Author Archives: ron

ActiveJDBC: an implementation of the Active Record pattern for Java

Posted on July 27, 2010 by ron

Igor Polevoy, who I’ve had the pleasure of working with on a couple projects, has just posted his ActiveJDBC project to Google code.  If you work on Java applications that access relational databases, you owe it to yourself to check it … Continue reading →

Posted in Java | 1 Comment

Using Scala for something I’d normally using a “scripting” language for

Posted on January 12, 2010 by ron

From time to time, some repetitive task comes up that I can do quicker by writing a script to do it than to do it manually. Especially if it’s something I may be needing to do again in the future. … Continue reading →

Posted in Scala | Leave a comment

New change management tool: Redmine

Posted on November 21, 2009 by ron

I was starting a new project, needed a change management tool, and wasn’t really satisfied with the tools available last time I looked, so I took a look at what was currently available.  One option I came across that hadn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Software Development, Tools | Leave a comment

Scala, Maven and IntelliJ

Posted on October 8, 2009 by ron

I’m evaluating Scala for a project I’ve recently started.  The project requires processing a large number of data structures.  Between Scala’s good support for parallelism and functional programming, it seems like a good fit.  I’ve heard Scala brings many of … Continue reading →

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Maven and skinny wars

Posted on September 20, 2009 by ron

Maven is a great build system, but sometimes limitations come up that can drive you crazy.  One such limitation is support for building “skinny war” files.  Granted, I don’t think it’s the most common configuration, but for certain types of … Continue reading →

Posted in Java, Tools | Tagged | Leave a comment

Public mashup and data feed APIs

Posted on August 2, 2009 by ron

I’m doing some research for a possible venture.  A part of this venture would fall into the mashup category – pulling information from other sites and services, and combining it in a unique way.  Following are my initial notes on … Continue reading →

Posted in Software Development, Web | Leave a comment

JSR 303 & Hibernate validation framework

Posted on July 14, 2009 by ron

I was recently looking for a validation framework, and came across the work that has been done lately for JSR 303 (latest version of the spec here). JSR 303 defines a standard meta-data model and API for validation of JavaBeans/POJOs. … Continue reading →

Posted in Java | Tagged | 1 Comment

Grails security

Posted on June 1, 2009 by ron

I’m working an a Grails-based project which requires security, as pretty much every web application does. My high level requirements are: Role-based access control Database-based authentication (passwords stored in database) Simple to use Good documentation Ability to model permissions for … Continue reading →

Posted in Grails | Tagged | 1 Comment

Idea 8.1 & Grails 1.1

Posted on May 1, 2009 by ron

I’ve been working with Grails again lately after not using it for a while. Last time I was using Grails was a pre-1.0 release about a year ago. Even then it was an extremely productive framework, but it was rough … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Grails | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Setting up a virtual private server

Posted on February 2, 2009 by ron

I’ve had a dedicated server at a hosting provider that I’ve used to host applications and sites for years. I got a great price on the hosting package and it’s worked well, but the server’s growing long in the tooth … Continue reading →

Posted in Web | Leave a comment