Open source Java

Open source development tools offer a more affordable and more customizable means to develop Java software. Although problems and costs can arise from lack of documentation and support, many enterprise developers make open source development a large part of their Java dev strategies. In this section on open source strategies, learn the capabilities of different tools, discover new open source Java tools, and get tips and advice on integrating and contributing to open source projects.

Top Stories

Tip 13 Apr 2022
Either log or rethrow Java exceptions, but never do both

When an exception occurs in your Java code, you can log it or you can rethrow it -- but don't do both. Here's why you must avoid that exception handling antipattern. Continue Reading
Guest Post 26 Mar 2021
Developers, 'Blazor' a new path to web app creation

Expert and Blazor blogger Chris Sainty explains how developers can use a free, open source framework, still under development at Microsoft, to create web applications. Continue Reading

News 25 Mar 2021

AdoptOpenJDK moves to Eclipse Foundation as Adoptium

The Eclipse Foundation has launched a new working group to provide governance, IP services and developer advocacy for Adoptium, the newly renamed AdoptOpenJDK distribution of the OpenJDK spec. Continue Reading
Tutorial 18 Nov 2020

An Apache Commons FileUpload example and the HttpClient

In this article you will have a look at the capabilities of the HttpClient component and also some hands-on examples. Continue Reading
News 04 May 2020

Oracle's GraalVM finds its place in Java app ecosystem

Oracle's GraalVM, a universal virtual machine that runs apps written in Java and other languages, has carved out a spot in the Java ecosystem. Continue Reading
Blog Post 23 Apr 2020

Consider these developer volunteer opportunities during COVID-19

As COVID-19 continues to affect the planet, there's an abundance of developer volunteer opportunities that can help health professionals and everyday people get through the global pandemic. Continue Reading
Feature 31 Mar 2020

Developing a COVID-19 application? Design it the right way

Application developers with skills and an idea could design an app to combat the virus. Follow these insights to effectively design and deploy a coronavirus-related app. Continue Reading
News 07 Oct 2019

GitHub tempts enterprises with Semmle, security enhancements

With the Semmle semantic code analysis engine freshly added to its quiver, GitHub gives corporate development teams one way to boost security of their open source software. Continue Reading
News 17 Sep 2019

Java SE 13 adds performance, security, stability features

Java SE 13 provides developers with new features to make the Java language and platform more secure and stable. Oracle has also rolled out free cloud services and developer tools. Continue Reading
News 11 Sep 2019

Eclipse completes enterprise Java move with Jakarta EE 8

The Eclipse Foundation has assumed control of the Java EE enterprise platform and specifications from Oracle and has launched an all open source version of the technology. Continue Reading
Feature 24 Jun 2019

4 great Java-based CMS options

Open source Java CMS tools come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Explore these four platforms to see if they would be a match for your enterprise. Continue Reading
News 28 Mar 2019

JavaScript popularity drives TypeScript adoption among devs

More developers choose to work with JavaScript to build web, server-side and mobile applications, while TypeScript has quickly gained traction, according to recent analysis. Continue Reading
Blog Post 09 Jan 2019

How your team will benefit when you hire a full stack developer

How can your company benefit from a full-stack developer? While these IT pros are difficult to find and expensive to pay, they can create a more efficient line of communication within your ... Continue Reading
Feature 18 Dec 2018

Recent open source flaw highlights danger of social engineering hacks

What happens when open source developers hand the keys of their project over to a new maintainer? It can expose applications to serious security threats. Continue Reading
Blog Post 16 Jun 2018

Aging successfully in technology: Addressing the graying elephant in the room

Is software development a game for the young? Despite maintaining a passion for programming and software development, seasoned veterans in their 40s and 50s are finding age is the new barrier to ... Continue Reading
Blog Post 09 May 2018

Smart Compose and the Visual Positioning System impress at Google I/O

This year's Google I/O conference kicked off on May 8 with a nearly two-hour keynote. The keynote was held at the outdoor Shoreline Amphitheater near Google's headquarters in Mountain View, ... Continue Reading
Feature 05 Feb 2018

What can the Java community expect from Oracle in 2018?

Questions remain as to how bumpy the road may be as Oracle changes the release cadence and embraces OpenJDK. Is the Java community ready for the ride? Continue Reading
Opinion 15 Dec 2017

The problem with bitcoin and blockchain technology

It's not just bitcoin's prodigious appetite -- it uses as much energy as the country of Slovenia. Security scares and long transaction times cast doubt on its viability. Continue Reading
Feature 06 Nov 2017

Owning the Java Platform is more of a burden or a blessing

Oracle became stewards of the Java platform as a by-product of their acquisition of Sun Microsystems. But looking back, it seems that the Java Platform has been more of a burden than a blessing. Continue Reading
Blog Post 26 Oct 2017

Freenode ##java's interesting content podcast

The ##java channel on Freenode IRC has been collecting interesting content for years, including content from here on TSS on occasion. Now, it's being collected into a weekly podcast. Continue Reading
Feature 28 Aug 2017

