| To make a project successful, I have always believed that active stakeholder involvement, simplicity (design, tools, documentation), common sense, and a basic/minimal software development process does the trick. Furthermore, I do not like to reinvent the wheel, so if someone out there has assembled a good solution that I can use, I will. One such solution I have used in the recent past is the combination of best practices and techniques recommended by the Agile Model Driven Development (http://agilemodeling.com) and Extreme Programming (http://extremeprogramming.org), or for short, AMDD and XP, respectively. Prior to the working with AMDD and XP, I was using the Rational Unified Process (RUP) for projects. However, I find RUP a bit heavier on the artifact side. I like the combination of AMDD and XP because both methods are nimble and complement each other; XP focuses on the full life cycle and AMDD focuses on modeling (user-interface model, for example). You will learn more about these two methodologies in the next chapter along with my opinion about why I like Agile Modeling's values, principles, and practices. Personal Opinion: A Decade of Java and More to Come I must admit that this section is more about me than Java, so you can skip this if you don't like personal opinions. When I reflect back on the years I have spent with Java, I feel old. No, but seriously. I started working with Java in late 1995, when the acronym JDK had not even been established. However, Java's roots actually date back to 1990 (to read more about Java's history, visit wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_programming_language). In these 10 or so years working with Java, I have met some of the original founders of Java, such as James Gosling, Arthur Van Hoff, Jonathan Payne, and Sami Shaio (you will still find some of these names in the JDK source code). I also had the opportunity to be the fifth person in WebLogic, Inc. (a couple of years before BEA acquired them) but didn't want to relocate (yes, I know, I still kick myself for this once-in-a-lifetime, missed opportunity). I also trained over a thousand students in Java and web technologies for the Learning Tree and later, my own courses. I have published more than 25 articles on Java and even founded (and sold) two companies focused on Java-based solutions. At one of these companies, my staff (and I) provided enterprise Java solutions to many companies. In fact, we introduced Java to several large companies. (I'm particularly proud of personally introducing Java to a fortune 50 company!) In addition, I've attended five JavaOne conferences and received two awards at JavaOne for a pure Java backup software I wrote and an online community I built. Last, I have presented at several user groups and conferences internationally. Why am I telling you all this? Well, first and foremost, to brag. Second, I hope to bring a unique perspective to this book. But the third reason is that even after a decade, I'm amazed (and pleased) that Java is still considered a dominant technology! In this book, I will introduce you to new technologies that give Java a whole new lifeline, and now I'm convinced that Java will be hot for at least a few more years. In short, if you are a Java developer, you should be excited about working with an elegant and robust technology that is still very much current and thriving! I hope to prove this to you in this book. Enjoy! |
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