Christmas came early this year for Java developers… Java SE 6 has finally been released. Java 6 comes with a ton of Swing bug fixes, improvements, and goodies but what I am looking forward to the most is JSR 199 Java Compiler API, JSR 269 Pluggable Annotation Processing API, JSR 223 Scripting in the Java Platform, JSR 221 JDBC 4.0, and JSR 224 JAX-RPC 2.0.

NetBeans 5.5 has built-in support for Java SE 6 and you can download them together. The JDK SE 6 also comes bundled with Java DB, a pure Java SQL compliant relational database engine based on Apache Derby. The JDK also comes with jrunscript.exe, an experimental command line script interpreter. Use jrunscript to run JavaScript files or interactively code a quick and dirty prototype in your favorite scripting language. For more information regarding what is new in Java SE 6 head over to the Sun Developer Network.

Technorati Tags: java, java 6, java se, derby, apache, jdk, jre, jdbc, scripting, jsr 223, java platform, jrunscript, javascript

Joomla! has content buckets called sections and categories. A section can contain one or more categories. Before any new content or article can be published you need to specify both the section and category for it. Just as an example, if I would maintain a Joomla! powered programming site I would define a section named programming with the following categories java, ruby, python, fun, etc.

It is incredibly easy to create a section via the Section Manager. After you have added a section you need to create a category for it. Both sections and categories can have a description and image icon associated with them.

In the New Content item editor you can assign the section and category to the article to be pubished. In most Joomla! templates the article’s section and category are used to create a breadcrumb trail. Well, this only works when you add the section to the main menu! If you don’t add the section to the main menu the breadcrumb trail will default to Home | Blog | Article Title.

To add your newly created section to the main menu, drill down to the main menu (mainmenu) menu items via the Menu Manager from the Control Panel. Create a new Menu Item for mainmenu. In the New Menu Item wizard select the List - Content Section radio button and click the Next arrow. Name your menu item and select the newly created section for the menu item. Click save and you’re done. At this point your breadcrumbs will correctly display your newly created section and category.

Technorati Tags: cms, joomla, section, category, breadcrumb pattern, breadcrumb, content management, content

I’ve been using Joomla! for some time now for a few sites that I have set up. Joomla! comes with a great installation wizard that had a series of green, or red, lights that indicate if your server is Joomla! ready. The only real information you need before hand is the database information and the name of your Joomla! powered site.

As soon as you install and configure Joomla! you should log onto the administrator’s control panel and set some global settings. What follows are some advice on the global settings I recommend you configure soon after install Joomla! This advice is based on the current stable release 1.0.11.

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I was just in a meeting bored out of my mind… I was just listing the contents of a directory over and over with ls and a few different options until I thought I could use the options to spell words! I didn’t try to come up with an all inclusive list but here are the few I came up with.

ls -ls
ls -fun
ls -car
ls -pimp
ls -grim
ls -rump

Technorati Tags: options, command, command line, ls

My direct manager for the past two years has decided to leave his current position in the firm to look for other opportunities. Our CTO said that he “had served his time with the company.” To which I responded, “You make it sound as if it’s a jail sentence to work here.”

Over the last two days my manager was in the office, the whole development team spent that time with him in knowledge transfer sessions. Earlier this year I wrote about past knowledge transfer sessions with a former colleague. What follows are a few words of advice from my former manager which he gave us before his departure…

Use standard off the shelf components whenever possible, replace our custom ORM component with Hibernate, replace our client scaffolding code with NetBeans Platform. Use, reuse, and make use of open source software, don’t reinvent the wheel. In essence work smarter, not harder!
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