The hidden threat lurking in an otherwise secure software stack

All it takes is a fork from the main branch and a re-branding of the code, and the next thing you know, there's a hidden threat in your software. Here's how to protect against it. Continue Reading
Blog Post 14 Aug 2017

Gender and ethnic parity is not equivalent to workplace diversity

Former Google employee James Damore's recently leaked memo about his old employer's employment activities has brought the discussion about IT hiring practices to the fore. After reading a vast ... Continue Reading
Blog Post 26 Jun 2017

Maarten Ectors explains what open source wireless means for developers

Open source software has completely transformed the opportunities for software development. Now, Canonical is launching a new effort to bring these principles to programmable software defined ... Continue Reading
Blog Post 02 Dec 2016

DevOps tooling only a small part of the enterprise security puzzle

A big part of operations is security, and while many tools exist to help with threat coverage, DevOps tooling is only a small part of the threat avoidance puzzle. Continue Reading
Feature 29 Nov 2016

Conversational UI approaches pushing AI development forward

Find out about the latest AI conversational UI approaches available for developers today from Apple, Amazon, Google, IBM, and Facebook. Continue Reading
Blog Post 07 Nov 2016

How to capture a heap dump

Heap dump is a snapshot of the Java memory. It contains information about the Java objects and classes in the heap at the moment the snapshot is triggered. It’s vital artifact to diagnose any Java mem Continue Reading
News 05 Oct 2016

Pros and cons of a DIY approach to contributing to open source efforts

Everyone wants to contribute to open source projects, but few consider the risks. Salesforce evangelist James Ward outlines the legal and security risks involved. Continue Reading
Blog Post 01 Oct 2016

Software engineering lessons to be learned through Mars exploration

At JavaOne, NASA Aerospace Engineer Dr. Anita Sengupta shared space exploration lessons that apply to all areas of engineering. Continue Reading
Opinion 12 Aug 2016

Could someone please provide a proper toString() method implementation?

Why is it that twenty years after the release of Java, the lapidary toString() method still spits out nothing more than a useless hashcode? Continue Reading
News 17 Jun 2016

Apache Spark streaming analytics engine key to integrating big data

Learn how a variety of improvements to the open source Apache Spark streaming analytics engine promises to improve the development of big data applications. Continue Reading
Feature 06 Jun 2016

Java's lambda syntax rigidity exposes spoiled programmer's frailties

Consternation over Java's lambda syntax is the perfect example of how Java's evolution and incremental improvements have created a community of spoiled programmers. Continue Reading
Tutorial 29 Feb 2016

How to install JDK 8 and write the Java Hello World application

In this tutorial, we look at how to set up a basic Java SE development environment by installing JDK 8, after which we write, compile and run the Java Hello World application. Continue Reading
Feature 03 Feb 2016

Choosing the right DevOps tool to tame your polyglot programming

When programs are built using a polyglot of different languages, organizations need good DevOps tools to manage that integration. Continue Reading
Feature 03 Jan 2016

Simplified messaging and microservice development with PHP's PSR-7

Here we take a look at PHP's PSR-7, and how this new specification will help simplify microservice development while enhancing application messaging at the same time. Continue Reading
Feature 10 Dec 2015

These new features in PHP 7 will convince you to do an upgrade

There have been some significant improvements to the PHP language. In this article we show you how to take advantage of them, and potentially convince you to do an upgrade and migrate to the new version. Continue Reading
Feature 10 Nov 2015

Containers and microservices take center stage as Devoxx 2015 kicks off

Containers like Docker, and microservice development, are the big topics at Devoxx 2015, but with more session rooms than every, there's plenty of other great fare for Java professionals. Continue Reading
Feature 09 Nov 2015

JavaOne 2015 was the right time to dig into Java 9 JDK features

JavaOne 2014 was all about the Java 8 release, so it's understandable that JavaOne 2015 was all about Java 9. Here we take a look at what's new in Java 9, and even look forward towards things that might get included in Java 10. Continue Reading
Feature 02 Nov 2015

Top 7 Java platform takeaways from JavaOne 2015

What were the big takeaways from JavaOne 2015 with regards to the Java platform? Here we take a look at seven key insights garnered from this year's JavaOne and Oracle Open World conferences. Continue Reading
Feature 01 Nov 2015

Valhalla and value types to change the way developers code in Java

In 2014, just as Java 8 was released, JavaOne was looking towards the future and talking about what was coming with Java 9. In 2015, Java 9 is still in the future, but that hasn't stopped the architects at Oracle from prognosticating about what might get included in Java 10. Continue Reading
News 26 Oct 2015

Celebrating 20 years of Java technology at JavaOne 2015

Twenty years is a pretty significant milestone, especially if you're a programming language. At JavaOne 2015, everyone is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Java programming language, and looking ahead at the challenges another 20 years will bring. Continue Reading
Podcast 27 Aug 2015

Redis creator signs with vendor amid community support

How did the Redis community feel when the creator of their coveted NoSQL database signed on with a commercial vendor? TheServerSide talks to Salvatore Sanfilippo to find out. Continue Reading
News 23 Jun 2015

