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Stranger Things in Java: Constants

What you are reading is the fourth in a series of articles titled "Stranger things in Java", inspired by the contents of my book "Java for Aliens". These articles are dedicated to insights of the Java language. Deepening the topics we use every day will allow us to master the Java coding even in the strangest scenario.

Introduction

In this article, we will explore some scenarios involving the use of constants where even experienced programmers may have doubts. Although the topic may be well known, not everyone has explored particular scenarios such as solving multiple inheritance in presence of homonymous constants. Strengthening one's theoretical basis is essential to be able to program with confidence.

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Stranger Things in Java: Constructors

Introduction

What you are reading is the second in a series of articles titled “Stranger things in Java” (find the first article here), inspired by the contents of my book “Java for Aliens”. These articles are dedicated to insights of the Java language. Deepening the topics we use every day, will allow us to master Java coding even in the strangest scenario.

In this post, we will explore some scenarios in which the use of a Java programming base concept, such as the constructor, can hide some pitfalls. In particular, after having clarified some fundamental definitions, we will explore the relationships between constructors and inheritance, constructors and polymorphism, and the hidden work of the compiler.

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Baby Yoda and Stranger Things: The Case for Shorter Mainframe Software Release Cycles

Overview: Careful thought must be paid to how we want our users to consume our mainframe software updates. Releasing incrementally has definite advantages over big releases. Just look at how we consume popular TV shows.

BABY YODA! Now that I have your attention, let’s consider how Baby Yoda became a big thing over the last few months, growing with each new episode of Disney’s The Mandalorian. Baby Yoda was able to stay in our minds for the period that the episodes where dropped weekly. What Disney did here was smart: they put out incremental weekly releases of the show. This meant that we couldn’t binge; we had to watch each week and wait for more. We had time to think about and discuss each episode. Each episode could stand on its own and have a week to be dissected before the next was presented. It provides for a much longer period in front of the public.

Contrast that with a series that is dropped all on one day like Netflix’s Stranger Things. This produces a big buzz, but mostly for a few days until everyone has seen it. The interest does not last as long as if it were stretched out over several weeks. There isn’t the time to review and discuss each episode because you wait until everyone has caught up and then you can discuss the whole season.