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

A very to the point, practical writeup on displaying a git commit link in a Boot application.

>> A Curious Incidence of a jOOQ API Design Flaw [jooq.org]

This is why API design is so damn hard – very interesting read.

>> Writing Better Tests With JUnit [codecentric.de]

Some good testing principles after the “intro” part of the writeup.

>> Creating a PageRank Analytics Platform Using Spring Boot Microservices [kennybastani.com]

I opened this article not knowing what the expect. And I was definitely surprised to see a full case-study of building out a small but practical (and quite interesting) application with Spring and a bunch of other technologies.

Whenever I get the question “*I'm a beginner – how do I get started learning a new {X}*” – my usual answer is: Build something with it. Not a trivial toy project, but something that's actually useful (at least to you). It's this kind of project that I have in mind. Cool beans. Very cool beans indeed.

>> Writing Unit Tests With Spock Framework: Introduction to Specifications, Part One [petrikainulainen.net]

A solid, quick intro to the Spock framework and specifications.

>> Native Queries – How to call native SQL queries with JPA [thoughts-on-java.org]

A solid intro to writing raw SQL within JPA. Multi-line Strings would come really handy for this one.

Also worth reading:

Webinars and presentations:

Time to upgrade:

2. Technical and Musings

>> How to Detect Sucker Culture while Interviewing [daedtech.com]

Good good advice for interviewing in a way that actually matches and syncs up with your broader life goals.

Also worth reading:

3. Comics

And my favorite Dilberts of the week:

>> Avoid saying “unfortunately” when you talk to clients [dilbert.com]

>> Do you understand? Maybe. Is your point that you don't know how to communicate? [dilbert.com]

>> The servers are down [dilbert.com]

4. Pick of the Week

I've recently opened up a new position here at Baeldung – for video content creation. Here are the full details, budgets and an example of what it takes to record a video.

Have a look if it's something that may interest you:

>> Hiring a Developer to Create Videos [baeldung.com]