Embedded applications

Embedded applications are software applications that get loaded onto non-traditional computing devices. The dashboard computer in a new automobile, the touchscreen terminal in an airport terminal kiosk and the remote scanners used in warehouses and retail stores are all examples of modern computing devices that run embedded apps. Learn about the embedded operating systems, platforms and frameworks that can help application developers build embedded software without writing machine code or starting from scratch.

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News 06 Oct 2017
Java modules and Project Jigsaw a source of JavaOne 2017 pride

It wasn't easy getting Project Jigsaw ratified, but it is now part of the Java SE 9 package, and Oracle executives at JavaOne 2017 couldn't be prouder. Continue Reading
Feature 25 Jul 2017
Will voice user interfaces usurp the traditional UI?

It would appear that innovation has stalled in terms of mobile and desktop user interfaces, which is why voice user interfaces might be the future for application interactions. Continue Reading

News 24 Jun 2013

The JPA 2.0 EntityManager vs. the Hibernate Session: Which one to use?

The question for data persistence experts using JPA 2.0 is whether they should be using the EntityManager or the Hibernate Session from JBoss for ORM. Continue Reading
Tip 07 Jun 2013

Understanding the implicit dangers of software component re-use

Every software developers has the goal of component re-use, but there are implicit dangers in the practice that all developers must be aware of. Continue Reading
Tip 06 Jun 2013

Mobile ALM Tip: Four ways to effectively move apps out of production

Moving applications out of production can be a mobile ALM challenge, but with these four tips, organizations will be minimizing the challenge of application decommissioning. Continue Reading
Tutorial 30 May 2013

JSR-286 Development Tutorial: JSPs, MVC and the portlet tag library

This JSR-286 tutorial demonstrates how to develop JSPs, using the portlet tag library, that comply to the MVC design pattern. Continue Reading
Feature 22 May 2013

Inside advice on the use of Platform as a Service in the enterprise

CloudBees founder and CEO Sacha Labourey answers tough questions and hands out practical advice about PaaS and how it works in the enterprise. Continue Reading
Tutorial 17 May 2013

JSR-286 development tutorial: Mastering request-response programming

This portlet programming tutorial shows how the PortletRequest and Portlet Response are used when developing JSR-286, request-response based apps. Continue Reading
Tutorial 16 May 2013

JSR-286 development tutorial: An introduction to portlet programming

This portlet programming tutorial is an introduction to developing JSR-286 applications that can be deployed to any standards-based portal server. Continue Reading
Tip 05 May 2013

Two most commonly misconfigured Tomcat performance settings

Tomcat on the server is different from Tomcat on the desktop, but too many system admins fail to optimize their production servers for performance. Continue Reading
Tip 05 May 2013

Tomcat performance optimization through consolidated log file handlers

By default Tomcat uses several log file handlers, but performance can easily be optimized by configuring the server to use only one. Continue Reading
Tutorial 23 Apr 2013

How 'big data' solved the content management (CMS) problem

Content management systems that need to sift through huge amounts of data are big data problems in need of a solution. Fortunately, projects like Hadoop and MapReduce are coming to the rescue. Continue Reading
Feature 23 Apr 2013

Big Data Hadoop solutions with Hive, Mahout, HBase and Cassandra

As Hadoop evolves, complimentary technologies such as Hive, Mahout, HBase and Cassandra are allowing software engineers get more and more out of commodity hardware. Continue Reading
News 19 Apr 2013

Oracle announces delays in the JDK 8 release schedule

After patching Web browser security issues, the Java Platform Group at Oracle has announced delays to the release cycle of JDK 8. Continue Reading
Tip 14 Apr 2013

Software requirements and expectation management key to project success

Many shun the task of properly documenting a system, but successful projects know that effective requirements docs lead to better expectation management and a greater degree of success. Continue Reading
Feature 09 Apr 2013

Alternative JVM languages: Scala explained

Watch this video lesson to learn the benefits of exploring the JVM alternative language Scala. Continue Reading
Feature 08 Apr 2013

Simplified cloud-based application development with Node.js

Cloud-based application development with Node.js allows for one simple and scalable technology to be used on both the client and the server. Continue Reading
Tip 07 Apr 2013

