Gabe Newell

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Recent posts by Gabe Newell

Has anyone had an interview or work for an investment bank that could give me some good tips?

I have my first java interview for a UK investment bank this week. The role is a junior java developer. The job role is very vague as it says that the candidate should have good J2ee skills. Obviously, J2EE is a big field so do you think my skills, JSP/Sevlets/Spring/Hibernate/Acegi/CustomTags/JDBC, be good enough to qualify as a J2EE developer? I hold both a MSc and BCs in computer science.

I would be grateful for any advice for this interview!
16 years ago
I'm trying to write a cool applet for my website that changes a image using some kind of transistion effect.

Can anyone suggest a good way of doing the transistion effects. I've had a look at PixelGrabber and MemoryImageSource but not too sure how to use them.
17 years ago
I have a lecturer at my Uni that is taking us for 'E-Commerce'. This lecture is teaching us to validate data on the client side using java-script. I want to raise that validation should be done on the server side so we shouldn't be learning this as java-script can de-enabled and 10% browsers dont have java-script enabled (W3C, 2005).

Is there any other reasons that she be teaching us client side validation using java-script? I want a strong case to backup my claim.
19 years ago
BTW, you need to pass the SCJP before taking any other Sun Certifications.

Originally posted by abhi maj:


HI James,
Your reply interested me. can u tell me how mathematics will amalgamate with OO in building a good foundation. i have a feeling you have a valid point though i cant yet put my finger on it. please elaborate on your theory
Thanks,



Hi Abhi,

To justify why it is essential to learn discrete mathematics to become a solid system analyst/programmer/architect would be:

An good comprehension of propositional and predicate logic will make you write much better programs. Understanding relations and properties of relations will help you understand the OO rules and regulations for OO modelling.

It is a mandatory first year unit for CS-based degrees at UK Universities as it gives the foundations for the rest of the degree.
His name is Robert Callan. The book's ISBN is: 1858053757
Just make sure you do not select Java Gently as your text book! I was advised from my old lecturer that it was the "best book around and it's the only book you need"! It has some good examples but apart from that, it belongs in the bin!

I wasn't too sure about the 'Head First Java' book. I encountered it from this site, but I thought that everyone was sucking up saying it's a great book. I decided to buy the Head First SCWCD book. After reading the book, I am a big big fan of the 'Head First' series. I have ADD and my concentration to read is not great! With this book, I couldn't put it down! The layout, clarity and visual representations are just superb! A lot of UK lecturers have jumped on board and put 'Head First Java' on their recommended learning list for their Java Units.
19 years ago

Originally posted by Karthik Kannan:
Hi everybody,
I'm a young software professional having 8 months of programming experience in web technologies of java. At this time, i'ld like to go for sun certification.

There are lot of certifications - SCJP, SCJD, SCWCD, SCBCD, SCDJWS, .. that i have heard of.

But i don't know from where i should start. i'm more interested in XML and web services.

Can somebody guide me out in building my career.

Thanks in Advance.

With regards,
Karthik K.




Some good advice to boost your desired career is to learn the fundamentals of programming - discrete mathematics. It will enable to become a proficient programmer with OO. A very good book is 'Mathematics for Computing'. It stands out from other book with its student-friendly clarity and quizes & solutions. The author is a lecturer at my institution but it is an imperative recommendation.

The SCJP is a good start but you need the foundations before anaylsing code, which is what you have to do with the SCJP. Just like building a dream house, you can't build it with out the foundations!

Feel free to PM if needed.

All the best and good luck.
Congratulations Kaarthik! You have done extremely given your time period.

Originally posted by kaarthik asokkumar:
I passed SCJP 2 this monday with 80% i started prep 2 weeks before and i was some what new to java with no work exprience of any sort. this forum helped me a lot these 2 weeks. I followed just one book by kathy and bates this book is amazing and i would recomend it to any one. Thank guyz for posting a lot of mock exam it helped me a lot. Now ive planned to take SCWCD in another 2 weeks again i went for Head first Servlet and JSP. Any suggestions from u guyz for SCWCD preparations ??.

19 years ago
Some has recommended using struts for this proposed java web application's MVC achitecture. Is this a good or bad idea?
19 years ago
JSP

Originally posted by Jeroen Wenting:
that is the usual way of doing things.
Another way would be to fill a HashMap with the data for each record (keyed to some string, say a field name) and put all those in a List.

