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CPTTM software developer newsletter issue #17, Kent Tong, Editor in Chief

Dear Software Developers,

This CPTTM Software Developer newsletter is to bring useful news to you, software developers in Macau, for references without obligations, so that you can do your jobs easier and better! Hope you like it. if you'd like to unsubscribe or recommend your friends to subscribe, just email me at kent@cpttm.org.mo. Old issues are available here.

Topics in this issue:

JPA (Java Persistence API)JPA

In the past people commonly used Hibernate, JDO or Oracle TopLink to map their Java objects to database records. This greatly enhances developer productivity. However, their code would depend on a specific product (e.g., Hibernate). To solve this problem, now there is a standardized API for this purpose from SUN as part of the Java EE platform: the JPA (Java Persistence API). You can considered a standardized version of the Hibernate API.

To learn more about it, you can join our free Introductory workshop on Object-Relational Mapping (O/R Mapping): JPA & Hibernate or our Reducing your database access effort with JPA & Hibernate course.

Best new features in Eclipse Europa

  • Visual page editing for JSF: It works. JSF Visual EditingIt is a two-way tool: You can also change the code and the visual will be updated automatically.
  • Quick access: Press Ctrl-3 to open a window or a command in Eclipse by typing the window name or command name. Many people find it useful.
  • Mylyn: It practically creates a subset of your workspace for a task (e.g., a bug report). That is, if you choose to work on a particular bug, it will prioritize the display of the classes and files related to that bug so that you don't have to look around to locate those files. How does it know which files are related to that bug? Initially it doesn't know, but when you start working on the bug, Mylyn will learn from you. I haven't actually used it myself, but it sounds quite useful if you're mainly doing maintenance work and using a supported bug tracking system (e.g., Bugzilla, Trac or JIRA)..

MyFaces or the Reference Implementation?

If you'd like to use JSF, should you choose Apache MyFaces or SUN's Reference Implementation (RI)? The information that I gathered suggests that the RI is more stable (after all it is the RI) but has no extra features beyond the JSF specification (again, as it is the RI). MyFaces has features not found in the JSF specification but there are quite some bugs (some quite significant) in it as of now (MyFaces v1.2) as it is a new release supporting JSF 1.2.

Upcoming courses for software developers

Course code Title Start date Duration (hours) Fee (MOP) Remarks
CM269-09-2007-C JSF, Wicket and AJAX 2007/09/06 42 1280 Only a few seats left!
CM269-11-2007-C JSF, Wicket and AJAX 2007/11/06 42 1280
CM304-11-2007-C Introductory workshop on Object-Relational Mapping (O/R Mapping): JPA & Hibernate 2007/10/29 4 FREE Good way to get an overview on JPA & Hibernate.
CM192-11-2007-C Reducing your database access effort with JPA & Hibernate 2007/11/07 24 870
  • Learn JPA & Hibernate in details.
  • Enjoy up to 25% fee reimbursement.
CM276-10-2007-C Writing secure code in Java 2007/10/05  12 980 This is the 2nd intake. The 1st one was full! So hurry!
CM239-10-2007-C Introduction to Java EE Development with Spring 2007/10/03 24 870 Enjoy up to 25% fee reimbursement.
CM289-10-2007-C Agile software planning & requirement analysis 2007/10/08 6 230
  • Learn to become a system analyst.
  • Due to lack of instructor, I may have to teach this course myself.
  • Enjoy up to 75% fee reimbursement.
CM290-10-2007-C Using JUnit and Selenium to perform automated software testing 2007/10/22 21 820 Enjoy up to 75% fee reimbursement.
CM291-12-2007-C Using CVS and Subversion for version control 2007/12/10 9 350 Enjoy up to 75% fee reimbursement.
CM168.1-10-2007-C JavaScript and HTML 2007/10/31 22.5 800
CM168.2-12-2007-C PHP and MySQL 2007/12/12 79.5 2080

In addition, there are some courses your kids may enjoy:

Course code Title Start date Duration (hours) Fee (MOP) Remarks
CM263-10-2007-C Learning Computer Science by Games (physical games for groups, not computer games) 2007/10/6 18 780 Enjoy up to 75% course fee reimbursement
CM275-11-2007-C Computer games DIY for the youth 2007/11/04 32 980 Enjoy up to 75% course fee reimbursement

Feedbacks

Any questions, ideas or experiences to share? Contact me at 28781313 or kent@cpttm.org.mo. We also have two other newsletters: CIO newsletter and Network administrator newsletter, your friends may like to subscribe.

Until next time, 

Kent Tong

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