BEST: Simple web service alternatives to SOAP, XML and REST

Sometimes architects over-complicate web services, but indeed, effective solutions can be created without SOA, REST and SOAP. Continue Reading
Feature 01 Apr 2013

Key benefits of architecting loosely coupled SOA-based solutions

Service-oriented architectures (SOA) experience the most benefits when architects use loose coupling to build their solutions. Continue Reading
Tip 21 Mar 2013

Tradeoff management key to successful software development techniques

To successfully develop software, tradeoffs must be made in cost, quality and time. Proper tradeoff management results in quality software. Continue Reading
Tutorial 13 Mar 2013

Mobile application development tutorial

Looking for a start in developing mobile apps for existing enterprise computing systems? This mobile application development tutorial is here to help. Continue Reading
Tip 12 Mar 2013

Performance and troubleshooting tips for JSF 2.0 Facelet developers

JSF 2.0 has provided a variety of new configuration settings to help improve performance and aid the troubleshooting task, making the lives of software developers and quality engineers much easier. Continue Reading
Tip 06 Mar 2013

Effective Naming Strategies for RESTful Web Services

New descriptive languages like WADL and WSDL 2.0 are making it possible to describe the RESTful contract to client applications. However, if your RESTful web services are not named effectively, the mechanism for describing the interface may run out of steam. Continue Reading
Feature 06 Mar 2013

How Headless Android is Impacting Embedded Systems Development

Given the fact that Android is targetted towards the smartphone market, you wouldn't expect any significant interest in Android from the embedded market. However, making Android 'headless', and working with it on an embedded device has a variety of compelling use cases, and accordingly it is becomming ever more popular. Continue Reading
Feature 21 Feb 2013

Mobile ALM guidance: Android and iOS development is not ‘business as usual’

Mobile development presents new challenges to architects and solution developers, but guidance on the topic of mobile ALM (application lifecycle management) is lacking, and the industry is looking for answers. Continue Reading
Tip 15 Feb 2013

ALM expert says Agile methods are the way to conquer mobile ALM

Enterprise application developers are finding mobile application lifecycle management has challenges. ALM pro Howard Deiner advises an Agile approach. Continue Reading
Feature 07 Feb 2013

Effective API development: How to create a beautiful Java API

There's an art to creating a beautiful Java API. Here we examine the art of effective API development with Layer 7's Mike Amundsen. Continue Reading
Feature 06 Feb 2013

How big data and distributed systems solve traditional scalability problems

The highly centralized enterprise data center is becoming a thing of the past, as organizations must embrace a more distributed model to deal with everything from content management to big data. Here we examine how technologies like Hadoop and NoSQL fit into modern distributed architectures in a way that solves scalability and performance problems. Continue Reading
Feature 06 Feb 2013

How to architect a modern distributed architecture

Building a distributed architecture involves many different components and many different strategies, from client server computing, to managing big data and content. Here we look at some basic strategies for tackling modern distributed architectures. Continue Reading
Feature 06 Feb 2013

Contrasting distributed computing with concurrent programming:

In many ways, concurrent programming and distributed programming address the same set of programming issues, but there are significant differences between the two, and architects and developers need to understand the difference. Continue Reading
Tutorial 11 Jan 2013

Spring sucks? Refuting the case against Spring

Because some old school J2EE types think Spring sucks, Ken Rimple takes some time to refute common complaints about Spring. Continue Reading
Tutorial 11 Jan 2013

Java EE vs. Spring: The two are not quite equivalent

Java EE has certainly improved since the days of J2EE, but a look at Spring and Java EE today shows Java still has some catching up to do. Continue Reading
Tutorial 11 Jan 2013

A Spring summary: The Spring framework is still relevant

Ken Rimple, Spring guru and co-author of 'Spring Roo in Action,' introduces the Spring framework and presents three reasons why Spring is still relevant. Continue Reading
Feature 10 Jan 2013

How NoSQL, MySQL and MongoDB worked together to solve a big-data problem

Choosing between schemaless NoSQL databases and strong-schema relational designs isn't an either-or decision, as this case study points out. When dealing with their big data problem, Craigslist decided that their MySQL servers could use a little help from MongoDB, and putting the two technologies together created a better system with greater availability, scalability and performance. Continue Reading
Feature 09 Jan 2013