It amounts to the same thing but saves you from creating that bean (which may be overkill if it's a very simple bean with only 2 or 3 textfields).



Thanks yet again Jeroen!

What is the best practise to populate beans? The only way I know at the moment is by using the beans utitlity class from jakarta commons.

All MVC code I have seen by googling is where the main container distributes teh request straight to the JSP. Does any one know any good books or web sites to show me code and examples of how I use the MVC to direct to other sub-containers?

You don't know how much this has been helping me. I've been as no JSP/Servlet book tells you the best strategy to developing a small Java web app with a back-end DB.
[ January 30, 2005: Message edited by: James Perry ]
19 years ago
JSP

Originally posted by Allan Christensen:


Hi James,

I suggest that you have a look at the description of the FrontController Design Pattern (http://java.sun.com/j2ee/patterns/FrontController.html). It explains the rationale for your question.

Kind regards,
Allan



Thanks, that URL helped. When I retrieve data from my DB schema, lets for example, a customer table. What is the best practise to output this data in a JSP? Would I have to create and populate a Customer bean for each record from the customer table and then store the beans in a collection array, then put the Customer bean collection into a implicit object for the JSP to read from?
19 years ago
JSP

Originally posted by Jeroen Wenting:
EJB are not needed.
Use JSP for displaying your data only. Use JSTL and maybe a few custom tags in the JSPs instead of scriptlets.

To retrieve the data use normal Java classes called from servlets (which then can prepare the data for the JSPs to show as well as process form data from the JSPs for storage in the database).

A simple system would have a central controlling servlet which forwards requests to other servlets as they come in based on knowhow about where they come from and what they want to do (you could use a single request attribute to indicate the desired destination for example).
Those servlets then process the request, retrieve and store data, and prepare the output. They then forward to the proper JSP which shows the data and the cycle starts again.




Many thanks Jeroen for the prompt reply and putting me in the right direction! I have a question though regarding your recommendation. The question may be due to ignorance but I was wondering why you would have one main controller servlet where you could have the requests forwarded specifiaclly to where the main controller would take them?
19 years ago
JSP
Hey Ranch members,

I am developing a web application and going to use Java. The web application is for a local charity that helps disadvanteged people from all walks of life by giving them free IT access and training. Their current system is MS Access database which was not fully relational nore has the essential data needed for the proposed system. I am doing this project for my dissertation for my IT degree. I was going to do this with PHP but I was fed up of how much hassle it is to maintain as the presentation and business logic is stuck together. The system hasn't got much concurrency issues as there is only 40 users. To view what the fuctionality of the system, go to the URL:

http://www.jamesaperry.co.uk/ukonline/

To view the ERD of the schema that I've designed for them:

http://www.jamesaperry.co.uk/ukonline/lds.html

I have read about using JSP/Servlets and I am wanting to develop using this tecnology. I like the idea of the MVC architecture where the presentation is seperate from the business logic. This web application isn't very complex.

I am not sure how to approach it. I've read several JSP/Servlets books and I am not sure do I use just JSP? Do I use the MVC Architecture? Shall my JSP use scripting? custom tags? Do I need EJB Beans? What's the best way to connect to my MySQL DB?
19 years ago
JSP
Hi Tony,

What is your commercial experience history? A strong possibility for not successfully obtaining a J2EE job is commercial experience. You could have all the certifications in the world but if you have no commercial experience - then they have insignificant value to a employee! You are probably thinking how do the hell do you get experience when you can't get a job to obtain experince with java?!?

To get experience, I strongly recommend doing IT consultancy for a local charity organisation. It is overseen by many people to obtain experience. Majority of charities will take you with open arms. Charities have to refer to commercial IT business for their IT systems, so they are charged rates that they can not afford within their tight budget. A lot of charities are wanting web-based information systems as they are not always in one location and can access it 24/7. Most charities are lookin for web-based Project Management Systems; which is what I am developing for a local charity at the moment (J2EE/MySQL/XHTML) for my disseration.

Once you have designed and implemented the system, you can include it to your portfolio to present to employees. The most important and essential part of the system is documentation. The documentation is to show the interviewer how you was presentated a hypothetical problem and how you solved it.

Good luck.



Originally posted by Tony Walters:
Can anyone offer any suggestions on what would help me get a job! I've just completed SCWCD, but little work on the horizon. Should I consider other certifications? Getting a little disheartened by it all.