Another installment in our mocking adventures. After I presented you last week with some possible solutions when you're mocking static method calls. Today I am facing a different problem.
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Filed under Java, Testing | 1 Comment »

Yesterday I presented you with a problem we were facing with mocking out the static call to FacesContext.getCurrentInstance(). The three solutions I presented all felt wrong somehow. Comments showed a fourth option, AOP. Today I will present you with yet another solution, which I think feels right in every way.
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Filed under Java, Testing | 5 Comments »

The whole idea of executing a project is that you want to achieve something. A person or organization has goals that they want to achieve. A project is a way to coordinate the efforts towards achieving these goals. Ideally we set all of the goals before the start of the project, initiate the project and let it run to fulfill the goals. This way we would never have to discuss or question why we do the things we do. However, things have a tendency to change, even the goals might change. The question is how we deal with that.
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How can you test methods that contain static method calls? This is a question we're facing at the moment while working on an application of which parts have been written by another development team. In order to gain insight into functionality and quality of the codebase, we are writing JUnit tests. But a lot of the code is dependent on either the JSF FacesContext or the Spring ApplicationContext being available.
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Filed under Java, Testing | 12 Comments »

On the 12th of june we interviewed Kirk Pepperdine (javaperformancetuning.com), Angelika Langer (Java Generics) and Jonas Boner (Terracotta) at the dutch J-Spring congress organized by the NL-JUG (dutch java user group).

You can download the episodes here or subscribe here.

We also have 2 interviews in dutch with Peter van Rijn (Refactoring to Patterns!) and Wouter Zelle (Kwaliteitsbewaking met sourcecode analysetool PMD) you can download those from our podcast page.

Filed under Java, Performance, Podcast | 1 Comment »

One of the most important language features of java is the dynamic proxy. At some point, the ability to create dynamic proxies must have saved Java from disappearing in the dull world of strict object oriented languages. Nowadays dynamic proxies are mainly used by frameworks like Spring AOP and Hibernate, but once in a while an opportunity arises to use a dynamic proxy in application code.
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There are times when we need to unit-test methods of a concrete subclass, which colloborate with methods of the abstract superclass. The key requirement is that we want to unit-test the subclass methods in isolation; without bothering about the collaborating methods in the abstract superclass.

Lets take a look at a simple example : Dog extends Animal.

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Filed under Java, Testing | 6 Comments »

JavaFX is one of the recent additions to the Java Platform. Its aim is to "to simplify and speed the creation and deployment of high-impact content for a wide range of devices". I think SUN is right to focus on this market.

One of my first thoughts was: "What's with the name?" In my mind it is a reference to Flex. I doubt that it is wise for SUN to make such a reference; they might not be up for that kind of competition...

But for now, let's focus on what is in this new package.

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Filed under Flex, Java | 3 Comments »

After the 2 introductory SCRUM podcasts we go onto advanced topics with co-creator of SCRUM Jeff Sutherland.
The interview was done by host Serge Beaumont and Marco Mulder.

The topics covered are;

- The worldwide interest and state of SCRUM experienced by Jeff.
- Type C SCRUM/Sprints
- Tooling
- Multi threaded sprint issues and how to handle them
- High performance teams

You can download the episodes here or subscribe here.

Look out for the second part of the interview coming in 2 weeks!

Filed under Agile, Podcast | No Comments »

When it comes to the contents of plan there is a big difference between prescriptive and criterion based approaches. As we stated before the idea behind a plan is to provide guidance to the activities on the project. In that sense it is a sort of communication device. However, the way we use the plan determines its effectiveness.

A plan should describe how to realize the business case on which the project is based. In the criterion based approach to project management this means that the intention of the project is described, but not all activities on how to materialize the business case are specified. The essence of the plan is to explain or to translate the business case into practical guidelines and criteria on how realize the business case. Put differently, it specifies the high level requirements for the project that need to be met for the project to be deemed successful. Tom and Kai Gilb for instance like to state that approximately 10 high level requirements should be enough to give direction to a project. These requirements then are the criteria used to measure the progress and success of the project.

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