The Craigslist Dilemma: A case study for big data and NoSQL solutions

It's hard to imagine just how many postings Craigslist has handled over the years, and if you were in charge of archiving those posts and storing them for compliance, you'd need a 'big data' solution. So how does Craigslist manage all of their data, both the incoming stuff and the stuff that needs archiving? It's a beautiful combination of MySQL, NoSQL and a little help from the people at 10Gen. Continue Reading
News 12 Dec 2012

Cloud's impact on ALM

At the 2012 AADI Summit in Las Vegas, Gartner VP Mark Driver explained how the cloud is changing the way developers create and maintain software. Continue Reading
News 11 Dec 2012

How Amazon discovered hybrid HTML5/Java Android app development

While their early approach to hybrid HTML5/Java Android mobile apps may have had a few hiccups, Java developers can still learn from it. Continue Reading
News 30 Nov 2012

The evolution of the API: A future beyond mobile and embedded systems

According to Kin Lane, APIs are moving from social media to the enterprise. Will public APIs be the key to computing in the internet of things? Continue Reading
Quiz 30 Nov 2012

Cloud application knowledge quiz

Test your knowledge with SearchCloudApplications.com's cloud application knowledge quiz. Continue Reading
Tip 16 Nov 2012

Try an Agile deployment strategy

Agile development methods hold value for more than planning, design, development and testing. A deployment strategy also benefits from Agile tactics. Continue Reading
Tip 16 Nov 2012

Finding the cause helps solve future application deployment issues

Application deployment issues put a black mark on successful enterprise applications. Learn to guard your applications from the most common pitfalls. Continue Reading
Tip 16 Nov 2012

Cloud deployment shows pros and cons for legacy applications

Legacy applications may benefit from cloud deployment, but there are a host of concerns to look at, too, when considering redeploying older applications. Continue Reading
Feature 16 Nov 2012

Cloud Deployment Testing: Leveraging PaaS, Saas and IaaS

Many challenges arise when it comes time to deploy your applications, and if deployment goes wrong, the problems are incredibly visible to both the users and upper management. But with cloud computing, there is a better way to smooth out the deployment process. Continue Reading
Feature 01 Nov 2012

Collaboration and transparency: The keys to successful application development

Ubuntu moves forward by harnessing the power of the open source community. It's a model that is extremely dissimilar to what we see in enterprise development, but there are allegories between the two. Here, we take a look at what enterprise development shops can learn from the community process. Continue Reading
Feature 01 Nov 2012

Application lifecycle management: Best practices for improving the deployment process

Nothing is more visible to both clients and senior management than an applications that doesn't work. And the risk for failure is never higher than it is the moment after deployment. So how do you ensure deployment always goes smoothly. There is no silver bullet, but there are some best practices for deployment, which we will examine in this article. Continue Reading
Tip 24 Oct 2012

Consistent application performance: It's not always about speed

When developing applications, the response time is always an important metric. But inconsistent response times can often be more aggravating than slow sites. Make sure you take response time consistency into your application performance reviews. Continue Reading
Tip 24 Oct 2012

How to articulate and define performance requirements

Don't fall into the trap of failing to define performance requirements for your applications early on in the application lifecycle. If you follow this quick tip, you'll find that articulating your performance requirements isn't that hard. Continue Reading
Feature 18 Oct 2012

Web page performance: Removing the white flicker delay

Looking for ways to improve the performance of web page rendering and removal of the white flicker that often occurs when a web page loads? There are many tweaks and tips commonly talked about regarding web page development – from design to the final deployment of an application. However, most of the end user's time is spent on the front end, hence from the user's perspective the most promising area to look for improvement is with the web page and how speedily the web pages loads when user clicks on a link or URL. Continue Reading
News 01 Oct 2012

JavaOne conference coverage 2012

Join TheServerSide.com and SearchOracle.com as we present conference coverage from JavaOne and Oracle OpenWorld. Continue Reading
Feature 26 Sep 2012

