It's that time of the year when it is popular to list top articles, blog posts, and features from the previous year. This blog post collects some of these "best of" collections for 2009 that are related specifically to software development. I also include my own top ten list of the top ten posts in my blog during 2009.
Most Popular of Cogitations and Speculations
The ten most popular posts in my blog were as follows (in order from tenth most popular listed first to most popular listed last):
12. Must-Have Flex Development Tools Sans FlexBuilder (14 February 2009)
11. Bare Bones BlazeDS Object Remoting (1 January 2009)
10. Flex: Proxied HTTPService and REST (9 February 2009)
9. Day-to-day Java Development Tools and Techniques (17 February 2009)
8. RESTful Database Access with sqlREST (1 June 2009)
7. Easy Java-based REST Testing Tools (3 January 2009)
6. Bare Bones BlazeDS HTTPService Example (9 May 2008)
5. Java Collections Class (16 March 2009)
4. Using RESTClient with Java's HttpServlet (21 January 2009)
3. Simple Remote JMX with GlassFish (19 May 2008)
2. Useful Online Java Developer Resources (31 December 2008)
1. Effective Java NullPointerException Handling (25 April 2009)
The "Top Ten" actually lists 12 blog posts because the third and sixth most popular posts in 2009 were actually written in 2008. A third post, the second most popular post, was technically written in 2008, but was written on the last day of that year so I did not feel a need to list a third post actually written in 2009.
The top ten/twelve of my most popular blog posts indicate that the most popular posts on my blog in 2009 were those that are tailored to a specific technology and are highly detailed. For example, these top posts cover facets of Java, Flex, REST, and so forth and often cover a particular narrow portion of these technologies with relatively significant detail.
I enjoy writing more general posts, but it is obvious that these are not among my most-read, so I'll likely shift some focus in 2010 back to emphasize more writing highly detailed, narrowly focused blog posts.
Programming and Development: Best of 2009
The Justin James-hosted blog Programming and Development features a list of the top five posts of 2009 for that blog. The top five are Ten Tips to Go From a Beginner to an Intermediate Developer, Strategies for Learning Programming Languages, Frustrated by a Co-Worker's Use of Old-School Programaming Techniques, Why Did You Try Programming?, and The Current and Future State of C++.
Top Ten Technology Stories of 2009
Not surprisingly, the still-in-the-works Oracle acquisition of Sun is the "big story of the year" cited in this list of top technology stories for 2009. Other stories include the launch of Windows 7, Google Chrome, and Droid.
Oracle Technology Network/Oracle Magazine 2009 Most Popular Articles
Oracle Technology Network (OTN) Editor-in-Chief Justin Kestelyn posted the top ten articles and downloads from OTN and Oracle Magazine in the post The Most Popular Articles and Downloads of 2009. Many of these articles are of interest primarily to Oracle database administrators, but there are some articles on the list of greater relevance to software developers. These include High-Performance Oracle JDBC Programming, Taking an Oracle ADF Application from Design to Reality, and Oracle ADF Development Essentials.
Best of developerWorks Web Development Zone in 2009
A Few of My Favorite Things: A Look Back at the Web Development Zone in 2009 lists articles that developerWorks Content Acquisition Editor Chris Warden feels must not be missed from the 2009 articles on web development. This includes articles on Accessibility in Web 2.0 Technology and Scalable Vector Graphics and Bitmap Rendering Using Flex.
The developerWorks Java Articles You Wish You'd Read Earlier
This is a collection of articles that developerWorks Java Zone Editor Jenni Aloi put together based on criteria outlined in the comments section. They are Java-centric and cover topics such as Groovier Spring, Easier Testing with EasyMock, Google App Engine for Java, and JPA 2.0 Criteria API.
Open Source in 2009
2009 Open Source Top Ten lists Chris Wanstrath's "favorite [open source] releases of 2009" and include products such as Unicorn (Unix-based HTTP server for Ruby/Rack) and yajl-ruby. Ten Greatest Open Source Software of 2009 focuses more on open source end products such as SVG-capable Inkscape and GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program).
Other "Best of" and "Top" Lists
The 15 Best Articles for Designers in 2009
120 Tips, Tricks, and Tuts from 2009 Worth Your Time
The Top Ten Tech 'Fails' of 2009
Top Ten Software Development Predictions for 2009
Rational Top Ten Articles from 2009
Top 15 developerWorks WebSphere Articles of 2009
The Ten Best of the Newest Content in the XML Zone
More to Come
With 3 week days still left in 2009, it is likely we'll see more "Best of" and "Top Ten" lists this coming week. I plan to add them to this post as I run across them.
Conclusion
There were some common themes in the collection of top stories, blogs, and articles. Oracle's tentative acquisition of Sun, Java, REST, and Flex were among those subjects represented on more than one of these "best of" and "top" lists. See my last blog post, Significant Software Development Developments of 2009, for coverage of some of these concepts from the perspective of major announcements and developments in the world of software development.
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