NoSQL Distilled : Book Review
I have finished reading the book titled "NoSQL Distilled: A Brief Guide to the Emerging World of Polyglot Persistence" written by Martin Fowler and Pramod J. Sadalage recently and thought of a writing short review. First of all it short book and you can run through the pages fast. As the title says, the book is really an introduction of No SQL databases.
It was..
The number one reason for the use of NoSQL databases is not performance and should be our use case. This means if our data model does not fit well in to the relational model, rather than twisting the data we can choose alternate data stores. This is absolutely critical if you want NoSQL to be used in most of the mid sized enterprise applications. Also companies will start to believe that they should consider NoSQL it even if they are not Google or Amazon.
Normally the technology books written by its creators of it will only focus on the advantages of using it. It can be quite an issue if you do not do proper research before choosing your application architecture. Since both Martin and Pramod do not belong to this category, they does a fair evaluation of various choices available to us. The section which says where to use it and where not to use is particularly impressive on that front.
Even though the book is selling you a new idea of NoSQL databases, it does not plays down the significance and importance of existing RDBMS. The book also brings light to some of the fundamental trade offs in the world of data stores like consistency, availability and performance.
and is also..
When I was reading the book I thought that Polygot persistence is about using multiple data stores in same application depending on the use cases. But authors also seems to suggest that applications should wrap around the data stores with services ( like web services or REST). If we need to do this ideally we could only have one data store accessed by one service. Which would conflict the first statement. I am not sure about the reverence this question but I would love to have read more about using the different data store in the same application and its pros and cons.
I mean to say,
This is a very great book if you are looking get in to wild jungle of NoSQL databases. The authors does a great job in giving the brief introduction and making sure the basics are covered.
Package your classes by Feature and not by Layers
Most of the enterprise Java applications share some similarities in their design. Mostly the packaging of these applications are driven by the framework used by them like Spring, EJBs or Hibernate etc. Alternatively you can group you packages by features. Like any other item regarding modeling this is not free from any issues. Lets discuss some trade-off and how get around them. In this post we will discuss the pros and cons of both approaches against common usage scenarios.
Package By Layer (PBL)
This is a the first thing that developers do when the create an enterprise application in to split it to number of layers like DAO, SERVICE, VIEW etc.. This gives nice separation of code when we use different frameworks at different layers. For example if I were to use Hibernate, Spring and JSF, then I will have all my Hibernate dependent code in the DAO layer and JSF related code in the VIEW Layer. This is sort of good in case I need to migrate to a new framework only at the view layer or DAO Layer.
Package By Feature (PBF)
Package-by-feature uses packages to reflect the feature set. It places all items related to a single feature (and only that feature) into a single directory/package. This results in packages with high cohesion and high modularity, and with minimal coupling between packages. Items that work closely together are placed next to each other. They aren't spread out all over the application.
This also increases coherence as a large percentage of a the dependencies of a class are located close to that class.
Comparing the approaches
Let me compare both the approaches in below dimensions.
1. Adding a new Feature.
In case of PBL code has to be added to VIEW, SERVICE and DAO Layers and it can be tedious. PBF solves this problem by grouping all the code related to same feature in to a single directory.
2. Changing a framework used.
As discussed already PBL makes it easier to change a framework as all the related code are kept at same place. Here we know exactly the scope of the change and its impact. In case of PBF we need to dig into all the feature set to see the framework related classes.
If you choose to migrate the framework module by module, then it could be argued that PBF is better than PBL.
3. Code Navigation.
As developers needs to work on the features most of the time using PBF is easier for code navigation. When you know exactly know what has to be done its not much advantage.
4. Keeping the Common Code.
Every application will have some components which will be reused across the features ie, the features are not always exclusive. In such case if we package all the features separately the interactions between them can be quite messy. As a general principle we need to reduce such interactions and increase the cohesion inside the package. We can get around the situation be adding such entities to a common package. This approach is used in many projects including Hibernate.
Conclusion
Most application will have 4 types of classes. ie,
1. Domain Objects
2. Business Services
3. Data Retrieval Logic
4. Data Representation Logic
If we use PBF it gives us a good structural representation but does not give any functional representation. We need our architecture to resemble the problem domain. So its better to use Package By Feature style. We could internally classify the classes by using naming conventions like MyFeatureDAO or MyFeatureService . This way we could communicate the intend of the classes.
