Category: software

Building a content aggregation service with node.js

Fetching, aggregating and transforming data for delivery is a seemingly complex task. Imagine a service that serves aggregated search results from Twitter, Google and Bing where the response has to be tailored for mobile and web. One has to fetch data from different sources, parse and compose the results then transform them into the right… Continue reading Building a content aggregation service with node.js

Using Spring 3.0 MVC for RESTful web services (rebuttal)

Update Mar.04 Thanks to @ewolff some of the points described below are now official feature requests. One (SPR-6928) is actually scheduled in Spring 3.1 (cool!). I’ve updated the post and added all open tickets. Please vote! This post is somewhat a response to InfoQ’s Comparison of Spring MVC and JAX-RS. Recently I have completed a… Continue reading Using Spring 3.0 MVC for RESTful web services (rebuttal)

Unit testing with Commons HttpClient library

I want to write testable code and occasionally I bump into frameworks that make it challenging to unit test. Ideally I want to inject a service stub into my code then control the stub’s behavior based on my testing needs. Commons Http Client from Jakarta facilitates integration with HTTP services but how to easily unit… Continue reading Unit testing with Commons HttpClient library

Spincloud, now with worldwide forecast

In my constant search for free weather data for Spincloud, a short while ago I have found a gem: free forecast data offered by the progressive Norwegian Meteorologic Institute. The long range forecast coverage is fairly thorough and covers most more than 2700 locations worldwide. I am happy to announce that I have extended spincloud.com… Continue reading Spincloud, now with worldwide forecast

Continuous everything?

I admit that I regard automation as a dull but vital part in the success of a project. Automation had evolved into Continuous Integration, a powerful toolset allowing frequent and regular building and testing of the code. I won’t get into what CI is (check the internets). Instead, I am going to explore a couple… Continue reading Continuous everything?

New Spincloud feature: heat map overlay

It took a while since the previous feature update to Spincloud. I have done a number of upgrades to the underlying tech and some intensive code refactoring but nothing visible. The time has come for another eye candy: heat maps. It is a map overlay that shows a color-translated temperature layer based on interpolated values… Continue reading New Spincloud feature: heat map overlay

Reviewing Google AppEngine for Java (Part 2)

In the first part I’ve left-off with some good news: successful deployment in the local GAE container. In this second part I’ll talk about the following: – Loading data and browsing – Table indexing – Limitations of datastore queries – More datastore limitations and JPA issues – Deployment – Performance – Production monitoring – Usage… Continue reading Reviewing Google AppEngine for Java (Part 2)

Upgrading to Spring 3.0.0.M3 and Spring Security 3.0.0.M1

A short two months back I posted an article describing how to upgrade to Spring 3.0 M2. Spring folks are releasing at breakneck speed and so I got busy again upgrading spincloud.com to Spring 3.0 M3 released at the beginning of May. Just yesterday (June 3rd) the team released Spring Security 3.0 M1 and I… Continue reading Upgrading to Spring 3.0.0.M3 and Spring Security 3.0.0.M1

Proposal to standardize the Level 2 query cache configuration in JPA 2.0

Level 2 cache is one of the most powerful features of the JPA spec. It’s a transparent layer that manages out-of-session data access and cranks-up the performance of the data access tier. To my knowledge it has been first seen in Hibernate and was later adopted by the then-emerging JPA spec (driven mostly by the… Continue reading Proposal to standardize the Level 2 query cache configuration in JPA 2.0