Accelerating mobile development with PaaS, SaaS and IaaS

Mobile development teams are finding success by leveraging various cloud services in order to make application development easier. Continue Reading
Feature 26 Sep 2012

Modern mobile development techniques: The Y-shaped methodology

To support all of the platforms in the mobile space, Agile teams are realizing that a Y-shaped methodology is best for mobile development. Continue Reading
Feature 26 Sep 2012

Top five ways cloud computing impacts mobile application development teams

To accelerate time to market, mobile application development teams are relying heavily on these five cloud computing services. Continue Reading
Feature 21 Sep 2012

Embedded architecture accelerates mobile application development

Mobile application development projects succeed at getting products to market quickly. The reason behind the speed? It's all about the architecture. Continue Reading
Feature 23 Aug 2012

How cloud computing is impacting enterprise Java developers

How do cloud computing technologies impact the day-to-day development patterns of typical Java developers? Continue Reading
Feature 08 Aug 2012

What type of software development professional do you need?

Be it an agile team or a company using a waterfall type of development process, your application development team needs an assortment of different skills and skillsets. Here we look at the various types professionals that make up the typical application development team. Continue Reading
Feature 25 Jul 2012

Discovering the right metrics for scalability testing

Scalability testing is perhaps the most important test you need to run on your application before going forward with deployment. But how do you know when you've proven that your application can scale. Here we take a look at some of the most important metrics to measure when testing the scalability of your applications. Continue Reading
Feature 25 Jul 2012

Application lifecycle management (ALM) challenges for multiple apps

Managing the lifecycle of one application is a challenge, but how do you go about the application lifecycle management process when you have multiple big applications being developed simultaneously. The best project managers need to know how to manage multiple applications simultaneously. Continue Reading
Feature 12 Jul 2012

What's the big IDE? Comparing Eclipse and NetBeans

The Java community has long debated the best IDE. Is it Eclipse or NetBeans? These are the two most popular among TherServerSide.com readers. Continue Reading
Feature 01 Jun 2012

Scaling Web applications with Scala, Clojure and Groovy

Scaling Web applications written in Java can be difficult due to thread concurrency and locking issues. However, immutable peripheral languages like Scala, Groovy, and Clojure can make scaling up more feasible. Continue Reading
Feature 31 May 2012

Why Java applications fail to scale linearly: A simple explanation

The process of scaling up Java applications often runs into the problem of diminishing returns, where adding another processor no longer adds significant benefit. Why won't Java programs scale? Here's your answer. Continue Reading
Feature 30 May 2012

Java EE 7 migration: Risk mitigation strategies

Some enterprise Java shops are weighing the risks of a migration to Java EE 7 against the potential benefits, which are incremental and cloud focused. Continue Reading
Tip 07 May 2012

Automate Web server load balancing for high scalability

Automating Web server load balancing tasks provides high scalability for enterprise applications. Continue Reading
Tip 04 May 2012

Why application integration matters

Application integration may hold much more benefit than most Java development shops realize. Continue Reading
Feature 22 Mar 2012

Project documentation and Agile development

Agile development has been very effective at reducing the need for extensive, ponderous documentation. However, this methodology has not done away with the need for documentation entirely. It has simply moved documentation from a foundational role to a supportive role. Continue Reading
Feature 20 Mar 2012

Ten Reasons to Love Liferay

Summing it up, if you are launching an enterprise portal project, you certainly should consider using a portal product as the foundation Continue Reading
Tutorial 24 Feb 2012

Convert server-side Java to client-side HTML

This brief video tutorial uses Java code on the server side to push an HTML link to the client in simple html. Continue Reading
Tutorial 24 Feb 2012

Translate "Hello, world!" automatically via the Web browser

In this lesson, Cameron McKenzie will demonstrate how to build a Web application that automatically translates itself for various audiences based on the default language of the end user's Web browser. Continue Reading
Tip 23 Feb 2012

Five Neat Things You Can Do Out of the Box with Liferay Portal

If you've ever run a competitive portal, you know that so many of them have little more than the "weather portlet" or "bookmarks" portlet after installation. Liferay is amazing because it has such full featured functionality 'out of the box.' Here's just five featuers I love about Liferay Portal 6.1. Continue Reading
Tip 20 Feb 2012

