SCEA study guide errata

Thanks to Kristiyan Marinov who sent in this comment calling out three typos in the book. I figure this is interesting enough to other readers of the book currently working through the exam to re-publish the comment in full below along with my reply..

Original comment

Hi,


I recently read your book and find it an interesting and helpful read. I found a couple of mistakes during some of the test-yourself questions though.
Since I didn't manage to get a hold of you or Mark Cade any other way, I'll be posting my notes in this comment.

Typo 1: On page 81, question 6. The Answer says D but the explanation below it explains why C is the correct answer (which it is indeed).

Typo 2: On page 95, question 1. The Answer says C and D but the correct answers are B and C, as is given in the explanation.

Typo 3: On page 148, question 5. The Answer says B, C and F while the actual answers are B, D and F.

Thanks for the otherwise great book!

Kristiyan

My reply

Hi Kristiyan

Thanks for the comments. These are all typos that need to go into the errata for the book. I'll reach out to the publshers to see when the next run is and also create a blog post to call out these three for other readers. Thanks!

Humphrey

Fixing the Google Analytics API (v3) examples

I'm currently working on consuming data from the Google Analytics API for one of the data sources we're using at Eysys.

So far, so normal. But what was strange was the poor state of the Google Analytics API documentation. I don't think I've ever seen one of their APIs be documented so poorly - missing source code, typos in example source code provided, a real rambling tone to the docs pointing off to different areas (a lot of this is to do with the OAuth 2.0 hoops you have to jump through before even starting to pull down the data you want to analyse).

I also couldn't believe how many dependencies the API has - I ended up with 29 jar files in my Eclipse project's lib folder! Surely this could all be a lot leaner, meaner and easier - it's just an API returning JSON data at the end of the day..

Anyway, if you're interested in getting up and running with the API examples, here's what to fix.

First of all, there is actually missing source code in the distro itself (or at least the one I used - google-api-services-analytics-v3-rev10-1.7.2-beta.zip), so you need to get LocalServerReceiver, OAuth2Native and VerificationCodeReceiver directly from the Google code repo.

LocalServerReceiver uses an old version of Jetty, so we need to migrate it to use the latest Jetty (I used 8.1.4.v20120524) which now has an org.eclipse.* package structure. So we need to update the imports as follows:

import org.eclipse.jetty.server.Connector;
import org.eclipse.jetty.server.Request;
import org.eclipse.jetty.server.Server;
import org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.AbstractHandler;

Refreshing Jetty will also necessitate upgrading the handle(..) method to fit in with the new signature, as follows:

@Override
public void handle(String target, Request arg1,
HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
throws IOException, ServletException {
if (!CALLBACK_PATH.equals(target)) {
return;
}
writeLandingHtml(response);
response.flushBuffer();
((Request) request).setHandled(true);
String error = request.getParameter("error");
if (error != null) {
System.out.println("Authorization failed. Error=" + error);
System.out.println("Quitting.");
System.exit(1);
}
code = request.getParameter("code");
synchronized (LocalServerReceiver.this) {
LocalServerReceiver.this.notify();
}
}


There's also a small mod to be made in getRedirectUri(), change this line:

server.addHandler(new CallbackHandler());

to this instead:

server.setHandler(new CallbackHandler());


The logic of this class also seems pretty flawed to me - generating a random port for the redirect URI that OAuth calls back to at the end of authentication every time it's run, which by definition you won't be able to put into the APIs console. So I commented out the getUnusedPort() method and simply hard-coded one.

And after these mods, hey presto it works! :-)

Writing a new book about software development!

Following a respectable interval of time after the launch of the official Enterprise Architect study guide (which was absolutely necessary to allow painful memories of the writing and editing process to fade :-) ), I've teamed up with my editor from that book - Greg Doench  from Pearson on a new book about software development. I can't believe that Greg is signing up for round two with me, and am grateful to have him on board again!

The central premise of this new book stems from an observation that I have seen time and time again - a lot of smart people in business that I work with just don't get software at any kind of meaningful level - the coders who program it, their unique culture, the actual process of designing and writing software, and most importantly - why things (inevitably) go wrong and how to fix them when they do (and for "wrong", you can substitute any value of "late", "over-budget" or "doesn't do what it should" or all three that floats your boat).

This disconnect would be ok if it weren't for the fact that these same smart business people almost always end up in a position where software projects are a key part of what they need to achieve - they become customers, or key stakeholders. If they rise high enough, they become actual budget holders - then it gets interesting! Simply put, it's rapidly becoming a career-limiting move in business to say that "I'm not technical". And motivated business people who want to become conversant with their software projects are finding a gap in readable, digestible content that helps them to bridge their gap in understanding. That's where this book comes in.

The book structure itself is pretty new - although the chapters are designed to be read together (although not in a regimented order), Greg is encouraging me to write the chapters so that they will also read "standalone". There's a strong chance then that individual chapters will be available well before the book is scheduled to complete in Q2 of 2013.

What the book is:

* A guide to software development for people who are not technical by background and want to learn
* A map to navigate a software project by - regardless of programming language used or target application
* A guide that should stand the test of time - it's not about buzzwords, it's about the core building blocks that make up software projects

What the book isn't:

* An idiot's guide to software development - you will be stretched intellectually by the content we're planning to put into the book
* A technology-specific guide - I'll be consciously writing the book with a view to covering all technologies, and concrete examples will be provided across the spectrum of commonly-used programming languages

Time to start writing!

Awesome Java developers wanted!

We're hiring! If you've got a hankering to work for a startup operating in stealth mode based in Cardiff, Wales, using the latest Java frameworks and techniques to build the coolest ecommerce platform around, read on!


ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY

Once in a while, a chance comes up to be part of something special. We are looking for excellent developers to join our team and help build the next-generation global ecommerce platform incorporating big data mining and analysis, machine learning, cloud computing (EC2 and App Engine) and the latest advances in online commerce.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

* Our platform is primarily Java-based, so strong Java and OOD skills are an absolute must

* A willingness to pro-actively research and use new libraries and projects as needed to add new platform capabilities to complete our roadmap

* Experience with Linux and MySQL is also advantageous

* You will have a solid grounding in how web based server side applications and databases work

* Be comfortable working in a rapid iteration development cycle moving from prototype to production while engineering to a high level of quality, using leading automated testing techniques

* Enjoy / understand the importance of working in all layers of the platform architecture - UI, business logic and persistence

* Understand how to describe and design a system in terms of data structures and algorithms, in order to participate effectively in core design workshops

* Be totally committed to writing the most efficient, scalable and robust code possible, and to continously improve your ability in this area

* Prior experience with Bayesian techniques and artificial neural networks is beneficial, but is not strictly necessary

* Prior experience with Hadoop and HBase is beneficial, but is not strictly necessary

* Most important of all.. where you don't know something, be happy and ready to roll your sleeves up and learn it!


ABOUT US

Our culture is to work hard using the latest and most relevant technologies and to have lots of fun while doing it! We believe passionately in building and delivering truly game-changing software to our customers. Our ideal candidates are self-starting, good communicators, love coding and work well in a team.

For more information and to submit a CV, please email careers@eysys.com.

To all recruitment agencies: eysys does not accept agency CVs. Please do not forward CVs to our jobs alias, eysys employees or any other company location. eysys is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited CVs.