as you can.

If you follow these simple learning principles consistently, you too can become a Java (or Ruby, or Python, or ... put in your favourite language) specialist.

Generics dojo

Today we continued with the Generics dojo, where we left of last time. Praveena and Prabhat were to continue programming, but Prabhat DECIDED TO DESERT HIS COLLEGUE, WHICH IN MY OPINION IS A VERY NASTY THING TO DO. Anyways Sanket and Sidhart graciously helped her and got things moving.

The dojo was continued by Taral and Sourabh, who worked on the DateFormat. We will have to continue this dojo into yet another session in which they will work on reading the file and printing the sum of expenses.

Details for Sunday's lecture

This Sunday, 11/3/07, we will work on RTTI. Details of what will be covered are posted here.

Internship positions at Adaptive Software #1

I have a requirement for an intern at my company. The work involves doing some research on "web 2.0 and New Media for the learning professional". As you might know I have a blog for building a learning community for Java programmers at http://www.adaptivelearningonline.net

I believe that New Media like blogging, podcasting, video and screencasting, will emerge as very important factors for professional who wishes to keep up with knowledge. I need one intern to do the following things over the 3 months of internship:

1. Research how other schools, collges, orgaizations are using New Media to facilitate learning
2. Implement relevant findings on my website
3. Write blog posts on their research and findings
4. Analyse the results and make a roadmap for the future

The candidate will have to be:
1. Self motivated (extremely important)
2. Should possess good communication skills (also very important)

The work can be done from SCIT. We will communicate over blogs and Skype.

I THINK THIS POSITION IS MORE SUITED FOR SYSTEM STUDENTS, HOWEVER IT IS OPEN TO ALL BRANCHES.

I will be able to pay some basic stipend (enough to take to take care of communication costs and the like).

Those who are interested can leave a comment here, or email me at:
adaptives (at) gmail (dot) com

Good comments by Sorabh Sarupriya

Over the last few days Sorabh Sarupriya had posted some comments on our blog, pointing out good tutorials of the topics we have learned till now.

Very good Sorabh. Keep it up.

Remember, a blog is a community initiative. It is a participatory medium, not an announcement list. A blog thrives with participation, bringing value to one and all. In the spirit of participatory media, I would like to urge everyone to contribute to this blog. Keep in mind, that the new mantra is going to be "participate or perish".