Speeding up development by splitting a webapp into parts

I love tagfiles: they feature a well known syntax (EL from JSP), they allow for reusable UI components, they are well supported by my favourite IDE and, most importantly, modifications are instantly visible because the servlet container does not have to restart. At least in theory, because reality often looks different: after a few edits … Continue reading Speeding up development by splitting a webapp into parts →

HTTP: The importance of declaring non-cachable resources as such

It works fine with Chrome and it fails on an Android 2.3 browser - the page is performing an XmlHttpRequest to the server for a resource that just changed for sure and yet it gets back an older version. That's the result of a. the browser assuming a resource is cachable even if no Etag … Continue reading HTTP: The importance of declaring non-cachable resources as such →

CRTL + Left click on java methods/members/classes slow in Eclipse

In a certain, corporate installation of Eclipse on a quite fast computer CRTL+Left click on java classes, members and methods in the java editor incurred always several seconds of a locked up eclipse which coincided with moderate network traffic. When disconnecting the network the delay would magically vanish. Pierre-Antoine Grégoire came up with the reason … Continue reading CRTL + Left click on java methods/members/classes slow in Eclipse →

Solving the 8 Queens puzzle with bit operations

The 8 queens puzzle is a classic (and quite fun to solve) toy problem: place eight queens on a chess board in such a way that all queens could fully move without being obstructed by any other queen. While without practical applications, it illustrates a number of aspects of designing algorithms and implementing programmes: - … Continue reading Solving the 8 Queens puzzle with bit operations →

The jsp-file directive

The jsp-file directive in web.xml allows mapping of JSPs to concrete URLs: <servlet> <servlet-name>My Hidden Page</servlet-name> <jsp-file>/mydir/foo.jsp</jsp-file> </servlet> <servlet-mapping> <servlet-name>My Hidden Page</servlet-name> <url-pattern>/hidden</url-pattern> </servlet-mapping> Shame on me, I didn't know about this. As seen here: http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/tomcat-users/200107.mbox/%3CPine.BSF.4.21.0107271807540.7976-100000@localhost%3E