Venkat Subramaniam
Founder @ Agile Developer, Inc.
Dr. Venkat Subramaniam is an award-winning author, founder of Agile Developer, Inc., creator of agilelearner.com, and an instructional professor at the University of Houston.He has trained and mentored thousands of software developers in the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia, and is a regularly-invited speaker at several international conferences. Venkat helps his clients effectively apply and succeed with sustainable agile practices on their software projects.
Venkat is a (co)author of multiple technical books, including the 2007 Jolt Productivity award winning book Practices of an Agile Developer. You can find a list of his books at agiledeveloper.com. You can reach him by email at venkats@agiledeveloper.com or on twitter at @venkat_s.
Presentations
Getting up to Speed With Java 9
9:00 AM MDT
Java 9 is by far the most significant update of the Java language. We can view Java 9 changes in three parts: improvements, additions, and advances. Quite a few things we could do in Java 8 or earlier have been improved, there are a few new additions, and of course the most noted change the module system or Jigsaw.
In this hands-on workshop we will give into all these three areas, discuss the significance, look at code examples, and most important practice the concepts using concrete exercises. At the end of this workshop you will be able to gauge the efforts necessary for your project to successfully adopt and make use of Java 9.
Java 9: The Key Parts
8:30 AM MDT
Everyone (including your humble speaker) talks about Modularization. For once, let's focus on other interesting and exciting parts of Java 9 that does not involve modularization. In this presentation we will talk about key improvements and additions to the Java language and the JDK introduced in Java 9.
We will focus on first things that can be done better in Java 9 compared to previous versions on Java.
Then we will look at things we simply could not do before but we can benefit from now.
And finally, we will not talk about Modularization, well I lied, will discuss that just a bit.
Using Reactive APIs of Java
10:30 AM MDT
Reactive Programming is no longer an esoteric idea. Many libraries and tools have started providing excellent support for this idea of programming. So much that Java 9 has embraced this idea by including it into the specification. In this presentation we will take a dive into what reactive programming looks like from the Java specification point of view.
Reactive Programming
What problem does it solve
How to use it from Java point of view?
What can you do to make good use of it.
Kotlin for Java Programmers
1:00 PM MDT
Kotlin is a language that brings the strengths and capabilities of multiple languages into one. If you have looked at two or three different languages and said “I wish I could do this, that, and that also,” well now you can, thanks to Kotlin. In this presentation we will learn the key benefits and power of this exciting language.
Ways to compile and run
Using REPL
Typing
Creating functions
Working with lambdas and functional style
Destructuring and other interesting features
Null types
Using Extension methods
Classes, objects, and inheritance
Delegation
Creating DSLs
Functional Programming Katas in Java (3 hours)
2:45 PM MDT
Refactoring imperative code to functional style is a really good way to learn. What's even better, take a series of unit tests that pass, refactor the imperative code, and verify that the tests still pass after you make the code change. In this workshop we will take on a series of problems, already solved using imperative style, refactor that to functional style, and discuss the approach, techniques, pros, and cons.
Come prepared with your Java IDE. Be ready to pair up with other attendees. Dive into functional thinking.
Functional Programming Katas in Java (3 hours)
4:30 PM MDT
Refactoring imperative code to functional style is a really good way to learn. What's even better, take a series of unit tests that pass, refactor the imperative code, and verify that the tests still pass after you make the code change. In this workshop we will take on a series of problems, already solved using imperative style, refactor that to functional style, and discuss the approach, techniques, pros, and cons.
Come prepared with your Java IDE. Be ready to pair up with other attendees. Dive into functional thinking.
What's Brewing beyond Java 9
8:30 PM MDT
After years of stagnation, Java is one of the most vibrant languages of current times. Java 8 saw several improvements and Java 9 a few more. Well, that's only the beginning. Come to this talk to learn about where Java is heading, what's brewing in the language and the ecosystem, well beyond Java 9.
We will look ahead into the next versions of Java, what you can expect, and how you can get ready.
A Practical Introduction to React
9:00 AM MDT
React is a very targeted library for creating rich front end. While React does fairly well what it intends to provide, developing a practical application requires more than using React alone.
In this presentation we will build the front end for a small application that pulls data from a backend and along the way learn how to use React and related libraries to achieve the desired results.
Developing with React: Components, State management, and Testing
11:00 AM MDT
In this presentation, we will dig deeper into creating applications with React.
