Found another interesting book!!

Which is "Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship" by Robert C. Martin.
I haven't read it yet but I have read the free example chapter available on the Internet and it seems quite cool. Written with friendly light style.
I ordered a copy for me and I am still waiting to get it. Hope it will be all as goog as the metioned example chapter...
Have you read it ? Please share your opinion...

Getting ready for SCJP :)

After thinking a lot about it I decided to take SCJP exam.
I wanted to take it even earlier but then I read some post on a blog (cannot find it now) saying that there is no point in it, so it de-motivated me and I resigned.

But now I see SCJP isn't so unneded :) It would have helped me a lot if I already had passed it.

Anyway, I just started reading "SCJP Sun Certified Programmer for Java 6 (Exam 310-065)" book which is the Sun's official preparing book. It's quite cool :) Writen in not borring style and with a sense of humour. And most important: after a few pages I already got to know a few new thing in Java.

We'll see how it will be :)

I hope to read it as fast as possible (1 week) and then do some practice exams and pass the exam in maximum 4 weeks.

I hope to manage to do that. :)
WISH ME LUCK !!! :)

Installing windows from USB stick

Have you ever run into this little problem when you had to install windows (or any other OS) from scratch but your cd drive had been out of order or your pc had no cd drive at all? Have you read plenty of solutions of that kind of problem and none of them worked? Well, I have. And I found the siplest way to install a fresh windows from usb stick. I don't know whether it works with all pendrives but it for shure works with SanDisk Cruzer Micro.

OK. So how to do that? First you need to get LPInstaller from U3. I also posted this file on my googlecode project site here (in case you have problems with finding it). Here is the link: http://krzyczak.googlecode.com/files/LPInstaller.exe

When you get that little piece of software don't run it but extract it (with WinRar for example). Then you have to create a QA.INI file inside the extracted directory and put two lines inside that file, which are

[QA]
LocalISOPath=[DRIVE_LETER]:\path_to_your_iso_file.iso

where [DRIVE_LETER]:\path_to_your_iso_file.iso is the full path to the iso file with the os you want to install (for example create it first with MagicIso or PowerIso).

You can download the LPInstaller with already created QA.INI file from my googlecode site:
http://krzyczak.googlecode.com/files/LPInstaller.rar

And the last step you need to do is just put your pendrive inside the USB slot and run the LPInstaller.exe with local option (e.g. by creatong a shortcut to LPInstaller.exe and addind local parameter in the shortcut or by running cmd and then LPInstaller.exe local).

Then just follow the on screen instructions and you will end up having you pendrive as a cdrom drive with the iso "burned" on it.

Now just restart your pc and boot from cd-rom. Yes! CD-ROM, as you pendrive is now visible as cdrom (just like all U3 usb drives).

I think that was the simplest way to "burn" any iso file to usb. I tried many other solutions (found on the Internet) and none of them worked for me. This one did! :)

Started and finished first chapter of "Metaprogramming Ruby"

I just finished reading the first chapter of Metaprogramming Ruby which is called The Object Model.

And what I can tell after this very first chapter is: nice :) It's written like a dialogue between you and Bill (your pair programming buddy). Each chapter is a "day at work" during which you and Bill have a few tasks to do and Bill (as an experienced Rubist) helps you with that and explains everything. That kind of style doesn't make you tired after a few pages of technical knowledge :) Maybe there is sometimes a little bit too mach of chatter but it doesn't happen to much...

As regards the contents of the first chapter it is OK. I knew many things already but it was good to refresh this knowledge and I got to know a few new things (I am beginner Rubist). Everything was illustrated by some example code so it was really easy to understand everything.

So, to put it in a nutshell, this first chapter is nice. If the rest of the book is as good or better I will not regret money spent...

Metaprogramming Ruby by Paolo Perrotta

I just received my new, freshly printed "Metaprogramming Ruby" book written by Paolo Perrotta.

I shall write a little review here as soon as I finish reading it!

I hope it would be interesting and helpful and will let me evolve my Ruby knowledge! :)

Java Play Framework

I just have heard about Java Play Framework. First it looked very interesting to me but as I watched the screen cast I saw that it must have been inspired with rails. The directory structure is almost the same. Style of creating apps looks similar. And so on...

But I ask myself a question: Why would I use it?

If I wanted to build a web app with Java it would probably need to be something really big and enterprise and my client would have to state Java as one of his most important requirements.

Otherwise I would convince him to use Ruby.

And if I wanted to quickly create a tiny app (e.g. my home page) I would use Ruby too because it's faster and I don't have to learn new template language (Play Framework uses its own template language based on Groovy).

And experienced Java developers know Groovy and Grails (which was also inspired by Rails) and they probably would choose this (I would!) instead of Play.

So, to put it in a nutshell, as much as this tool looks interesting it was created too late. It should have been released before Groovy and Grails as it doesn't seem to have any chances to compete with Grails (I think...).

What do you think about it? 

Why use Ruby, PHP or anything else? You can do everything in Java!

I just read this post and I am really surprised this guy's approach.

Generally what he means is "Why use anything else but Java? You can do everything in Java so its obvious choice! We all should use Java!"

First he really pisses me off by saying that kind of statement. I am asking why? What would be the logical reason for us all to use Java for everything? There is not.

Secondly, PHP is something different from Ruby. Ruby is true programming language with true Object Oriented design from the beginning, with some features like garbage collection, meta programming and other stuff (that you can read on ruby-lang.org). So I don't know why this guy confuses those two.

And next hosting. Show me any good Java hosting for free!! Is there such a thing? :) Or find anyone whou would pay 200$ for their homepage in Java :D It would be sic unless you are rich!

And please create a home page where you can post some news and let other users comment them, in an hour.

It's just impossible because you first need to config web.xml, and then you need to config applicationContex.xml and then you need to config another xml and xml and xml and son of Mr. Smith who just want to have his home page for posting photos of his great parties he organises want it to work and he doesn't want to configure it all the time and then get some message like "Catalina FAILED to start!" because he miss configured it!!!

And next the guy says:

"Is it the lack of tooling? I think there are more tools for Java than, say,  Ruby. Is it the lack of  frameworks? I bet there are more Java frameworks than the population in China."

Yes there are more Java jars than the population of China! So what? How does it help? It doesn't for sure. And tools? There are many useful tools in Ruby world. There is anything you need so this argument is again a bullshit.

And why would I use Eclipse or NetBeans for ruby when I have my TextMate, gMate, RedCar, e-TextEditor, TextShell or many many more better text editors for ruby than those two big IDEs? And why would I debug Ruby code with a debugger when I have 80% code coverage with tests?

And after all I want to say that I am not some kind of Ruby freak. I also don't like when someone says Ruby is the best and Java is shit.

I am Java developer myself and I also like C# and I think that variety of languages is a good think. We can apply every of them for their best usage. And besides that competition makes them all to get better.

So listen to me mister! You're totally wrong! Change your approach because you sound like someone who is devoid of thinking skills.

And the World for sure would not be better if everyone used just one programming language, whichever it would be!