macrobug

Java is widely regarded as easier to develop for than C++, etc. I tend to agree with that. In C++ it’s easy to find some nasty question to separate the decent developers from the amateurs (for example, ask them how a vtable works).

But even Java has some “low-level” lurking features which only the better Java developer understands. One of these is the class loader. Java normally has a class loader which will search the CLASSPATH environment variable, and/or any JAR file specified, when asked to load a given class. But this can be replaced – and often is.

For example, in Eclipse, each plugin has its own class loader. This means that plugins cannot conflict by having two classes with the same name; it also means that Eclipse can enforce a clear dependency tree on the plugins (the classloaders interact to allow downstream plugins to load classes from upstream plugins).

More or less the same applies to J2EE environments on web servers. Again, this is done so that the different… errr… web thingies have separate environments.

Still other classloaders – such as for good old Java applets – load classes dynamically across a network.

I’m hardly an expert on this stuff, but it seems I know more than some. The vendors of a library I wanted to use load their configuration files using getResourceAsStream(), which is delegated to the class loader. I explained this wasn’t very convenient for people whose class loaders didn’t refer to useful directories. They said that I should just edit the CLASSPATH and insisted that “all Java environments have a CLASSPATH” despite me repeatedly telling them it’s not true. For Eclipse and web applications, at least, the CLASSPATH is irrelevant.

The library is popular and otherwise appears well-designed and reasonably well-written.

All of which makes me think that any decent Java developer would be able to answer an interview question such as “what are some advantages of using a different class loader?” as a good filter at interview for Java developers.

Having said that, I’ve always been rubbish at interviewing so don’t listen to me.

In Excel, suppose you want to produce a table like this:

Obviously you want to use the SUM formula to add up the total number of beasties. That means you can’t literally type “2 oxen” into the cell – you’ll have to just type “2″ but make up a number format to present it as you wish.

That’s easy for singular quantities: the number format would be 0 "sheep".

But for plurals you have to go a bit further. It turns out you can put multiple formats in the box, separate them with semicolons, and add conditions. So the desired format is this: [=1]0 "ox";0 "oxen".

This adds all sorts of potential. What about [=0]"None";[<4]"A few";"Lots"? Or [=2]"Company";[>2]"A crowd"?

I’ve found a neat way to survive using Eclipse on a small screen!

Get rid of the Outline view (I did that ages ago). That frees up a third of your screen which you can devote to code.

The cunning bit is – then – to use Ctrl-O to bring up the Quick Outline view, and type the first few letters of the thing you wish to navigate to. Quicker than using the Outline view in the first place, and takes no screen space!