[ale] Servlets and NetBeans and .jars, oh my!

[Dylan Northrup]

And it also seems that, whatever you're trying to do, there's not a good,
piece by piece tutorial for putting things together a bit at a time.  The
HOWTOs and tutorials I've seen always seem to have a step that goes
something like the following:

   Step ???: Download the following jar files: <insert names of several
libraries author finds useful>.  Now type out the code below and magical
stuff will happen because all the hard work is done by the libraries you've
downloaded in the trivial case I've outlined below that doesn't cover what
you want to be able to do.

Ok, I admit, many times the author is not straightforward about admitting
that last bit, but it almost always seems to be the case. It's not that I'm
against useful libraries, but I've not found an author that a) introduces
their libs one at a time, b) gives a thorough description of the libraries
they're using, what the specific benefits are, c) provides more than one
scenario for the libraries they use or d) any combination of these.

So, if you're trying to do exactly what the HOWTO author is doing, you're
good to go.  If you want to do something else, the HOWTO doesn't cover it
and, depending on what set of libraries you've installed, you may have to
jump through an enormous number of hoops to be able to do something that
seems like a simple expansion on what the HOWTO covered, but isn't because
the methods you need aren't implemented in the libraries.
</rant>

If someone can point me to the documentation or books I've been unable to
find that explain things clearly, incrementally and thoroughly (more than
one or tow use cases), I would be eternally grateful.

On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 12:08 PM, James Sumners <james.sumners at gmail.com>wrote:

> I agree. It seems to me that this answer is really "depends on what
> you're trying to do." In my case, I have to learn Java (the easiest
> part) + Libraries + Tomcat + whatever else is needed to run/administer
> my portal.
>
> On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 11:53 AM, Dylan Northrup <ale at doc-x.net> wrote:
> > Actually, I think that'd be precisely the wrong place to start.  The
> > tutorials there are presented on specific technologies, but are not put
> into
> > any overall context and there is nothing to tie the tutorials together or
> > show when and where they're supposed to be used.  I know this because I
> am
> > in the same position as Pete, have been looking for a similar "Guide to
> the
> > Java Ecosystem" and found Sun's Java tutorials to be utterly lacking in
> that
> > respect.  Sun's site is great for learning how to implement the specific
> > technologies, but not on why you'd want to implement those technologies,
> > IMO.  YMMV.
>
>
>
> --
> James Sumners
> http://james.roomfullofmirrors.com/
>
> "All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts
> pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it
> is magnetic to the corruptible. Such people have a tendency to become
> drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted."
>
> Missionaria Protectiva, Text QIV (decto)
> CH:D 59
>
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-- 
Dylan Northrup
"Adversity is just change we haven't adapted ourselves to yet."
 - Aimee Mullins
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