I updated the site architecture document to reflect the changes I've made since I wrote the original. The big change is that everything is now running through Tomcat for layouts and page counting. The "pages" are now nothing more than a few c:set tags to create some content pieces that are assembled by a single template, which is then displayed in the browser using one of the skin CSS files.
Monthly Archive for April, 2004
I took a bunch of time and wrote some initial docs for JFission, and made a prerelease version available for download. Included in the new info I posted is a list of all the functions that make up the 0.1 release. The ones that are already implemented are marked as well, so you can see what you get in the downloadable version.
I'm also thinking about including a couple tags in the 0.1 release, notably CFSILENT, though I've never written a JSP custom tag before, so I have no idea what I'm up against.
After some careful thought today while I was supposed to be working, I decided to rename JSPCF to JFission. It's a nicer name, I think, and has the right blend of subtle meaning to suit my intellect. I've finalized the set of functions that will be included in the 0.1 release, and started implementing some of them and their test cases. I'll eventually expand the JFission section of the site to include some more info, including the function list, but not right now.
Eclipse, for those of you who don't know, is an amazing platform for developing integrated tools, which comes with a Java IDE build on the platform. It's all Java, and it's the best IDE I've come across (though I can't say I've used MS Visual Studio).
JUnit is a very lightweight testing framework for doing unit testing in Java. The idea is that you can write a "thing" that will test a single method of a class, and then the JUnit framework will take care of running that "thing" (it's a method of a class that extends TestCase), handle any exceptions, failed assertions and whatever else, and give you a report about it. You can stack as many test cases together as you want, and create suites for regression testing large projects.
Eclipse + JUnit is very nice. I'd never used JUnit until I started working on JSPCF. I knew I needed some kind of regression testing, because the scope of the project would quickly overwhelm me. In comes Eclipse to save the day, not only with a very well-integrated JUnit plugin for testing within the IDE, but wizards and tutorials to get you going from scratch in no time. I went from writing the first method in JSPCF, realizing I needed some kind of regression testing to keep my sanity, found JUnit's web site, hit the Eclipse helps, and had my first test suite running (and finding a stupid logic error in my method) within 15 minutes, and that included indexing the Eclipse help.
I'm still riding the initial euphoria, so my perspective is undoubtedly skewed, but I can't say enough good things about JUnit. If only it were possible to use it on web apps.
As I've been working on this site, I've started missing all the really handy stuff that CF provides. So I started work on a JSP taglib that provides some of those nice features. The JSTL which are build into the JSP 2.0 spec are a step in the right direction (after the nothing that was there before), but they are still pretty bare. Right now, I've not planned a formal release, but this site is running a development version with much success.
I added an Email Me page for shooting me an email. My general preference has been for just an email link, but with the amount of spam I already get, I figure I'll take what precautions I can.