Compare new Java Web application tools to the basics

When evaluating new Java Web application tools look back to the most basic Java development tools and see where the new tool takes you from there. Continue Reading
Tutorial 17 Feb 2012

Installing the JavaServer Faces Web application framework

Obtain and install the JavaServer Faces Web application framework as a solid basis for deploying Java applications on a Tomcat server. Continue Reading
Tutorial 17 Feb 2012

Install the Apache Tomcat application server

The first choice in application servers for many Java developers is the open source Apache Tomcat. Learn how to download and install the Apache Tomcat 6 servlet engine. Continue Reading
Tutorial 10 Feb 2012

Installing the Java Development Kit (JDK) and setting JAVA_HOME

The first choice in application servers for many Java developers is the open source Apache Tomcat. Learn how to download and install the Apache Tomcat 6 servlet engine. Continue Reading
Tip 10 Feb 2012

Rich user interface design affects application success

Use rich user interface design to encourage end users to engage with the application and maximize its useful potential. Continue Reading
Tip 26 Jan 2012

Java 7 and the intricacies of safe and unsafe casting

One of the problems with casting is that it does have the potential to cause a loss of precision, especially if the number that gets cast does indeed fall outside of the range of the target type. Here we will explain why this happens. Continue Reading
Feature 26 Jan 2012

Has Computer Programming Really Changed Much Since Lovelace's Time?

Everyone always talks about these new computer programming languages, and how great one is over the other. But really, has computer programming really changed that much over time? Continue Reading
Tutorial 12 Jan 2012

New Java 7 Features: How to Use a More Precise Rethrow in Exceptions from Project Coin

Afficionados of other languages such as Scala or Clojure are always slagging the fact that Java is too verbose and cumbersome. So, it's not too surprising to find out that Java 7 introduced a number of new facilities that can help to trim down the code an application developer is required to write. Continue Reading
Tutorial 22 Dec 2011

New Java 7 Features: A Numeric Underscores with Literals Tutorial

If you're doing the OCPJP upgrade exam, or just hitting the full blown OCPJP 7 Java certification, you need to know the ins and outs of the new language features. One fun and friendly syntax introduced with Java 7 is using numeric underscores. It's also an objective on the OCPJP7 exam: Using Numeric Underscores with Literals Continue Reading
Feature 21 Dec 2011

Embedded software patterns for more than just embedded systems

Embedded software patterns have a lot to offer any software engineer who routinely faces serious resource constraints. Continue Reading
Tutorial 15 Dec 2011

New Java 7 Features: Using String in the Switch Statement Tutorial

The new Java 7 Certified Professional exam expects you to know what's new with the switch statement in Java 7. The biggest news? The fact that you can now switch on a String literal. Continue Reading
Tutorial 15 Dec 2011

New Java 7 Features: Binary Notation and Literal Variable Initialization

Now with Java 7, you can not only use standard decimal notation, or the beloved hex notation, but you can use binary notation as well. Here's a good look at the ins and outs of binary notation, with a focus on what you'll need to know in order to pass the Java Professional certification exam from Oracle. Continue Reading
Tutorial 11 Nov 2011

Writing Java code in the cloud

The road bumps one experiences when they drive towards cloud computing can be avoided, especially when one has the opportunity to learn from the experiences of those who have gone before. Continue Reading
Feature 07 Nov 2011

Adding MVEL to the Java Developers Toolkit

By now you should be thoroughly convinced that as a Java developer you cannot afford to leave MVEL out of your toolbox, and that it fills a unique gap between complete programming environments like Groovy and Scala and expression languages like OGNL and JUEL. Continue Reading
Feature 04 Nov 2011

Modularizing the Hibernate SessionFactory with the Spring framework

This paper outlines a method for modular application development using Spring and Hibernate. The approach described has similarities to the OSGi or Spring DM approach. Continue Reading
Opinion 14 Oct 2011

A cloud service to build mobile apps

Tiggr is a cloud-based mobile app builder that provides a mobile application development platform as a service. Continue Reading
Tip 02 Oct 2011