I have found some discussions on this topic and hope that might also help you choose.
A 3 Step Guide to Getting Started with NoSQL
I have been looking in to NoSQL databases for few months and would like to share my experience with it. This is a post might help you if you indent to start learning about the NoSQL Databases. I would try to link the resources which I found useful here.
Step 1: What is NoSQL?
NoSQL DEFINITION: Next Generation Databases mostly addressing some of the points: being non-relational, distributed, open-source and horizontally scalable. The original intention has been modern web-scale databases. The movement began early 2009 and is growing rapidly. Often more characteristics apply such as: schema-free, easy replication support, simple API, eventually consistent / BASE (not ACID), a huge amount of data and more. So the misleading term "nosql" (the community now translates it mostly with "not only sql").
As seen on NoSQL-Database.org.
Martin Flower's NoSQL page is a good starting point. His below talk on Goto Conference explains the need and structure of NoSQL data stores. Martin and Pramod has written a book titled "NoSQL Distilled: A Brief Guide to the Emerging World of Polyglot Persistence" and is a good read. It summarizes his talks and other blog post into a book. Martin has been an influential speaker on this topic and has written number of articles on this. I have read and seen many introductions but his work helped me to get things in to my head.
If you likes to view the slides, then the below presentation by Tobias Lindaaker on slideshare might inspire you. He gives similar ideas.
If you likes to view the slides, then the below presentation by Tobias Lindaaker on slideshare might inspire you. He gives similar ideas.
MongoDB has an online course MongoDB for Java Developers which is really useful if you are interested in trying out things.
Step 2: How and for what are NoSQL used in Real world?
Once you have some idea, try to find the usage patterns. The above presentations will give lot of information on how these systems are used. You could go through the below links, which explains how specific business problems are solved using NoSQL. This is important because we could easily relate the case studies and get more insights into the capabilities of these systems.
1. MongoDB Customers page.
2. Powerd By Haddop
3. Neo4J Customers Page
Step 3 : Find Usage Patterns that you could work on!
Once you have reached this point, you should try and implement the concepts. Look back at the application that you are working on and see if there is a need for an alternative data store. Do you store Product recommendations? Do you have issues with heterogeneous data? Can your application compromise ACID model for scalability? Do you store XML files or Images on you relational DB? These are some of the questions that you could ask. This way you could determine if there is a serious need of a investigation for a alternative persistence mechanisms. This is in no way means removing the RDBMS completely but moving to a polygot structure of data stores.
If there is no opportunity to try out these concepts in your work, you could create your own test projects and implement them. This way you would encounter problems and will learn from them.
5 Things a Java Developer consider start doing this year
This post is about 5 things that I am planning to do this year. I have created it for me to track my progress then thought it can be a good direction for anybody similar.
1. Create an application using a NoSQL Data store and connect it with Java
If you have yet not understood the NoSQL databases its the best time. Lots of choices on the NOSQL side, may be MongoDB or Hadoop can be a starting point. We can create applications using Spring Data or the native Java adapters to connect to the Data Store.
2. Get the first app on Java PaaS on Cloud and ask your 5 friends to use it.
You have many platforms available including Openshift backed by JBoss and Redhat , CouldFoundry backed by Spring source and VMware. Cloud is the future of application deployments and Software as service gaining more popularity. From a developer point of view nothing really changes apart from the configurations and deployment.
3. What really is Software Design?
Read the GOF Design Pattern catalog and Search your project for the usage of it. If you are not using them check if you have similar patters. If you have a Java enterprise application you can check for Java EE patterns. Take a existing use case and think of possible alternative implementations.
4. Learn a new Programming Language and create a sample project
I think here you have 2 broad choices, Ruby or a JVM functional language. There are a number of functional languages available. It will help you become a polygot programmer.
5. Contribute to the community
You should be doing it already if not it is the time to start. There are a number of ways including Community Forums, Stack overflow or write a blog
on how your leanings.
11 Online Learning websites that you should check out
Planning to start something new in this year? You can try online learning!!. Online education is gaining popularity over the last few years, as it should. I have tried few of them last year and will share my experience with them in this post. Since I am a software developer we are going to focus on the materials related to it.
