Blackmoor Vituperative

Sun Microsystems has Sun Java Studio Creator 2004Q2 (full license) and Sun Java Studio Enterprise 8 (full license) for free via download. This is probably a bit of counter-marketing spurred by the release of .NET 2.0 last Monday. However, Java at any price is a better deal than .Net. You literally could not pay me enough to work with .Net.

The Apache Software Foundation has announced the release of Beehive 1.0, its component toolkit for J2EE and Struts.
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Beehive is aimed at making it easier to develop Web applications in Java by reducing the amount of coding needed to produce a working application.

The open-source project was originally spun out of BEA’s WebLogic Workshop. The company donated the code to the Apache Incubator project in May 2004, and Beehive became a top-level ASF project in July of this year. Eddie O’Neil, Beehive vice president, told Builder UK that the developers were pleased with the progress the project has made. “We’re very excited about it. It’s taken a bit, but we’re excited to get it done.”

Beehive consists of three main parts: NetUI, Controls and Web Service Metadata (WSM). NetUI is an MVC framework built on top of Apache Struts, adding a set of JSP tags for building HTML pages, and more complex UI controls such as data grids. Controls are back-end J2EE classes aimed at providing a consistent interface to different data sources and other resources. Both of these rely heavily on metadata, and conform to JSR 175, the Java Metadata standard.

(from TechRepublic, Apache’s Beehive 1.0 generates buzz)

If you are still using CVS, you are putting yourself through unnecessary pain: Subversion is here to make your life easier. I have been using it on my projects for the last year or so: I won’t use CVS again if I have a choice in the matter.

If you are new to Subversion, or perhaps new to version control in general, you’ll need a client to access the repository. Jeremy Jones has written an OnLAMP review which compares and contrasts RapidSVN, TortoiseSVN, and the command line, which you will find useful and educational: Subversion UI Shootout. He’s included screenshots, examples, and has taken the time to explain how each client handles specific commonly-performed SVN tasks. Check it out.

On the other hand, if you have heard of Subversion, but are leery of migrating your precious code repositoty, you should read Ben Collins-Sussman’s Dispelling Subversion FUD article. He gives you the straight dope on Subversion’s real and imagined weaknesses.