Java Developer Magazine

The federal judge who oversaw the high-profile trial of SAP last year that ended with the jury awarding Oracle a record $1.3 billion in damages has overturned the decision, agreeing with the German company that the amount is "grossly excessive" and "contrary to the weight of evidence." She lowered the award to $272 million - all she said that Oracle had proven at trial - and told SAP it would get a new trial just on damages if Oracle didn't accept that amount. Looks like it'll be back to court then, your honor. Oracle - as you might expect - issued a statement saying, "There was voluminous evidence regarding the massive scope of the theft, clear involvement of SAP management in the misconduct and the tremendous value of the IP stolen. We believe the jury got it right and we intend to pursue the full measure of damages that we believe are owed to Oracle." Oracle had... (more)

Java, Soviet Union, and Job Interviews

Back in the seventies, I’d been taking entry exams to the Kiev Politechnic Institute (KPI).  I lived in the Ukraine, which was a part of the Soviet Union. At that time people of Jewish descent had a really hard time getting into most of the colleges and universities. Typically, there were four entry exams for the engineering majors: the verbal math, the written math, the verbal physics, and essay. There were no such things as multiple choice tests – we had to solve problems. Being a Jewish boy myself, I was raised knowing that getting into college would be extremely difficult fo... (more)

The Great Oracle v Google Java Suit Splits into Two Trials

Oracle and Google may not get to go at each come Halloween depriving onlookers of a real treat. District Court Judge William Alsup told the pair Monday that the trial may have to be postponed. It all depends on whether a "large criminal" trial starts, as scheduled, on October 17. If it doesn't then Oracle v Google will pick a jury on October 19 and the trial will start October 31. Then on Tuesday the judge said there were going to be two Java trials: one on liability, one on damages and that he's appointed Brigham Young University professor of economics James R. Kearl as an inde... (more)

Basic Apache and MySQL Performance Tuning

Apache and MySQL make up the backbone of many Linux based web servers. According to the August 2011 Web Server Survey by Netcraft, Apache currently runs on 65.18% (or 301,771,518!) of web servers.  Similarly, MySQL is the most popular open source database and holds a significant portion of the market share – especially for web content.  This article will detail how you can get at the ‘low-hanging fruit’ in order to make some simple changes that will yield big performance gains. Apache Tuning If your system is running httpd, the Apache web server, it will definitely benefit you t... (more)

How Garbage Collection Differs in the Three Big JVMs

(Note: If you’re interested in WebSphere in a production environment, check out Michael's upcoming webinar with The Bon-Ton Stores) Most articles about Garbage Collection ignore the fact that the Sun Hotspot JVM is not the only game in town. In fact whenever you have to work with either IBM WebSphere or Oracle WebLogic you will run on a different runtime. While the concept of Garbage Collection is the same, the implementation is not and neither are the default settings or how to tune it. This often leads to unexpected problems when running the first load tests or in the worst case... (more)