At the very beginning of last year, I decided to track my reading habits and share the best stuff here, on Baeldung. Haven’t missed a review since.

Here we go…

1. Spring and Java

>> Displaying progress of Spring application startup in web browser [nurkiewicz.com]

Showing visual progress during the bootstrap process of a Spring app.

There is cool, and then there is cool. And this is just plain cool. Play the video at the end to see this thing in action.

>> React.js and Spring Data REST: Part 1 – Basic Features [spring.io]

The first piece in a promising new series to follow – focused on building a Spring Data REST app and a front end for it.

>> Naming Optional query methods [joda.org]

More practical advice for using Optional – this time as a return type for query methods.

>> Java EE 8 MVC: Getting started with Ozark [mscharhag.com]

The first of an interesting series, exploring the upcoming MVC framework out of the next Java EE release.

Also worth reading:

Time to upgrade:

2. Technical

>> Revisiting webapp performance on HTTP/2 [advancedweb.hu]

Very cool look into the speed improvements in HTTP/2, along with hard-numbers for the various optimization techniques.

Crazy how much of a difference there is here – some really nice numbers.

>> Does each microservice really need its own database? [plainoldobjects.com]

This piece discusses some quite important questions touching on CQRS, Event Sourcing and focusing on the oh-so useful Polyglot Persistence aspects of that architecture.

>> Introducing Brutal Coding Constraints [code-cop.org]

Coding with the full set of typical constraints for this kind of session – this must have been a fun day.

Here’s another one to try out if you’re feeling brave – no mouse. Get your mouse and put it in your bag. Really.

I did that a few years back and I learned more keyboard shortcuts (I now use daily) over that weekend than I did for a whole year with the mouse.

>> The Unit of Work and Transactions In Domain Driven Design [sapiensworks.com]

As I’m going deeper into DDD and Event Sourcing myself, I really enjoy these dives into specific aspects of the architecture.

>> Lesson learned, test your migrations on the big dataset [swizec.com]

Hmm – this takes be back a few years, cursing the heavens in the middle of a highly annoying data migration. Good read.

Also worth reading:

3. Musings

>> An In-Depth Look At CQRS [sapiensworks.com]

Solid intro to CQRS and the CQS pattern, while at the same time looking forward towards Event Sourcing.

>> Team Efficiency is Irrelevant [benjiweber.co.uk]

An interesting read about the 80-20 of value in building software, and the idea that maybe, just maybe – this entire track of measuring performance for knowledge workers is more complex than other disciplines.

>> Surviving Software Heroes [daedtech.com]

Solid advice on how to approach the hard, hard problem of improving the team you’re part of – or lead.

Also worth reading:

4. Comics

Here are my favorite comics of the week:

>> The Laser Pointer [theoatmeal.com]

>> How to pet a kitty [theoatmeal.com]

>> How we should have been tough in our senior year of high school [theoatmeal.com]

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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A good reference for putting together a Jenkins pipeline:

>> Orchestrating Your Delivery Pipelines with Jenkins

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