Thanks to my friend, Gandos, he got me interested to use Maven after I read his blog post (It’s in Indonesian). After consulting to another friend, I think it’s a good idea to use Maven for the LabGence project.

The idea is also influenced from this question that I have, “What is the best practice to upload an open-source project?” and “What files that I should and probably shouldn’t upload?”.

I believe Maven can standardize the issue of libraries needed by the project, and also the build script needed. So I decided to give it a try.

Fortunately I found the best and brief introduction tutorial to Maven on JavaBrains.org, you might want to check it out.

I also created the following step by step notes for Mac OSX (which might be applicable also to Linux and other Unix OS).

Maven Installation
Steps:
1. Download Maven binary from the official website. I use the Maven 3.0.3 as of this writing.

2. Extract the compressed files.

3. Execute these commands:
# export M2_HOME=[path to the Maven extracted directory]
example: # export M2_HOME=/home/djitz/dev/java/maven

# export PATH=[path to the Maven extracted directory]/bin:${PATH}
example: # export PATH=/home/djitz/dev/java/maven/bin:${PATH}

4. Test the maven installation, execute:
# mvn --v

If it shows something like:

Apache Maven 3.0.2 (r1056850; 2011-01-08 19:58:10-0500)
Java version: 1.6.0_24, vendor: Apple Inc.
Java home: /System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk/Contents/Home
Default locale: en_US, platform encoding: MacRoman
OS name: "mac os x", version: "10.6.5", arch: "x86_64", family: "mac"

then we’re done for the installation.

Creating Project
Steps:
1. Go to the directory where we want to have the project.

2. Execute
# mvn archetype:generate

It will download files because it’s the first time we’re running it.

3. After it finished the download, it will ask for number, and show us the default number. Scroll up and we can see hundreds of different project templates that Maven knows.

For now, just press Enter to accept the default one.

4. Choose the Maven archetype quickstart version, just press Enter to accept the default.

5. For the groupId, input your package name.
example: com.djitz.labgence

6. For the artifactId, input your application name.
example: LabGence

7. Type the version, just press Enter to accept the default.

8. Type the package name, it will copy the value from step #5.

9. Confirm the values from step 5 – 8.

That’s it, we successfully created a new project using Maven.

Some more commands to try, go to the created project directory, then do the following commands:

# mvn compile
# mvn package

There are a lot more functions of Maven, but this can get us started. Sonatype.com does a lot of work with Maven, and they have a free Maven reference book in here. (http://www.sonatype.com/books/mvnref-book/reference/index.html
)

Until the next post fellas!

We all love good and commented codes, but most of us either don’t know how to write a good comment for our codes, or just plain lazy to write one.

In Java, JavaDoc is pretty much the industry standard when it comes to auto-generated code tool. And as a strong believer of good software development practice, I always put comments on my code.

To save time, I created this template for methods so I can always refresh myself about how to write a good JavaDoc for my code. These codes are taken from the Java SDK source codes, so talk about how the creator of the Java write their comments (no one can be more expert than them I suppose).

*The template below is a slide presentation in Google Docs, to see the code expand its view to full screen, or you can download it as PDF or PPTX.

The Android Honeycomb

A couple of weeks ago I was so fortunate to get the opportunity working with the Android SDK development in my job (Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 ).

Compared with Android mobile app development using the Adobe Flex 4.5, the Android SDK may be a bit more tricky to do, so to document my experience I created this blog post (and maybe some more posts in the future).

To start developing Android apps, we need to install the Eclipse ADT, Android SDK (obviously..), and setup the AVD.

ADT – Android Development Tools
AVD – Android Virtual Device

Prerequisite:
- Familiar with Eclipse IDE

Steps:

1. Get Eclipse (I use Eclipse 3.7 – Indigo), download from:

• Eclipse.org or EclipseSource (cloud download – a lot faster!!! )

2. Get Android SDK, run the installation:

• After the installation, run the SDK Manager

• Check “Tools” and the Android version you’re going to develop.

3. Install the Eclipse ADT (Android Development Tools) Plugin:

• Run Eclipse

• Click Help > Install New Software

• Click Add, copy the following to the Location input: https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/

• Check “Developer Tools” and follow the rest of installation wizard.

4. After restarting the Eclipse, check if the ADT picks-up the SDK directory correctly:

• Run Eclipse

• Click Windows > Preferences

• Click Android on the left sidebar.

5. Create the emulator:

• Run the Eclipse.

• Go to Window > AVD Manager.

• Click “New” button.

• Fill the fields:

Name: em31
Target: Android 3.1 – API Level 12
SD Card size: 64 MB
Snapshot: enabled
Hardware:
Device ram size: 768

• click “Create AVD”.

• The new AVD should appear in the AVD Manager, click “Start” button to run it.

*It takes time to start the AVD, in my machine it takes 7 mins.

FAQ

Q: Why the AVD is so sloooooooww in my computer?

A: There’s nothing wrong with your computer, it’s really the problem with the AVD. If you followed my steps correctly, we should’ve set the RAM size to 768MB and enabled the snapshot. Enabling the snapshot means that whenever we run the emulator, it will bypass the longer boot process. Set the option save to snapshot on the first time, but un-check it whenever we run the emulator afterward, because saving to snapshot will take significant time as well. :p

For the past week, I’ve really into Agile software development practices, especially Scrum.

So far, to learn more about Scrum, I’ve read the Scrum Primer (which I believe is still the very best brief introduction to the Scrum world), Do Better Scrum, and What Every Product Owner Should Know. If you’re interested, you might check them out.

If you, however, prefer video tutorials, Rally Software provides free Scrum video tutorials on their wiki site. They’re not stellar (I would give 3.5/5 stars) but they provide good information if you want to know more about Scrum and Agile development.

I remember almost a year ago I googled for article about this. I’ve been a system and network administrator for more than two years in medium sized company, dealing with Windows Servers, Sun Solaris, IBM AIX, Firewall, and VMWares.

Then, for an unknown crazy reason I applied for a programmer position in one of the biggest software house in Indonesia. I was accepted and suddenly had a dillemma of choosing to stay as an administrator or to shift career as programmer.

Being a good information age generation, I looked for what other people’s opinion in online forums. Some are pros for career in sys and network administration, and some others are pros for career in software development.

To be honest, they made me even more confused. But I finally made my choice.

Now after 8 months of work as Java EE programmer, I want to share about what I know about these two IT careers. Please note that I don’t think one is superior than another although during this article I may be a bit inclined to software development career.

It’s Not The Career That Make One’s Success

Like most of the fresh graduates I know, I used to think that success is closely attached to one’s career. That some careers are naturally better than the others. However, through time I realized that this thought is not true.

There are successful administrators and there are successful developers. On the other side, there are also unsuccessful administrators and unsuccessful developers.

What makes the difference?

It’s The Person With The Right Career

In the online forums that I found those who are pros of each side listed the reasons why one career is better than the other. They all speak from their experiences and observations.

Some of the wiser members, however, posted that one should ask himself about what career is more suitable to him rather than only looking for the salary number or future overseas outsourcing trend.

Why I chose what I chose

I accepted the work as programmer and I don’t regret it a bit. It’s not because I don’t like the work as an administrator, but because I enjoy the process of creating something so much.

Making something has been my passion since I was a kid, and now I enjoy making software in every step.

So what should you choose?

Ask yourself this question,

“Will I excitedly wake up every morning to do this career?”

Some of my work colleague said that they actually don’t like coding and it’s really sad. I think they are not only waste their time here, but they also waste their life.

For me, someone can only achieve his greatest potential when he does what he really enjoy. And since life is not as long as we always think, choose a career where your passion is.