Dart is a nascent web development language. What’s the point? I observe two. Uniformity and familiarity: Like Node.js, Dart wants to run both in the browser and on the server. It tries to look familiar to both JavaScript and Java developers, so that either can adapt quickly. The goal is to move away from having …
Guava’s CacheBuilder provides several options for keeping a cache down to a reasonable size. Entries can expire for multiple reasons, entries can be limited to a certain number, and entries can be made available for garbage collection. These options can be used individually or together. Each is simply one more method call during cache creation. …
Google has released a new version of Guava, and it’s bad news for one of my favorite classes, MapMaker. The exciting feature of MapMaker is its ability to produce an insta-cache, a key-value mapping that calculates values on the fly, expires them, and limits the quantity stored — all while maintaining thread safety. In release …
A common behaviour of a program, and therefore of my SQL script to replicate the program, is:1) Retrieve some value from reference data2) Use it repeatedly in SQL statements If this reference data differs by environment or by day, this adds a manual step to the SQL script. Here’s a neat trick to save the …
Read moreStupid Oracle Tricks #1: SQL substitution variables
I’m currently distracted from life, immersed in Concepts of Modern Mathematics. Did you know that you can find out whether a number is prime by multiplying all the integers before it, adding one, and then dividing by the number of interest? Me neither! it’s like this: a number p is prime if and only if: …
Remember the early days of XML, when people were all excited about using it to wire up applications? “You can change which implementation is used without changing any code!” Sure, right, XML isn’t code. It gets packaged in your jar files, with the code. It controls how your application works, like the code. It breaks …
Google’s guava library provides a few constructs that let us use functional style in Java. Personally, I enjoy the slightly more declarative style that results, and have a new game of eliminating loops. Unfortunately, it’s Java. Attempting to do anything functionally is rather ugly. What do you think – worth it? or unreadable? Before: public …
In Professional F# 2.0, an example is given for using an active pattern to match against a struct. The example could be improved. The original: []type Point(x : int, y : int) = member pt.X = x member pt.Y = y override pt.ToString() = System.String.Format(“({0},{1})”, x, y)let newPoint = new Point(0,0)let (|Point|) (x : int, …
Why speak and write about programming? Because I can! Because this is an ambition that I’m suited for, that excites me, and that complements and enhances the rest of my career. I’m a good developer, but had nowhere further to go with it until now. Project management? No thank you, I’ll stay technical. Architecture? I’ve …
My friends notice that I’m different lately. Instead of telling drinking stories, I’m reflecting about functional programming concepts. Instead of rushing out of the house as soon as the kids are in bed, I’m holing up at my new desk. I’m showing up to meetings where no beer is available. Crazy stuff! Way back in …