| Agile Java(TM) - Crafting Code with Test-Driven Development (Robert C. Martin Series)
(2005)
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| Front Cover |
Book Details |
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| Author |
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| Subject |
Java (Computer program language) |
| Publication Date |
14.02.2005 |
| Format |
Paperback
(232
mm)
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| Publisher |
Prentice Hall PTR |
| Language |
eng |
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| Plot |
| Introduction Introduction I am a software craftsman. 1 I have spent much of my software development career trying to quickly build solutions to problems. At the same time I have tried to ensure that my solutions demonstrate carefully crafted code. I strive for perfection in code, yet I know that it is unattainable, particularly with the constant pressure from business to get product out the door. I take modest pride in the code I build daily, yet when I look at the code I wrote the day before, I wonder, "What the heck was I thinking?" This is what keeps the craft challenging to me the constant desire to figure out how to do things a little better the next time, and with a little less pain than this time. Agile Java represents a successful approach to learning and mastering Java development. It is based on the way I have learned to best teach programming and to learn new programming languages myself: Using test-driven development (TDD), a technique that introduces a large amount of low-level feedback. This feedback allows you to more quickly see the results of your actions. Using TDD, you will learn how to craft Java code to produce solid object-oriented designs and highly maintainable high-quality systems. I have used TDD in production systems for over four years and am still amazed at what it does for me. It has improved the quality of my code, it has taught me new things each week, it has made me more productive. I have also created and taught language courses using TDD, both at my own company and at Object Mentor (which continues to teach their language courses with this approach). Prior to learning TDD, I spent more than fifteen years learning, developing in, and teaching languages the "classic" way without using tests to drive the development. The student builds and executes example code. The student obtains feedback on what the code is teaching by viewing the output from code execution. While this is a perfectly valid approach, my anecdotal experience is that using it results in less-than-ideal retention of language details. In contrast, the high volume of rapid feedback in TDD constantly reinforces correct coding and quickly points out incorrect coding. The classic code-run-and-observe approach provides feedback, but at a much slower rate. Unfortunately, it is currently the predominant method of teaching programming. Others have attempted more innovative approaches to teaching. In the 1990s, Adele Goldberg created a product known as LearningWorks designed for teaching younger students. It allowed a user to directly manipulate visual objects by dynamically executing bits of code. The user saw immediate results from their actions. A recent Java training tool uses a similar approach. It allows the student to execute bits of code to produce visual effects on "live" objects. The problem with approaches like these is that they are bound to the learning environment. Once you complete the training, you must still learn how to construct your own system from the ground up, without the use of these constrained tools. By using TDD as the driver for learning, you are taught an unbounded technique that you can continue to use in your professional software development career. Agile Java takes the most object-oriented approach feasible. Part of the difficulty in learning Java is the "bootstrapping" involved. What is the minimum you must learn in order to be able to write classes of some substance? Most books start by teaching you the prototypical first Java program the "hello world" application. But it is quite a mouthful: class Hello { public static void main(String args) { System.out.println("hello world"); } }. This brief program contains at least a dozen concepts that you must ultimately learn. Worse, out of those dozen concepts, at least three are nonobject-oriented concepts that you are better off learning much later. In this book, you will learn the right way to code from the start and come back to fully understand "hello world" later in the book. 2 Using TDD, you will be able to write good object-oriented code immediately. You ll still have a big initial hurdle to get over, but this approach keeps you from having to first understand not-very-object-oriented concepts such as static methods and arrays. You will learn all core Java concepts in due time, but your initial emphasis is on objects. Agile Java presents a cleaner break from the old way of doing things. It allows you to pretend for a while that there was never a language called C, the syntactical basis for Java that has been around for 30 years. While C is a great language, its imprint on Java left a quite a few constructs that can distract you from building good object-oriented systems. Using Agile Java, you can learn the right way of doing things before having to understand these legacies of the Java language. Who Is This Book For? I designed Agile Java for new programmers who want to learn Java as their first language. The book can also be effective for programmers familiar with TDD but new to Java, or vice versa. Experienced Java developers may find that going through Agile Java presents them with a new, and I hope better, way of approaching things. This edition of Agile Java covers Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) version 5.0. Sun has made available dozens of class libraries, or APIs (application programming interfaces), that enhance the core Java language. Some examples: JMS (Java Messaging Service) provides a definition for standard messaging-based solutions. EJBs (Enterprise Java Beans) provide a means of building component-based software for large enterprise solutions. JDBC (Java DataBase Connectivity) supplies a standard interface for interacting with relational databases. About a dozen of the advanced APIs are collectively known as J2EE (Java 2 Enterprise Edition). Many of the APIs require entire books for comprehensive coverage. There are dozens of books on J2EE. This book covers only a few of the additional APIs at an introductory level. Technologies that are used pervasively in the majority of enterprise applications, such as logging, JDBC, and Swing, are presented in Agile Java. Some of the information (for example, logging) will teach you all you need to know for most applications. Other lessons (for example, Swing and JDBC) will teach you a basic understanding of the technology. These lessons will provide you with enough to get started and will tell you where to go for more information. If you are developing mobile applications, you will be using J2ME (Java 2 Micro Edition). J2ME is a version of Java geared toward environments with limited resources, such as cell phones. J2ME has some significant limitations compared to J2SE. This book does not discuss anything specific with respect to J2ME. However, most of the core techniques and concepts of Java development are applicable to the J2ME environment. In order to use any of these add-on Java technologies, you must first understand the core language and libraries provided in J2SE. Agile Java will help you build that knowledge. What This Book Is Not Agile Java is not an exhaustive treatise on every aspect of the Java language. It instead provides an agile approach to learning the language. Rather than giving you all the fish, I teach you how to fish and sometimes where to find the fish. Agile Java will teach you the majority of the core language concepts. Indeed, upon completing the core fifteen lessons, you will be able to produce quality production Java code. However, there are bound to be a few esoteric language features and nuances that I do not cover in the book. One way to become familiar with the dusty corners of the language is to peruse the Java Language Specification (JLS). The second edition of the language specification is available at [a href="http://java.sun.com/docs/books/jls" target="_blank">http://java.sun.com/docs/books/jls . This edition covers versions of Java up to but not including J2SE 5.0. A third edition of the JLS is in the works at the time I write this. You can find a maintenance review version at
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| Product Details |
| LoC Classification |
QA76.73.J38L3575 2005 |
| Dewey |
005.13/3 |
| ISBN |
0131482394 |
| Cover Price |
49,99 € |
| Nr of Pages |
792 |
| First Edition |
No |
| Rare |
No |
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