Recent Interesting Software Development Posts - 1 May 2012

This post references and very briefly summarizes several recent posts on subjects of interest to software developers such as NetBeans 7.1.2, progress on Java 8's Lambda Expressions, Guava Release 12, TestNG, Scala, and the expense of ineffective meetings.

NetBeans 7.1.2

The release of NetBeans 7.1.2 includes JDK 7 Update 4 (first version of Java SE 7 for Mac OS X).

State of the Lambda: Libraries Edition

After attending JavaOne 2011, I believe that lambda expressions are going to dramatically change how we write Java. Therefore, it is always interesting to read about progress related to Lambda expressions. In the April 2012 post State of the Lambda: Libraries Edition, Brian Goetz "describes the design approach taken in the rough prototype that has been implemented in the Lambda Project repository." He points out that this description is "intended as a working straw-man proposal" and that "the final version may look different." Another Goetz April 2012 post (Translation of Lambda Expressions) "outlines the strategy for translating lambda expressions and method references from Java source code into bytecode."

Guava Release 12

Guava Release 12 was released this week. According to the Guava Release 12 Release Notes, this is the first release of Guava that requires Java SE 6: "Guava 12.0 is the first release to require JDK6. Users requiring JDK5 compatibility may continue to use Guava 11.0.2"

TestNG Rather than JUnit

Tomek Kaczanowski has posted the slides he prepared "to persuade my colleagues to migrate from JUnit to TestNG" in his post Why TestNG and Not JUnit?

Scala or Java? Exploring Myths and Facts

The post Scala or Java? Exploring myths and facts addresses some of the alleged pros and cons of Scala articulated online. The author addresses questions about productivity, complexity, concurrency support, tooling, extensibility, interoperability, performance, and backwards compatibility.

The Expense of Ineffective Meetings

Jeffrey Scott Klubeck's post The Expense of Ineffective Meetings is not necessarily new, but it is new to me. This short post is well worth the couple of minutes to read and articulates well what many of us have felt after having a particularly useless meeting foisted upon us. I love the quote, "Patrick Lencioni, author of Death by Meeting, says that bad meetings not only exact a toll on the attendees as they suffer through them, but also cause real human anguish in the form of anger, lethargy, cynicism, and even in the form of lower self-esteem."

10 Hard Truths Developer Must Accept

In the post 10 hard truths developers must learn to accept, Peter Wayner offers ten things that are reminders that "programming offers an array of bitter pills to swallow."

SSH Tunneling Explained

Buddhika Chamith's post SSH Tunneling Explained is a detailed and illustrated overview of SSH tunneling.

Conclusion

This post has referenced a small set of other blog posts, articles, and announcements that I have found particularly interesting in recent weeks.