Xebia Blog

For the last two and a half months, I've been blogging about the Enterprise Java Application Performance Problems Top 10:

• #10 - Excessive logging
• #9 - Incorrect application server configuration
• #8 - Incorrect usage of Java EE
• #7 - Unnecessary use of XML
• #6 - Improper caching
• #5 - Excessive memory usage
• #4 - Badly performing libraries
• #3 - Incorrectly implemented concurrency
• #2 - Unnecessary remoting
• #1 - Incorrect database usage

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Filed under: Java, Performance
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Why do so many Java web applications write log messages from the Java code? A normal answer would be, to capture the information about operation of an application. This captured information can further be used for debugging, troubleshooting and auditing. JavaScript continues to prosper as top scripting language and AJAX has acted as icing on the cake.

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Filed under: Javascript
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I'll keep you in suspense no longer. It's time for numero uno of the EJAPP Top 10 countdown!

Somewhat unexpectedly for an Enterprise Java Application Performance Problems Top 10, the #1 issue is the incorrect usage of databases.

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Filed under: Java, Oracle, Performance
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If your job role involves activities like "web page scripting, AJAX, interactive user interface development, HTML content rendering, rich content website development and whatever that you do to get the webpage up and showing", then you might find this blog entry handy while setting up your PC for web application/UI developments.
This blog entry is not about web layout or image design & development.
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Filed under: General, Javascript
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15 Stand-up commitments for those crucial 15 minutes

It is another great day, sun shining bright, traffic snarls continuing on roads, the team getting ready for another productive agile day with droopy faces! Droopy faces , why ???

Well because they have to get over the stand-up ritual first before they can get started with some real work.

But is the stand up a ritual??? Aren't stand-ups supposed to be exciting and energizing???

If this a common question disturbing you for a while then it is time to stand up for the stand-up. The details that follow are meant for any team practicing any Agile methodology like Scrum and who has started thinking that stand-ups are no more than an empty ritual which has to be pushed out at the start of the day.
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Filed under: Agile, Articles
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We don't like RUP, let's do practices. Last week Ivar Jacobson (the father of the Use Cases and the Unified Process) was in the Netherlands spreading the word of the Essential Unified Process (EssUp). EssUp (http://www.ivarjacobson.com/essup.cfm) provides a fresh approach to software process improvement and claims to be a new “Practice” centric software development process.

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Filed under: Agile, General
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Picking up the pace to make sure I get the countdown finished before I go to JavaOne ;-), I'll quickly move on to #2 of the EJAPP Top 10 countdown....

While remoting is often used in Enterprise Java applications due to the fact that other systems and applications need to be invoked, unnecessary remoting is an important cause of badly performing Enterprise Java applications.

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Filed under: Java, Performance
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This blog entry is another insight that came out of talking with Jeff Sutherland when he was our guest at Xebia.

Pictures can say more than a thousand words, but they can also confuse things. One of the things I didn't get is Type C Scrum, and the only thing I had to go on was a paper by Jeff, and a picture that is generally used to visualise types A, B and C. I now realize that the picture actually made it more difficult for me to understand Type C...

It's supposed to be the most advanced and difficult form of Scrum, and Jeff explained how Type C works at PatientKeeper. Type C is actually a Scrum in a Scrum in a Scrum, or (as Jeff put it) a wheels within wheels thing.

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Filed under: Agile
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We've reached the top 3 of the EJAPP Top 10 countdown now, so let's get going...

Incorrectly implemented concurrency can cripple the performance of your application in very unpredictable ways. Applications that perform pretty well under light load may crawl to a halt under heavier load.

A major cause is lock contention, which only becomes an issue when multiple threads are involved. For example, if a request that takes 100ms, spends 25ms in a critical section, no more than four requests can be handled every 100ms. No matter how much you decrease the other 75ms, Amdahl's law tells us the maximum speedup by introducing parallelization is 4!

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Filed under: Java, Performance
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I am trying to use Jfreechart in .NET and I need someone to help me to get ride of issue.
If you have some free time and if you are interested in doing weird things like this, please drop a comment so that we can try to get this working.

Yes I am not kidding.

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Filed under: Java
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