When you create your tests first, before the code, you will find it much easier and faster to create your code. The combined time it takes to create a unit test and create some code to make it pass is about the same as just coding it up straight away. But, if you already have the unit tests you don't need to create them after the code saving you some time now and lots later. More info

This article gives an overview of my personal experiences with hand written mocks. It also tries to capture and document the mocking idioms I've found most helpful so far. More info

SOAP and Web Services may hold center stage of the developing Web industry, as attention focuses on toolkits and multi-platforms; however, this area of the industry is merely the tip of an iceberg, which reaches much further than merely selling utility software. Yet, rather than considering the overall architecture of a Web Services business model, the present trend seems to be for companies to produce development tools for the sake of it, in a market that is still maturing. More info

Web Services are clearly in the minds of most technical architects and developers, and as general issues about the use of uniform protocols and contracts are being settled, more specific questions arise. In this article, we will consider differences between internal and external Web Services, and attempt to suggest answers to questions, such as: What are the respective effects of implementing internal and external Web Services? And which type of Web Services will dominate in the future? More info

The desktop Java client group at Sun is working on some great features and functionality in the next release of Java (code named Mustang); we thought it might be useful to detail some of the highlights here. Where possible, we will add pointers to additional information (such as Bug IDs or other articles) and we will also give information on the Mustang build that each item is integrated into, as we proceed in development. More info

This article discusses how providers of application frameworks (J2EE and .NET) are adopting support of Web Services standards and capabilities into their development tools, application servers, and server software. As well as looking at the key differences between the J2EE and .NET frameworks as far as their support for Web Services is concerned, we look at an example of Web Services and Application servers. More info

In this article, we will take a look at the Web Services Architecture technology stacks from WebServices.org, IBM, and the W3C. The architecture of a Web Services stack varies from one organization to another, and the number and complexity of layers for the stack depend on the organization. Each stack requires Web Services interfaces to get a Web Services client to speak to an application server or middleware, such as Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE), and .NET. To enable the interface, you need Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), SOAP with Attachments (SwA), and Java Remote Method Invocation (RMI) among other Internet protocols. More info

In the 1990s, enterprises discovered that storage was best treated as infrastructure, and network attached storage went from being a radical idea to a mainstream solution in the course of only a few years. Today, network attached processing—consolidating middle-tier server sprawl into a small pool of compute appliances—is poised to deliver similar management and consolidation benefits to J2EE deployments, which can reduce the cost and complexity associated with developing, deploying, managing, and provisioning distributed J2EE applications. More info

The term 'Mock Objects' has become a popular one to describe special case objects that mimic real objects for testing. However the term mock was not originally meant as a more catchy name for stub, but to introduce a different approach to unit testing. In this article I dig into this difference of style to explain the difference between the interaction-based testing style favored by mock object fans, and the more usual state-based testing style. More info

This year's JavaOne conference, the premier Java conference run by Sun Microsystems each year in San Francisco CA, was a quiet affair, but a more interesting and mature one than last year from a Web Services point of view. So what does this tell us about the state of Java Web Services? We look at the salient issues for Web Services architects: security, distributed transactions, identity and the Liberty Alliance, and Sun's ongoing relationship with Microsoft. More info