Category: Tech

Finding libraries for generating PDFs in Java isn’t that difficult. There are good frameworks out there. Ease of use for the programmers varies a lot though. At work we have been using the Big Faceless Java PDF Library. It’s payware, but the price is decent. It seems though that there might be a different open source contender available (Flying Saucer). Check out a comprehensive article on it here.

Anders Norås has a blog entry where he shows how one can easily apply the wrong solution to a problem. It’s from a book, so of course the authors set out to show one specific thing, but it could be a real world scenario too. People tend to fall in love with one way to do stuff, and try to apply that to everything. On the way he shows some good OO design that should be the first thing that springs to mind. Check out his entry here.

Also check out the link he supplies to Primitive Obsession. I knew it was wrong, I just didn’t have a name for it. Sweet. 🙂

And while you’re at it check out his post on software factories. It is a thorough explanation of how building frameworks is the right way to go instead of doing code generation.