Include vs. Forward of the Servlet RequestDispatcher

The key difference between the two is the fact that the forward method will close the output stream after it has been invoked, whereas the include method leaves the output stream open. Continue Reading
Feature 19 Sep 2011

Cloud Technologies are Changing the IT Landscape

By far, the largest impact of a cloud computing model is to IT infrastructure. The migration to such a model must be carefully considered because not only is hardware and software affected but also the way in which internal IT processes and vendor relationships must change. Continue Reading
Feature 26 Aug 2011

Embedded operating systems: Linux versus Windows

Choosing the right embedded operating system is not an easy decision. Closely examine the pros and cons of each OS to determine which one will bring the most value to your specific project. Continue Reading
Tip 17 Aug 2011

Spring Ehcache integration (Second-level caching in Hibernate)

Integrating Ehcache with Spring-based applications is actually fairly easy. Let's look at this integration with a sample BuddyManagement application. Continue Reading
Feature 09 Aug 2011

Managed File Transfer in Enterprise Java Applications

In an SOA world, bulk data transfer occurs largely by way of file transfer. "Multiple studies show that around 80% of business-to-business traffic consists of files," says Jonathan Lampe of File Transfer Consulting, a vendor-neutral consultancy focused solely on file transfer issues. Continue Reading
Feature 27 Jul 2011

Say No To The Cloud? There Are Reasons Why

The extensively use of IT systems by business users to increase productivity and bring down cots of operations has lead to building and maintaining substantial IT infrastructure. Managing the complex IT systems require high capital cost, expensive IT manpower with high attrition rate, security, and maintenance. Continue Reading
Tip 14 Jul 2011

How to design a Web page that will display properly across browsers

Learn tricks for keeping a consistent look and feel to your Web applications across major browsers like Firefox and Internet Explorer. Continue Reading
Tip 13 Jul 2011

Cross-browser friendly HTML code

Here are some basic guiding principles to help Java developers build Web applications that start out with high cross-browser compatibility, without reworking the final product. Continue Reading
Tip 12 Jul 2011

The importance of cross-browser compatibility in website development

Ensuring cross-browser compatibility of your Web applications is becoming more and more important as workers are presented with more and more choices of Web browser. Continue Reading
Tip 11 Jul 2011

Building out a service-oriented architecture with Java EE

A service-oriented architecture can help software developers deal with complicated applications that often eat up time with excessive maintenance needs. Continue Reading
Feature 08 Jul 2011

OSGi: A Proven Approach for Developing Modular Applications

OSGi provides a framework for developing modular enterprise applications by installing a set of (preferably reusable) component modules. Continue Reading
News 29 Jun 2011

James Gosling Says He Doesn't Care About Java

At TSSJS 2011, James Gosling, the father of Java, talks about Java and the JVM, and opines about how the Java Virtual Machine, not necessarliy the Java language, is what he is most passionate about. Continue Reading
Tip 24 Jun 2011

Choosing the best Agile methodology for your development needs

To be Agile is to be active and involved. But how do we achieve these goals? Let’s look at some of the popular tools of the Agile trade. Continue Reading
Tip 23 Jun 2011

How to properly estimate a Java project

Focusing on accurate use cases can simplify software development project estimations and improve your algorithms chances of producing an accurate time to completion. Continue Reading
Tip 15 Jun 2011

Performance monitoring tools optimize Java applications

By taking advantage of Java monitoring and performance tuning tools, developers can expect to see consistent application performance across all hardware and operating systems. Continue Reading
Tip 09 Jun 2011

Integrating Eclipse and WebSphere Portal 7

Using Eclipse to develop applications for WebSphere Portal 7 can save you a considerable amount of licensing expense, but the integration can be a bit tricky in the early stages. Continue Reading
Tip 06 Jun 2011

Waterfall versus Agile methods: A pros and cons analysis

In project management, Agile has been touted as a replacement for antiquated Waterfall methods. Yet Waterfall methods do hold value for certain projects and some development teams. Continue Reading
Tip 02 Jun 2011

HTML5, Java and the future of Web development

The new mobile Web may feature a clear separation between the front-end HTML5 UI and the back-end Java applications. Continue Reading