Ted Neward's Home Page

Who I Am

I'm a C++, Java and .NET instructor, architect and mentor, living and working in the Northern California (specifically, Sacramento--Go Kings!) area. My professional interests center around software, specifically enterprise server-side development.

What I Do

I offer the services of an experienced architect and mentor who's "been there, done that, bought the T-shirt" for just about every kind of software development project--in-house to shrink-wrap, handheld (PalmPilot) to headless (enterprise systems), C to Java and beyond (C#). In particular, I can

• lead code reviews in a gentle, non-confrontational manner
• assist/consult on design of software systems
• run discussion/"study" groups on software topics
• mentor programmers of all skill levels

I'm currently an instructor (contract basis, about 2 weeks per month) with DevelopMentor, quite possibly the coolest place to work on the planet. I also contract and consult to a variety of firms in the Sacramento area. If you're in the area, and you'd like me to come work with your developers and teach them the latest in Java and .NET technologies, contact me. Hard to differentiate me from any other technophile? Hear what others have to say about working with me, reading my book, learning from me, and hearing me speak.

Current Research

Papers

• Using JNDI to encapsulate retrieval of business objects. JNDI, the Java Naming and Directory Interface, simplifies the process of acquiring any named resource, regardless of its backing store--RMI Registry, CORBA Naming Service, file system, whatever. I want to build a JNDI Provider to act as an API for retrieving business objects. I think JNDI is probably one of the most underrespected APIs in the entire J2SE suite of APIs.
• Using AspectJ to offer some of the same facilities offered by an EJB system. Metaobject programming, I'm convinced, will be the Next Big Thing, especially for enterprise systems.
• Generative Programming in Java. Several systems (not just AspectJ, above) seem to offer the kinds of metaobject capabilities that EJB and a runtime interception model provide, without the huge complexity overhead. Specifically, I'm looking at Javassist and OpenJava, both from Shigeru Chiba, of the University of Tsukuba in Japan, as ways to achieve this.
• Using Jini to create a component-oriented enterprise model. I want to make use of Jini's Discovery and Join protocols and offer an EJB-like componentry model while taking advantage of Jini's self-healing networking ability.
• JAAS for enterprise systems. Lots of enterprise systems need to provide selective access to parts of the system, based on userids and passwords stored in a database; I want to use JAAS and standard Java2 Security models to provide those capabilities. (Note: several OpenSource projects have also gone this route, most notably jBoss, the EJB container. Part of my research, however, is to determine how feasible it would be for this mechanism to be exposed to domain programmers, rather than buried in the plumbing.)
• Use Javadoc for more than just documentation. The Javadoc tool permits the execution of small integrated framework "pieces" they call "doclets". I want to create a doclet that will run within Javadoc, parse out special "@attribute" tags, and insert customized Attribute-deriving classes into a compiled .class file. Sound familiar? It's exactly the same facility .NET supports directly, in "custom attributes". What's more, with it, I want to provide the same kind of flexibility that .NET attributes offer--the ability to add custom "decorations" to Java class metadata, extractable at runtime (via some utility classes/methods). (Note: again, some folks, most notably Rickard Oberg, again of jBoss fame, have gone down this road. In Rickard's case, he created the EJBDoclet, to allow for expression of deployment descriptors from Javadoc Doclets.) Note: Eureka! I've got a working model; if you're interested in seeing the code before I finish writing the paper, mail me and I'll send you a drop.
• JMX from servlets. JMX, the Java Management eXtensions API, is an API designed to allow administration and management (as well as some monitoring capabilities) of Java components. Servlets are currently the most popular form of server-side Java component--it's natural that we should admin and monitor servlets using JMX.

Books

• Effective Enterprise Java, from Addison-Wesley.

Projects

• JSR-111. As a member of the JSR-111 Expert Group, I'm pursuing discussions regarding a standard "Java Services Framework".
• Reinvent GJAS. After looking back at the Generic Java Application Server I wrote for the SBPJ book, and reviewing a few other things coming down the pike in the Java world, I've decided I'd really like to reinvent the way I did things for that API--as it stands now it's got too many warts, IMHO. I want to
  1. Move to a cleaner deployment approach. Specifically, integreate the PluginClassLoader (or something similar) into the system. Use manifests inside jar files to indicate which services to load, that sort of thing.
  2. Enable clustering. Right now, adding clustering support to the GJAS implementation would be difficult.
  3. Open-Source it. Get it to a point where the basic architecture is in place, then turn it loose on the open-source community.
  4. Bring it in line with some JSRs. Specifically, the Daemon API JSR and a few others that are still in transit.
  5. Integrate it with JMX. JMX (Java Management Extensions) are the way to go for management and monitoring of Java apps--make GJAS fall into line on this, as well.
  If you have a burning desire to get involved on this, feel free to mail me, but be warned--this is a low-priority item for me, and I may not get back to you real quickly.
• Java Assemblies. .NET has a really good componentization story in their "assembly" concept. Steal it and bring it over to Java, probably based around .jar files.
• Java .EXE binder. .NET is able to produce .EXE files from compiled C#/VB/JScript/ManagedC++ simply by binding the IL assembly inside a Win32 PE/COFF file with a simple entry point stub that creates the CLR host, then tells the host to execute the embedded IL inside the EXE. I want to reproduce this for Java: give me a .jar file, I'll give you a Win32 executable containing the startup code to create the JVM, plus embed the actual Java bytecode inside the executable. When I finish this, I'll open source it, probably through SourceForge.

Summary

Books

• C# in a Nutshell by Peter Drayton, Ben Albahari, and myself.
• Server-Side Java (Read a review of this book by the Utah Java User's Group or another one by the New England Java User's Group.)
• Core OWL 5.0
• Advanced OWL 5.0

Papers

• Understanding Class.forName (Dynamic ClassLoading in Extensions)
• Using the BootClassPath
• Serializable Adapter (Making non-Serializable objects play nice in Serialized streams)
• Java Statics (When a static field really isn't static)
• Multiple Java Homes (Giving your Java apps their own JRE)
• Others can be found listed here

Professional Involvement

• Java Instructor, DevelopMentor; I teach Essential Java, Intensive Java, Essential Java Web Development, Essential.NET, Essential RMI, Guerilla Java, Intensive .NET and Guerilla .NET for DevelopMentor; contact them to have me teach the class at your site. (If you're a former student of mine, and you're looking for the in-class demos, look here. As requested, I've also finally written up a reading list of books.)
• Founder of the Sacramento Patterns Group
• Monthly technical presenter at the Sacramento Java User's Group
• Former founding member of the NetDynamics "TeamND" developer support group (not that NetDynamics exists anymore....)

Speaking Engagements

• "Why EJB Isn't the Second Coming" (slides and notes), for the Portland Java User's Group in January of 2001 and the Orange County Java User's Group in March of 2001.
• "Java vs. Microsoft .NET", for the New England Java User's Group in February of 2001 and the LA Java User's Group in March of 2001.

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Format shamelessly copied from that of Doug Lea's Home Page, whom I respect deeply and highly recommend reading his book, Concurrent Programming in Java, 2nd Edition.