We will take a deeper look into creating components, dealing with life cycle events, managing state, when and how to use Redux, and how to approach automated testing of the front-end code you create.
Improving Quality of JavaScript Code
1:30 PM MDT
JavaScript is a very powerful and ubiquitous language. At the same time, it is also a language that is often misunderstood and misused. Better quality code greatly reduces the effort and time to maintain software. So, there is a good incentive to improve quality of code.
In this presentation we will cover two things. We will discuss dos and don'ts for programming with JavaScript. Then we will look at a set of tools that can help keep an eye on our code and prompt us to improve the quality.
JavaScript: The Fascinating Parts
3:15 PM MDT
JavaScript is no longer that scary nasty language. There are so many wonderful features in the modern versions of this language that I can't stop praising it. In this presentation we will focus on some of the most exciting features of the language that make programming in JavaScript a pleasant experience.
We will dive into beautiful parts and features from ES 6, ES 7, and ES 8.
JavaScript: From Classes to Decorators
5:00 PM MDT
To say the least, writing classes in JavaScript was a weird experience. It never felt right. Well the language has set it right finally. In this presentation we will learn about the different capabilities in JavaScript to do OO programming. Along the way we will dive into some advanced concepts as well.
Learn how to program with this powerful language that has matured significantly in the recent years.
Towards an Evolutionary Architecture and Design
9:00 AM MDT
Big up front design is discouraged in agile development. However, we know that architecture plays a significant part in software systems. Evolving architecture during the development of an application seems to be a risky business.
In this presentation we will discuss the reasons to evolve the architecture, some of the core principles that can help us develop in such a manner, and the ways to minimize the risk and succeed in creating a practical and useful architecture.
Core Software Design Principles
10:45 AM MDT
Creating code is easy, creating good code takes a lot of time, effort, discipline, and commitment. The code we create are truly the manifestations of our designs. Creating a lightweight design can help make the code more extensible and reusable.
In this presentation we will take an example oriented approach to look at some core design principles that can help us create better design and more maintainable code.
Measuring Quality of design (1/2 day workshop)
1:30 PM MDT
Before spending substantial effort in refactoring or altering design, it would be prudent to evaluate the current quality of design. This can help us decide if we should proceed with refactoring effort or a particular alteration of design. Furthermore, after evolving a design, using some design metrics would help us to evaluate if we have improved on the design front.
In this workshop we will learn about some critical qualities of design and how to measure those. We will learn about these by working through some example code, refactoring it, and evaluating the design again at each stage of refactoring.
Measuring Quality of design (1/2 day workshop)
3:15 PM MDT
Before spending substantial effort in refactoring or altering design, it would be prudent to evaluate the current quality of design. This can help us decide if we should proceed with refactoring effort or a particular alteration of design. Furthermore, after evolving a design, using some design metrics would help us to evaluate if we have improved on the design front.
In this workshop we will learn about some critical qualities of design and how to measure those. We will learn about these by working through some example code, refactoring it, and evaluating the design again at each stage of refactoring.
Books
Test-Driving JavaScript Applications: Rapid, Confident, Maintainable Code
by Venkat Subramaniam
Debunk the myth that JavaScript is not easily testable. Whether you use Node.js, Express, MongoDB, jQuery, AngularJS, or directly manipulate the DOM, you can test-drive JavaScript. Learn the craft of writing meaningful, deterministic automated tests with Karma, Mocha, and Chai. Test asynchronous JavaScript, decouple and properly mock out dependencies, measure code coverage, and create lightweight modular designs of both server-side and client-side code. Your investment in writing tests will pay high dividends as you create code that's predictable and cost-effective to change.
Design and code JavaScript applications with automated tests. Writing meaningful tests is a skill that takes learning, some unlearning, and a lot of practice, and with this book, you'll hone that skill. Fire up the editor and get hands-on through practical exercises for effective automated testing and designing maintainable, modular code.
Start by learning when and why to do manual testing vs. automated verification. Focus tests on the important things, like the pre-conditions, the invariants, complex logic, and gnarly edge cases. Then begin to design asynchronous functions using automated tests. Carefully decouple and mock out intricate dependencies such as the DOM, geolocation API, file and database access, and Ajax calls to remote servers.
Step by step, test code that uses Node.js, Express, MongoDB, jQuery, and AngularJS. Know when and how to use tools such as Chai, Istanbul, Karma, Mocha, Protractor, and Sinon. Create tests with minimum effort and run them fast without having to spin up web servers or manually edit HTML pages to run in browsers. Then explore end-to-end testing to ensure all parts are wired and working well together.
