Joseph Ottinger

Joe Ottinger had the opportunity to talk with Amy Fowler, a senior staff engineer at Sun Microsystems and one of the founding members of the Java Swing GUI Toolkit, and discuss Swing, JSF, the JDNC, and some general trends in Java. JDJ: Can you tell us what your role is at Sun now? Amy Fowler: Officially, I'm the technical lead of the Java Desktop Network Component (JDNC) project, which aims to simplify Java desktop client development for Web-enabled applications. Unofficially, I'm a rich-client agitator. I've been at Sun forever and have been an engineer on the J2SE client team since the days we called it the "JDK" and there were a total of eight packages. Most of that time I've spent on the Swing team, with a year-long tour of duty in J2EE as the JSF spec lead, trying to define a component model in the otherwise amorphous Web tier. So I have history, perspective,... (more)

How Can I Escape Quotes in SQL Queries?

It depends on the SQL backend you're using, and how sincere you are. Basically, you'd want to convert every single quote to be double-single-quotes (i.e., O'Donnell becomes O''Donnell), which means writing a custom function. That's ugly, and unnecessary. (Aren't you glad?) If you use PreparedStatements, the JDBC driver will escape all data for you, for the specific database you're using. (This is important, as some DBs don't follow the "double single-quotes" rule mentioned above.) Example code: PreparedStatement ps=conn.prepareStatement("insert into names values (?)"); ps.setString... (more)

Can I Use Java with .NET?

Of course you can. .NET is a platform; Java is a platform. One convenient feature of .NET is that it uses SOAP internally for messaging; provided Microsoft sticks to the SOAP spec (that they helped write!) that means that Java will be able to leverage .NET services without even knowing they're based on .NET. This is a huge, impossible-to-understate win for the programming world, if the promise holds true. Because it would make MS far less perceptually dominant, Your Humble Author actually doubts MS will continue down this path; MS prefers to be perceptually dominant as well as fa... (more)

Portlet API Spec Now Up for Public Review--JSR 168 Released--

(July 21, 2003) - Sun Microsystems released JSR 168, the Portlet API spec, for public review on Thursday. Along with this, WSRP (Web Services for Remote Portlets) was submitted to OASIS for consideration, and a tentative release date for Sun ONE Portal Server 6.2 was set, coinciding with the finalization of JSR 168. What does this mean? It means that Portlets are just about complete; the review process for a JSR will last 30 days, which means we can expect the JSR to be a final specification in August or September. Sun also released a PortletBuilder plugin for the Sun ONE Studio I... (more)

For the Coming Year...

It's that time of year, when the air is crisp and cool, and lights fill the air with the glint of good cheer and renewal. It's when wishes are fulfilled; when revitalization is just around the corner. I'd like to take some time to share some of the things I'd like to see for the next year, and about the people for whom I'd like to see them. For Sun: I'd love for them to come up with a unified business and marketing plan, and stick to it. They have a marvelous suite of products, filled with potential; however, poor marketing and occasional shoddy construction mangle it in the fie... (more)