On coarse- vs. fine-grained synchronization

Performance related topics seem to constantly attract attention and everyone seems to have strong opinions on the matter. Writing code that can be proved [1] to perform according to a certain pattern is probably not the worst place to start with, although the web is full of counterintuitive [2] examples [3] where hardware details weigh … Continue reading On coarse- vs. fine-grained synchronization →

Ubuntu 12.04 (64bit) on the Asus N56VB

With quite some regret I had to decommission the trusty HP 4720s - readers of this blog will remember the love-hate relationship that grew to come between Ubuntu, it and I. Now it's time to try Ubuntu on the new laptop: Asus N56VB. Because I'm not much for experiments (those come to find me on … Continue reading Ubuntu 12.04 (64bit) on the Asus N56VB →

Tomcat, Spring and memory leaks when undeploying or redeploying an web application

In this post I'll talk about a new kind of memory leak in Spring applications involving transaction management and initializing beans. About memory leaks when undeploying a web application While developing a web application with Spring and Tomcat I frequently run out of heap space. The web is full of stories about this. There is … Continue reading Tomcat, Spring and memory leaks when undeploying or redeploying an web application →

Increasing window resize corner in Ubuntu 12.04

Resizing a window in Unity/Ubuntu 12.04 is quite a pain as one needs to target the 1 pixel border of the lower right corner. Fortunately the width can be increased: Edit /usr/share/themes/Ambiance/metacity-1/metacity-theme-1.xml and increase the widths, i.e.: <distance name="left_width" value="8"/> <distance name="right_width" value="8"/> <distance name="bottom_height" value="8"/> Log out and in again.

IFTTT: if-then rules for the web

Read about it, forgot about it, rediscovered yesterday: https://ifttt.com IFTTT lets you create if-then rules for the web, ie: when a new post appears on a blog, mail it to you.