With more and more rich user interface based screens there is lot of HTML + CSS that has to work together to make it really rich. There can be more than one HTML element that can produce similar result but the way in which they render might be different. The best example is the TABLE and DIV element. While both can achieve putting the data in a matrix format there are differences in terms of rendering, advantages and disadvantage of using either of them. If you are a presentation layer developer you might want to know the difference in using these elements, when to go for a TABLE and when to go for a DIV. A TABLE alters its size dynamically as the data gets filled up. Here is an example site that extensively uses TABLE. If you see carefully you can see how the table size varies as the page gets loaded. This could be annoying if there is too much dynamic data represented in table and there is a flicker effect on the screen when the page gets loaded.  For some insights on the differences refer this article “Table Vs Divs“.

JUnit is a great tool for unit testing Java applications but it is little difficult to apply it and test the flow from a web application perspective. Particularly say you have unit tests for your DAO you will have to use the JDBC driver connection class to connect to the database and cannot test through JNDI as it requires a server environment. Try JUnitEE. From the site,

JUnitEE provides a TestRunner which outputs HTML and a servlet which can be used as an entry point to your test cases. Building your test harness as a standard J2EE web application means:

• Your tests are packaged conveniently into a .war file which can easily be moved between servers; you can leave the .war file in the main .ear file and simply avoid enabling the test web application on the production server.
• Your test classes will be dynamically reloaded by the app server (assuming your server supports this).
• Your test cases look just like your production code, and can use the same beans (or whatever) you use as a facade for your EJBs.

I was impressed with this video “Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us” that takes us from where we were to where we are today and also raises the question where it is all leading to. We are getting connected to people around the world so easily with web and collaboration it has unleashed but are we missing to connect personally to our own closed ones that are nearby? I could not answer myself convincingly. That apart, this video is also a good movie on the evolution of web 2.0.

OK you got a job in software industry in a Multi National Company (MNC) and getting a good pay. You are pretty busy when there are projects but at least few weeks in a year you might be free and may not have much work. So what do you do? Beware these periods can pull you into the luxury of idleness called as complacency. Complacency is a slow poison; it does not happen in one single dose but slowly over a period of time. Once a project comes it becomes very difficult to get back to the routine work and may result in less productivity.  To see if you are becoming complacent just take a look at what you did every day.  The tasks that you did the whole day should be result oriented that either benefits you or the organization. If this time is anywhere less than 80% of the whole working time, beware you might already be getting sucked into complacency mode. Complacency not only results in lower productivity but also brings unwanted habits like mail chatting, instant messaging, spending too much time in cafeteria etc. These are time wasters and time wasted cannot be regained. Instead think of tasks that can help your growth in career and things that can distinguish from the crowd.

Note:- This is post is part of the “Foundations” series.

If you are new to tagging refer my post “Tags“

Happy Weekend!

Note:- This post is part of the “RToons” series

Its a Wi-Fi world
Happy Weekend!

Other RToons.

It is easy as a developer get glued on to the projects that the company is putting him/her in.  Particularly if you are in a big multi national company, you would be part of a big project that will run for years (and probably had been running for years) and one might be put into maintaining it or enhancing it. In such situations a developer’s knowledge might get confined to the project and the technology surrounding it.  This is like a slow poison bringing the developer to narrow down his/her knowledge.  It is important to keep widening the knowledge making sure that there is something else to achieve, accomplish and learn in the process. One thing that could help developers to keep themselves updated and to increase their knowledge is to freelance or contribute to open source projects. One could even take up a new technology and could use the open source projects as a means to learn and implement.

This post is part of the “Foundations” series of posts.

Take a look at Linutop. A system that is just suitable for surfing the net. I mean why does one need a huge desktop sitting there and occupying space and if one needs it only to surf the internet? Less physical space, yet powerful enough.