Java Tools For Extreme Programming

David Kennedy writes: "Java Tools For Exteme Programming: Mastering Open Source Tools including Ant, JUnit and Cactus by Hightower & Lesiecki is a welcome addition to my bookshelf at work. It tackles a gap in the Java book market in dealing with the thorny issues of testing, integration and deployment." The rest of his review is below. Java Tools For Exteme Programming: Mastering Open Source Tools including Ant, JUnit and Cactus author Richard Hightower & Nicholas Lesiecki pages 516 publisher Wiley Computer Publishing rating 8 reviewer David Kennedy ISBN 047120708X summary Practical introduction to Java tools for Extreme Programming, with an emphasis on immediate results rather than deep theory.

In recent years there has been a increased emphasis on Agile Software Development. The most prominent of these methodologies is probably Extreme Programming.

What sets Extreme Programming apart from most other Agile Technologies, in my opinion at least, is that it has provided practical, easy-to-use tools to support its way of working. Most of these tools (Ant, JUnit etc) are Open Source and freely available. However popular these tools have been with the Open Source and Extreme Programming communities, it has arguably been difficult to introduce them to traditional IT development environments. This has been primarily due to the problems of justifying spending time on 'playing' with something and the difficulties of retro-fitting new tools to an existing development environment (think projects of 150+ people which have been releasing for 5-10 years for some idea of the potential problems).

It's worth noting that when embarking on a new, large-scale project it's very difficult to find a book discussing the issues of controlled builds, integration and deployment in practical terms. The most valuable aspect of Java Tools for eXteme Programming is that it's alone in its market niche.

The book is mainly useful as (a) an introduction to the various building and continuous testing tools out there and (b) a tutorial to getting them setup and working on your computer. As the authors note, there's a critical period where the user must get some result after playing with the tool for a short period of time or just give it up as 'too difficult.'

From a technical standpoint the book is very readable, but it doesn't tackle any one subject in great depth. It certainly provides enough information to get you up and running, and also, perhaps more valuably, illustrates how to integrate the tools together. It's an excellent primer for those who want to use the tools but are unsure of how exactly to start.

What's covered? Here are the chapter headings:

1. Introduction and Key Concepts
   1. Introduction to Extreme Programming
   2. J2EE Deployment Concepts
   3. Example applications
2. Mastering the Tools
   1. Continuous integration with Ant
   2. Building Java Applications with Ant
   3. Building J2EE applications with Ant
   4. Unit testing with JUnit
   5. Testing Container Services with Cactus
   6. Functional Testing with HttpUnit
   7. Measuring Application Performance with JMeter
   8. Load Testing with JUnitPerf
3. API and Tag Reference
   1. Ant Tag Reference
   2. Ant API Reference
   3. JUnit API Reference
   4. Cactus API Reference
   5. HttpUnit API Reference

If you use some of these tools already will you learn anything? Probably -- I personally have been using JUnit to test EJBs for almost nine months now but didn't know about JUnitPerf or Cactus.

Should you buy it? If you're new to the tools, then Yes. If you work in a professional but traditional IT shop, I'd buy one for the group (I have). It'd be particularly useful when dealing with management and proposing changes to working processes, or when trying to bring co-workers up to speed and sell them the benefits of agile ways of working.

You can visit the book's website at Wiley. You can purchase the Jave Tools For Extreme Programming from bn.com. Want to see your own review here? Just read the book review guidelines, then use Slashdot's handy submission form.

Comments

fp

[Anonymous Coward]

fp muhahahaha

(pls don't ban my ip)
(I'm going for funny)

Re:fp

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm going for funny

You fail0red.

But you did get fp.

No

[Anonymous Coward]

Java books are too slow.

1st post

[Anonymous Coward]

No. 1

permanently banned?

[Anonymous Coward]

My account (Dirty Pickle) has been banned since Friday.

What up with that?

THis is not a troll!

[newbob]

The person who markd the above post as a troll is probably a PEDOPHILE.

Otherwise, why else would a person mark as a troll a post that contained only FACTS with references to back them up?

PLEASE MOD IT UP---FOR THE SAKE OF THE CHILDREN.

BLACK BEAN AND VEGETABLE BURRITO LOVE!

[Anonymous Coward]

BLACK BEAN AND VEGETABLE BURRITOS

4 9- to 10-inch-diameter flour tortillas

3/4 cup chopped onion
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
2/3 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
1 medium carrot, coarsely grated
1 2/3 cups canned black beans, rinsed, drained
1/2 cup drained canned Mexican-style stewed tomatoes
2 teaspoons minced seeded jalapeño chile

8 tablespoons grated Monterey Jack cheese (about 2 ounces)
4 tablespoons nonfat sour cream
4 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Preheat oven to 350F. Wrap tortillas in foil. Warm in oven until heated through, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine onion and oil in large nonstick skillet. Stir over medium-high heat until onion is golden, about 6 minutes. Add cumin and chili powder; stir 20 seconds. Add bell pepper, corn and carrot; sauté until almost tender, about 5 minutes. Add beans, tomatoes and jalapeño; bring to simmer. Season with salt and pepper. remove from heat.

Place warm tortillas on work surface. Spoon filling down center, dividing equally. Top each with 2 tablespoons cheese, then 1 tablespoon each of sour cream and cilantro. Fold sides of tortillas over filling, forming packages. Turn each package, seam side down, onto plate.

Serves 4.

Re:Extreme Programming: Unrealistic?

[Tom Davies]

I've installed Windows XP, which I think is a good start.

Tom