Red Hat announces support for the Open Container Project

Red Hat joins other vendors to support the Open Container Project, not a surprise. Continue Reading
Feature 18 Jun 2015

OpenStack develops its own static code analysis tool for Python

For OpenStack, necessity proved to be the mother of invention, leading to development of a static code analysis tool for Python called Bandit. Continue Reading
News 01 Jun 2015

Google's Project Soli replaces the keyboard and mouse with radar and logic

Very little has been done to truly replace the utility of the keyboard and mouse, but Project Soli is working to change that. The new Google project looks to combine machine intelligence with radar and similar technology to read hand signals and control the Internet of Things (IoT). Continue Reading
News 21 May 2015

Open source initiatives saving grace for many companies

Companies are realizing that IT can't write all the code needed. They are learning to write less code and do more with open source initiatives. Continue Reading
News 20 May 2015

Guiding design tenets behind OpenStack software

The importance of OpenStack design tenets is not lost on developers. Following these tenets drives the development and evolution of OpenStack software. Continue Reading
News 20 May 2015

DevOps software development promise aided by OpenStack

The promise of DevOps software development is being helped along by OpenStack, which is creating more opportunities for automation of operations. Continue Reading
Tip 31 Mar 2015

Enterprise architects consider using cloud-based IDEs

For many reasons, enterprise architects are now considering cloud-based IDEs as an alternative to a desktop development environment. Continue Reading
Tip 26 Mar 2015

Successfully managing software quality with growing, globally distributed teams

Successfully managing a software project is always a challenge, but when a project grows into a globally distributed development effort, application lifecycle management (ALM) becomes a real challenge. So how does Liferay, an open source, enterprise portal do it? Senior software architect Ray Auge tells us how. Continue Reading
Feature 15 Jan 2015

Will value types and structured arrays be Java 9's cap feather?

Scalability and performance are always issues that dog the Java platform. But with so many lessons learned from languages like Scala and Clojure, will Java 9 take on these scalability issues by introducing immutable types like structured arrays and value types? Continue Reading
Tutorial 07 Sep 2014

Advanced JSF Tutorial: The single page interface (SPI) with Facelets, Ajax and HTML5

Some say it's impossible, but if you really understand the technology, you will realize that creating a single page interface (SPI) with JSF, Facelets, Ajax and HTML really isn't all that hard. In fact, JavaServer Faces makes it pretty easy! Continue Reading
Tutorial 20 Jul 2014

Integrating Ajax into your Facelets pages: Death to JSF's request-response cycle

If you're doing Facelets development, this might be the most important tutorial you will ever read. It will explain to you how to throw out that annoying request-response cycle, and explain how to integrate Ajax based JSF components with a dynamically re-rendering Facelets page snippet. Continue Reading
Tutorial 19 Jul 2014

Turning a web page into a JSF 2.0 template with Facelets

How do you take a web page and turn it into a template using Facelets as the template engine? It takes some JSF, some HTML, maybe some CSS, and lots of JSF UI tags, but overall, it's an easy and simple process if you follow this tutorial. Continue Reading
Tip 05 Jan 2014

With Java EE 7, your Design Patterns are dead. And your EAR is ugly too.

Adam Bien isn't without opinions when it comes to modern day enterprise programming techniques. From the use of design patterns, to the manner in which projects and modules are divided, Bien isn't without opinions when it comes to developing Java applications. Continue Reading
Feature 14 Jul 2013

Hibernate still leads the way with search, envers and multitenancy support

A great deal of features have been added to the JPA 2.1 specification, but Hibernate still leads the way with features surrounding search, envers and multitenancy support. Continue Reading
Tip 30 Jun 2013

How to get the Hibernate Session from the JPA 2.0 EntityManager

This tip shows you how to get the Hibernate Session from the JPA EntityManager so you can perform functions only available from the JBoss Hibernate project. 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 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
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 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 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
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 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 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
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
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
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
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
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 23 Aug 2010

12 Best Practices for Optimizing the JBoss EAP Platform

Looking to improve the performance of your JBoss EAP Platform? Here are a few tips that'll help you optimize your distibuted JBoss infrastructure. Continue Reading
News 01 Mar 2009

Intergrating BIRT with PHP

BIRT is a top-level, open-source, Eclipse project that provides business intelligence and reporting tools. Currently, BIRT is best known as a report-creation tool that supports multiple data sources and produces many different forms of output, including HTML, paginated HTML, PDF, Word, Excel, PPT, and postscript formats. Continue Reading
News 01 May 2008

MapReduce Part II

MapReduce is a distributed programming model intended for parallel processing of massive amounts of data. This article describes a MapReduce implementation built with off-the-shelf, open-source software components. It shows you how to write resource-oriented applications for the Mule integration platform as a side effect of its implementation. Continue Reading
News 01 Mar 2005

Velocity: A Template Engine OR A Rule Engine OR Both?

Most developers are familiar with Velocity as a great open source template engine and I don’t think I need to say much about its uses and features as a template engine. This paper compiles its features as a rule engine. Continue Reading