OO Programming Newsletter #47 from Bruce Eckel February 2003 = = = Contents = = = * Essays.MindView.net now online * Solutions guides now available with Visa/MC/Amex * Consulting availability in April * Need technical reviewers from favorable-exchange-rate countries * New Seminar: Designing Objects & Systems * New Seminar: Thinking in Patterns * New Seminar: Intermediate C++ * Upcoming Seminars: -- Updated Thinking in Java Hands-on Seminar -- Java2 Enterprise Programming Seminar * Project Residencies in Crested Butte * Bill Venners publishes new articles each Monday on Artima.com * Speaking at Ann Arbor Computer Society * D Language comparison chart * Please post reviews on Amazon.com, report articles * Results of Scan Converter Query * Volunteer to contribute to Thinking in Patterns See the Calendar for the current schedule: http://www.mindview.net/Calendar =================================== * Essays.MindView.net now online This new feature attempts to bring more value to MindView customers and users by creating short articles on topics we think you might be interested in. In an attempt to keep the signal-to-noise ratio high, the articles will be written by myself, one of my associates, or appropriate 3rd-party contributors. http://Essays.MindView.net =================================== * Solutions guides now available with Visa/MC/Amex For those who couldn't buy the solution guides because PayPal didn't serve their country, we've fixed the problem by ditching PayPal and going to Authorize.net. Both the Thinking in C++, 2e Volume 1 Annotated Solution Guide and the Thinking in Java 2e Annotated solution guide can now be purchased by anyone with a Visa, MasterCard or American Express at: http://www.mindview.net/Books/TICPP/Solutions/orderForm http://www.mindview.net/Books/TIJ/Solutions/orderForm Note that if you buy the Java 2e solutions guide you will automatically receive the 3rd edition solutions guide when it is ready (soon, we hope). =================================== * Consulting availability in April This month I had an excellent time giving a 3-day, on-site, intermediate-level Java seminar, based on the later chapters in TIJ3; participants were expected to have studied the earlier chapters on their own (This way I could go into more depth in the later material in the book). This was combined with 2 days of design consulting on a project that the company was starting up. The combination was very interesting and stimulating for me, and beneficial to the customer. I would be interested in providing more services like this (the formula doesn't have to be exactly as described above; it could be all consulting, for example). Although I only have one week of time available, coming up in April, if this sounds like something you need, email me at. =================================== * Need technical reviewers from favorable-exchange-rate countries In an endeavor to get more and better feedback to produce better books, I'm creating a list of expert-level technical reviewers to hire for future projects. The budget for books is not big, so that's why I'm looking for people from countries where the exchange rate is favorable with the US, to make it a win-win situation. You must have the ability to study and absorb English documentation, to identify and research any features that you suspect may be wrong, and to suggest corrections. You will be helping to create and ensure the quality of future "Thinking in..." books. We don't have a need right now, but I'd like to start connecting with people before we do have a need. If you're interested, email me with the subject "Technical Reviewer." =================================== * New Seminar: Designing Objects & Systems We've finally split the old "Objects & Patterns" seminar, which was bursting at the seams, into two more well-targeted seminars; I will still be co-teaching both of them with Bill Venners. The first is Designing Objects & Systems, targeted at the difficult process of decomposing your system design into appropriate objects, and ensuring that you use the proper design guidelines for the objects themselves. http://www.mindview.net/Seminars/ObjectsAndSystems/ =================================== * New Seminar: Thinking in Patterns The second seminar from the split described about is now pure design patterns, based on my book-in-development "Thinking in Patterns." This will be premiered in Prague this May. For full details, see: http://www.mindview.net/Seminars/ThinkingInPatterns/ =================================== * New Seminar: Intermediate C++ Chuck Allison and I are still working on Volume 2 of Thinking in C++, and it will be the basis for the Intermediate C++ seminar to be held in Crested Butte this summer, June 23-27. We do not yet have full details but it will closely follow the book. Watch the seminars page for more information as we fill in the blanks: http://www.mindview.net/Seminars =================================== * Upcoming Seminars: -- Updated Thinking in Java Hands-on Seminar Dates: April 14-18, Boston, MA June 16-20, San Francisco Emeryville, CA August 4-8, Crested Butte, CO Full details: http://www.mindview.net/Seminars/ThinkingInJava/ -- Java2 Enterprise Programming Dates: April 21-25, San Francisco Emeryville, CA May 12-16, Prague, Czech Republic June 16-20, San Francisco Emeryville, CA August 18-22, Crested Butte, CO Full details: http://www.mindview.net/Seminars/J2EE/ =================================== * Project Residencies in Crested Butte Coached by Bruce Eckel. Expert assistance in an exceptional environment. Don't just think outside the box, work outside the box! Bring your project up to Crested Butte, CO for clear thinking in beautiful surroundings and high mountain air! Selected periods, June-October, 2003, in Crested Butte, Colorado. http://www.mindview.net/Seminars/ProjectResidency/ =================================== * Bill Venners publishes new articles each Monday on Artima.com In "How to Interview a Programmer," learn interview techniques, garnered from a recent summit on Writing Better Code organized by Bruce Eckel and Scott Meyers, that can help you find the most qualified programmers for your project. http://www.artima.com/wbc/interprog.html In "Create an XML Reporter for Your Unit Tests," learn how to create a customer reporter for Artima SuiteRunner that formats unit test (including JUnit) results in XML. http://www.artima.com/suiterunner/xmlreporter.html =================================== * Speaking at Ann Arbor Computer Society On April 2, I will be speaking in Ann Arbor, Michigan at the Ann Arbor Computer Society's 10-year anniversary conference, on "Important Software Development Language Features in +-10 years." For details, see the link from the Calendar: http://www.mindview.net/Calendar =================================== * D Language comparison chart D continues to become more interesting, with direct language support for unit testing and design-by-contract. It now supports nested functions, closures, and function literals. Compare D with other languages here: http://www.digitalmars.com/d/comparison.html =================================== * Please post reviews on Amazon.com, report articles My editor has asked me to ask everyone I know to post reviews of "Thinking in Java, 3rd Edition" on Amazon.com. Thanks! Also, if you see any articles about the books on the web or in print, please let me know. =================================== * Results of Scan Converter Query Thanks to everyone who sent recommendations in response to my query last month. I've posted a brief summary of the results: http://Essays.MindView.net =================================== * Volunteer to contribute to Thinking in Patterns At the "Writing Better Code" technical summit last month in Portland, Scott Meyers suggested the use of volunteers to do technical reviews and contributions. Based on Scott's suggestion and my desire to move the "Thinking in Patterns" project forward, I thought I'd see if people are interested in creating examples for "Thinking in Patterns." My goal at this point is to cover the "Gang of Four" (the book "Design Patterns") patterns in Java, as follows. For each pattern in that book, "Thinking in Patterns" will have: 1) One example that *only* shows the structure of the pattern, but no concrete example. 2) Two examples, as simple as possible, of each pattern showing different uses. My feeling is that until you see two separate examples it's hard to really understand what's part of the pattern and what are implementation details in a particular design. The reward for your efforts will be whatever fame and resume material comes from a footnote in the book saying that you worked on that particular example. Jeremy Meyer will be managing the contribution effort; email him at jeremy@jeremymeyer.com if you are interested. ___| 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 visiting: http://www.mindview.net/mailman/listinfo/eckel-oo-programming Bruce Eckel http://www.mindview.net