OO Programming Newsletter #39 from Bruce Eckel June 2002 = = = Contents = = = * No May newsletter * No virus from here * Summer Seminars: J2EE, Thinking in Java * The Last Objects & Patterns Seminar * TIJ3 contract signed, interns working * TIC++ Volume 2 progressing * Looking for code formatting tool * Switching to Mailman for this newsletter See the Calendar for the current schedule: http://www.mindview.net/Calendar =================================== * No May newsletter It's true, I didn't send a newsletter last month. I was cycling along the Danube and/or in Budapest when the newsletter deadline came up, and wasn't quite ready to send a newsletter via an Internet cafe. When we switch to Mailman (see below) the situation should improve. =================================== * No virus from here There are indications that a number of you have been getting spoofed viral spam with my name on it, from some henious virus on the web that finds people's email addresses in the infected machine's address list, and sends out email with various different addresses (other than the actual sender of the infected machine). So you think you got it from me, and that my machine is infected, instead of from Bob X who's machine is actually infected. Yeah, this is clever, and Microsoft deserves volumes of hate mail for claiming that security is not a problem for all these years and continuing to add "features" without paying any thought to the consequences and now claiming that open source would be the downfall of civilization because it would allow security problems and thinking that they can just say whatever they think we want to hear in order to buy more stuff from them and because this strategy has worked in the past and so they think we're all really that stupid... Um ... Where was I? Oh, yes: the MindView server (thanks to Evan@TheUnixMan.com) is heavily prophilacted -- there is antiviral and antispam stuff on the server, so bad emails never even get a chance to get to our computers. Since these measures were taken, email has become manageable again. So, in short, it's not us :-) =================================== * The Last Objects & Patterns Seminar August 26-30 in Crested Butte, Colorado http://www.mindview.net/Seminars/ObjectsAndPatterns/ Taught by Bruce Eckel & Bill Venners This will be the last one of these seminars that we give. After this, we will be creating separate classes on Object-Oriented Design and Design Patterns (although Bill and I still plan to co-teach both classes, because we have so much fun doing it). We haven't decided when the first one will be scheduled, but because of the time required for Thinking in Java, 3rd edition, it may not be until next year. So if you've ever wanted to take this very popular class, this is your last chance! =================================== * TIJ3 contract signed, interns working Last week I signed the contract for the 3rd edition of "Thinking in Java," and the interns (all 5 of them up here in Crested Butte) have begun work on various projects relating to the new edition. I'll post more details in a future newsletter, but basically I'm moving towards spending all my time on the new edition (well, as much as I can, given the usual juggling act). =================================== * TIC++ Volume 2 progressing On the way up to Crested Butte, I stopped and spent 4 days with Chuck Allison, Editor of the C/C++ Users Journal and co-author of "Thinking in C++, Volume 2." We spent the time working on the structure of a multithreading chapter which I will (re)write for Thinking in Java 3rd edition and which he will translate for TIC++ V2 (it's very likely that there will be threading in the next version of the C++ standard, and it seems probable that it will follow the library that's on Boost.org). The book is progressing well and we hope to have an update on the book download site in the next couple of weeks. =================================== * Looking for code formatting tool To help in the development and consistency of the code listings in the 3rd edition of "Thinking in Java," I'm looking for a good code reformatter, one that is reconfigurable. Of course, open-source or shareware is preferable since then I can easily recommend it to others who may not have the resources, but I'm happy to pay for something that's really good. One thing I've found is that not all reformatters handle comment reformatting, in particular when trying to reformat to respect a limited line width like we have in the book. IntelliJ has been promising this for awhile but seems to have gotten bogged down, I haven't seen much progress from them since their early burst of creativity. We are also working on "Thinking in C#" and "Thinking in C++ Volume2" so if you know of good reformatters for C# or C++, I'd like to know about those, too. Please send recommendations to jjbadri@hotmail.com =================================== * Switching to Mailman for this newsletter As some of you may have noticed, the quality of Lyris.net (my newsletter service) has been going downhill during the past few issues of the newsletter. Part of this might be due to the fact that Mailman, a program written in Python, has been getting better and easier over time and thus giving them competition. At MindView, we've been using Mailman for small specialized lists, and have liked it a lot. The feedback from people using it for larger lists has been good, so this newsletter will be switching over to Mailman. Once we do that, things like changing addresses will become much easier. ___| Until Next Time... |________________________ Computer nerd humor http://www.valleyofthegeeks.com/ Java programming questions: http://www.mindview.net/Books/TIJ/JavaQuestions.html Speaking & Seminar schedule: http://www.mindview.net/Calendar/ Anyone can sign up for this free newsletter by sending an email to join-eckel-oo-programming@earth.lyris.net. Bruce Eckel http://www.mindview.net