At the very beginning of 2014 I decided to track my reading habits and share the best stuff here, on Baeldung.

2014 has been quite the year, covering each week with a review. I've been doing a lot more reading to make sure I cover and curate stuff that has value and is actually worth reading.

Let me know in the comments if you're finding my reviews interesting and useful.

Here we go…

1. Spring and Java

>> Spring Data JPA Tutorial: Introduction to Query Methods

A solid part of Petri's Spring Data JPA series – introducing query methods.

>> Spring 4 and Java 8 adoption

Thoughts on the Spring 4, Spring Boot and Java 8 adoption data from the survey I ran last week. The adoption trend is definitely looking good.

>> The Next Twenty Years of Java: Where We've Been and Where We're Going

An interesting history of Java.

>> Understanding Garbage Collection Logs

A very quick very to the point dive into GC logs – definitely worth a read and a bookmark.

Also worth reading:

Webinars and presentations:

Time to upgrade:

2. Technical

>> The Role of a Senior Developer

An introspective, well though out read on learning and working in our industry.

I would say it's the “must read” of this week if there weren't so many other damn good reads this week as well. Like the next one.

>> Utter Disregard for Git Commit History

Working with git? Then have a read. I learned a lot from this one.

>> Improving Your Craft with Static Analysis

A pragmatic intro to the why of static analysis; if you're not already leveraging something like PMD, Checkstyle or Findbugs, this is some good motivation to get started.

>> MonolithFirst

A great read if you're considering using a Microservice artchitecture on a green field project, or even have Microservices anywhere in your view.

Also worth reading:

3. Musings

>> Career Advancement for the Low Price of Your Soul

A deep-dive into a concept I knew almost nothing about – self-improvement opportunities (courses, school) payed for by the company, with strings attached. Not cool.

>> Breaking down successful pair programming

A very interesting read on pair programming – more nuanced than the usual on the topic.

4. Comics

And my favorite Dilberts of the week:

>> Then the little one slapped me

>> Another stellar week

>> We pay ourselves to hose ourselves

5. Pick of the Week

Earlier this year I introduced the “Pick of the Week” section here in my “Weekly Review”. If you’re already on my email list – you got the pick already – hope you enjoyed it.

If not – you can share the review and unlock it right here:

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Definitely a good read about getting over the fear of niching down:

>> Should You Niche Yourself?

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