OCW makes the materials used in the teaching of MIT's subjects available on the Web.
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2. Coursera
6. Code School
Code School teaches web technologies in the comfort of your browser with video lessons, coding challenges, and screencasts.
Whether you are completely new to coding or a developer looking to learn a new language, LearnStreet courses make it engaging and fun to create with code. Our interactive courses are designed to help you learn by actually writing real code and getting immediate feedback.
8. wibit.net
WiBit.net is a video tutorial web site offering cutting edge programming and computer tutorials. We specialize in focused and linear content. WiBit is a great place to start learning how to program, or to pick up new skills even if you've been at it a while.
Solve interesting challenges and also get connected to amazing tech companies if you are interested. Join in to be among the elite group of talent in the world.
Specialize in screencast tutorials for professional web developers and designers. Learn advanced Ruby, JavaScript, Ruby on Rails, Node, Git, Design, and connect with developers you admire in our popular Play by Play series.
At P2PU, people work together to learn a particular topic by completing tasks, assessing individual and group work, and providing constructive feedback.
Related articles on the web:
Using Jasper Reports to create reports in Java
Last week I was trying to create a report using Jasper. In this post I will document some of the resources and links so that it will be useful for any one looking for similar information. I will cover life cycle of Jasper reports, examples and Dynamic Jasper.
The Jasper Reports is the world's most popular open source reporting engine. It is entirely written in Java and it is able to use data coming from any kind of data source and produce pixel-perfect documents that can be viewed, printed or exported in a variety of document formats including HTML, PDF, Excel, OpenOffice and Word.
JasperReport Life Cycle
As in the image the life cycle has 3 distinct phases,
1. Designing the Report
In this step involves creation of the JRXML file, which is an XML document that contains the definition of the report layout. We can use the either iReport Designer or a text editor to manually create it. Using iReport Designer, the layout is completely designed in a visual way, so you can ignore the real structure of the JRXML file.
Here is the detailed tutorial on designing a report using iReport. We can also use Dynamic Jasper described later in the article to design a report.
2. Executing the report.
Before executing a report, the JRXML must be compiled in a binary object called a Jasper file(*.jasper). This compilation is done for performance reasons. Jasper files are what you need to ship with your application in order to run the reports. Once the report is compiled it is filled with data from the application. The class net.sf.jasperreports.engine.JasperFillManager provides necessary functions to fill the data in the reports.
The report execution is performed by passing a Jasper file and a data source to JasperReports. There are plenty of types of data sources, it's possible to fill a Jasper file from an SQL query, an XML file, a csv file, an HQL (Hibernate Query Language) query, a collection of Java Beans, etc... If you don't find a suitable data source, JasperReports is very flexible and allows you to write your own custom data source.
JasperFillManager.fillReportToFile( "MasterReport.jasper" , parameters, getDataSource());
This operation creates a Jasper print file (*.jrprint), which used to either print or export the report.
3. Exporting to the desired format
Using the Jasper print file created in the previous step we shall be able to export it into any format using JasperExportManager. Jasper provides various forms of exports. This means with the same input we can create multiple representation of the data. Jasper inernally uses different APIs to create documents. But these complexity are hidden by the simpler JasperExportManager.
References and other good articles on Jasper Reports Life Cycle
Examples
I have found it really hard to find a working example of Jasper report. But it is right there inside the package shipment!. Once you have downloaded the Jasper Library go to demo\samples, you will find a lot of sample programs. Many of these needs a working HSQL DB connection, to activate it go to demo\hsqldb and start the server. Every folder has a readme.txt file which will help you in understanding how to run it. All the examples can be executed using ant tasks.
Here is a list of few other sources.
Simplify report creation using Dynamic Jasper
DynamicJasper (DJ) is an open source free library that hides the complexity of Jasper Reports, it helps developers to save time when designing simple/medium complexity reports generating the layout of the report elements automatically.
The project homepage provides lots of examples and code snippets on how to use the library. I have been using it for some time and it is a pretty stable replacement for the JRXML file.While using dynamic jasper the report design is coded in Java. Which means every time the report is compiled, filled and exported. By using dynamic jasper we are replacing the first step in the above mentioned jasper life cycle. Even with dynamic jasper you need the jasper library and other dependent files.
Here is some more examples of Dynamic Jasper usage.
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