Technical Favorites
Here’s a hodgepodge of random sites and tools that I consider invaluable both as a Java developer and Interweb hobbyist.
Essentials
These are the newsy or informational sites that everyone who is anyone hangs out at:
- http://java.sun.com – does this really need mentioning?
- http://www.theserverside.com – J2EE blog and then some
Reference
Most of the reference material comes in the form of Javadocs or other API references. But there are a few general sites that deserve patronage.
- http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?PatternIndex – C2 design pattern catalog
- http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?AntiPatternsCatalog – C2 antipattern catalog
Development Tools
These are personal to the extent that what’s good for me may not work out for you. Nonetheless, here are the ones that help me the most. These are installed on every computer I use for development.
- Eclipse – cross-platform, extensible IDE
- MyEclipse IDE – J2EE plugin suite for Eclipse
- Toad for Oracle – sanity for Oracle developers
- BeyondCompare – excellent visual diff tool, a bargain at $30
Open Source API’s
I have worked on all types of enterprise eCommerce applications. The last few years of said work has been exclusively in Java, and the availability of projects like these are much of the reason for that choice. They have made my life easier, and the fruits of my labor more, um, fruity. The centeral theme here is “don’t reinvent the wheel”. Here are some really great open-source wheels:
- Hibernate – O/R mapping framework
- Spring Framework – IoC application framework with second-to-none documentation
- SiteMesh – view decorator framework (think Tiles, only you do less work, rather than more)
- Struts – the standard web MVC framework (keep an eye out for Spring MVC)