OTUG Java SIG Planning Meeting

OTUG Java SIG Planning Meeting

OTUG Java SIG
Date: Tuesday, November 26, 2002
Time:6:30 - 9:00 p.m.
Topic: Ideas for the Java_SIG for 2003
Location: O'Shaughnessy Educ Bldg: Rm 449

Java SIG Planning Meeting

On Nov 26th five people met to discuss plans for 2003. We decided two items. First, the OahuWiki Project will continue with Dale and others. I believe there is some information available on SourceForge already. This is a hands-on java development project combining good modular design that is extensible, java coding, Agile development-based all in a real-world application that is usefull. The project is not confined to J2EE technologies. Dale can share more details.

Second, as a separate thread in the Java_SIG, we decided to continue with study practice sessions of J2EE by working through Ed Roman's book Mastering EJB II.

The Roman book provides more explanation of the material as you progress through the examples compared to the SUN Tutorial. The latter has more the flavor of a cookbook.

The general expectations are as follows:

  1. Meet on Tuesday nights 6:30 - 9:00 pm (or there abouts)
  2. It will be the Tuesday AFTER the regular OTUG monthly meeting.
  3. Participants will read ahead up to the next working example and be prepared to compile and execute the example at the Java_SIG meeting.
  4. If so inclined, participants may alter the examples expanding on them in some way to share with the rest of the participants (i.e. add a JSP for a text-based console input, etc)
  5. If participants find other examples of code pertaining to the same topic or component then bring the code on disk to share with the others during the evening.
In short we look forward to evenings of practicing J2EE technology and discussing the results.

I will review the Roman book and set out some milestones as the topics for each of the monthly meetings in 2003.

There will be no meeting in December, 2002. I will post further details of 2003 meeting dates and topics sometime in December.

Please join us in 2003 to work through J2EE technologies and/or to work on the OahuWiki project. There will be something of interest for you. Bring a laptop if you have one, but don't let a laptoip be a limiting factor.

Original meeting announcement:

The new year is fast approaching fast and I am looking for ideas for the Java_SIG group for 2003. Please join other Java enthusiasts on Tuesday, November 26 at 6:30 - 9:00 pm at the O'Shaughnessey Education Building, Room 449, St. Thomas University for a discussion of activities we may do in 2003.

Some ideas I set out for your review include:

I would like to see each meeting have three parallel threads or activities going on. I suggest the following

  1. A semi-formal training session on various targeted technologies.
  2. Projects
  3. Discussion/Ideas sessions on whatever questions participants bring in that evening.
Over the past year we have had each of these elements. I hope we can set up each monthly meeting so all three activities can be running in parallel. Participants can join in any and all as they wish.

To help prime the pump for discussion here are some further thoughts on these three activities.

  (a)Semi-formal Training

For the past 5 months we have informally worked through parts of the J2EE SUN Tutorial. Participants have practiced various technologies of EJBs, the Sun Reference EJB Container, Tomcat, Message Beans, and persistence management. We have met as a group, but each worked through the material at their own pace.

I wish to add some semi-formal structure to the study sessions by working through an example application using the J2EE technologies. By semi-formal, I mean add a bit more structure by participants working on the same activity together and generating some simple summary lists of processing steps or tips. The example application will be from some available book.

The purpose is to build up the example application over several months - adding new components - until it utilizes the basic components of the J2EE architecture. Then in the latter half of the year begin component swapping to test out alternative products such as

  1. EJB Containers (JBOSS, WebSphere, etc)
  2. Web Containers (Tomcat, JRun, etc)
  3. Databases (Cloudscape, MySQL, Oracle 8i or 9i)

The end result would be an application to use as an architectural test for checking out various J2EE component configurations.

(b)Projects

  1. The OahuWiki project is currently underway. This will continue through 2003 under the direction of Dale Schumacher
  2. Other projects may arise as anyone may bring up and there are available participants.
(c)Discussion/Idea Session

These will be ad hoc based upon whatever burning questions participants bring that evening. The OahuWiki project started out as a discussion idea a couple of months ago. In October, a participant raised the <XML versus Tag Library> question for a development project he was working on. Great discussion ensued on the pros and cons of each approach.

So, there are a few ideas for your review. Please join your Java compatriots on Tuesday November 26, Room 449 O'Shaughnessey Education Center, St Thomas University, 6:30 - 9:00 pm. The OahuWiki project will be in session. The J2EE informal study group will be available for those with laptops. But primarily I would like people to come with ideas to discuss on how we can further develop our Java skills through the Java_SIG.

Stop in and express your opinion.

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