Don't just imagine creating testable code, write it.
What You Need:
A computer with a text editor and your favorite browser. The book provides instructions to install the necessary automated testing-related tools.
Pragmatic Scala: Create Expressive, Concise, and Scalable Applications
by Venkat Subramaniam
Our industry is moving toward functional programming, but your object-oriented experience is still valuable. Scala combines the power of OO and functional programming, and Pragmatic Scala shows you how to work effectively with both. Updated to Scala 2.11, with in-depth coverage of new features such as Akka actors, parallel collections, and tail call optimization, this book will show you how to create stellar applications.
This thorough introduction to Scala will get you coding in this powerful language right away. You'll start from the familiar ground of Java and, with easy-to-follow examples, you'll learn how to create highly concise and expressive applications with Scala. You'll find out when and how to mix both imperative and functional style, and how to use parallel collections and Akka actors to create high-performance concurrent applications that effectively use multicore processors.
Scala has evolved since the first edition of this book, and Pragmatic Scala is a significant update. We've revised each chapter, and added three new chapters and six new sections to explore the new features in Scala. You'll learn how to:
Safely manage concurrency with parallel collections and Akka actors
Create expressive readable code with value classes and improved implicit conversions
Create strings from data with no sweat using string interpolation
Create domain-specific languages
* Optimize your recursions with tail call optimization
Whether you're interested in creating concise, robust single-threaded applications or highly expressive, thread-safe concurrent programs, this book has you covered.
What You Need:
The Scala compiler (2.x) and the JDK are required to make use of the concepts and the examples in this book.
Functional Programming in Java: Harnessing the Power Of Java 8 Lambda Expressions
by Venkat Subramaniam
Intermediate level, for programmers fairly familiar with Java, but new to the functional style of programming and lambda expressions.
Get ready to program in a whole new way. Functional Programming in Java will help you quickly get on top of the new, essential Java 8 language features and the functional style that will change and improve your code. This short, targeted book will help you make the paradigm shift from the old imperative way to a less error-prone, more elegant, and concise coding style that's also a breeze to parallelize. You'll explore the syntax and semantics of lambda expressions, method and constructor references, and functional interfaces. You'll design and write applications better using the new standards in Java 8 and the JDK.
Lambda expressions are lightweight, highly concise anonymous methods backed by functional interfaces in Java 8. You can use them to leap forward into a whole new world of programming in Java. With functional programming capabilities, which have been around for decades in other languages, you can now write elegant, concise, less error-prone code using standard Java. This book will guide you though the paradigm change, offer the essential details about the new features, and show you how to transition from your old way of coding to an improved style.
In this book you'll see popular design patterns, such as decorator, builder, and strategy, come to life to solve common design problems, but with little ceremony and effort. With these new capabilities in hand, Functional Programming in Java will help you pick up techniques to implement designs that were beyond easy reach in earlier versions of Java. You'll see how you can reap the benefits of tail call optimization, memoization, and effortless parallelization techniques.
Java 8 will change the way you write applications. If you're eager to take advantage of the new features in the language, this is the book for you.
What you need:
Java 8 with support for lambda expressions and the JDK is required to make use of the concepts and the examples in this book.
Programming Groovy 2: Dynamic Productivity for the Java Developer (Pragmatic Programmers)
by Venkat Subramaniam
Groovy brings you the best of both worlds: a flexible, highly productive, agile, dynamic language that runs on the rich framework of the Java Platform. Groovy preserves the Java semantics and extends the JDK to give you true dynamic language capabilities. Programming Groovy 2 will help you, the experienced Java developer, learn and take advantage of the latest version of this rich dynamic language. You'll go from the basics of Groovy to the latest advances in the language, including options for type checking, tail-call and memoization optimizations, compile time metaprogramming, and fluent interfaces to create DSLs.
You don't have to leave the rich Java Platform to take advantage of Groovy. Groovy preserves Java's semantics and extends the JDK, so programming in Groovy feels like the Java language has been augmented; it's like working with a lighter, more elegant Java. If you're an experienced Java developer who wants to learn how Groovy works, you'll find exactly what you need in this book.
You'll start with the fundamentals of programming in Groovy and how it works with Java, and then you'll explore advanced concepts such as unit testing with mock objects, using Builders, working with databases and XML, and creating DSLs. You'll master Groovy's powerful yet complex run-time and compile-time metaprogramming features.
Much has evolved in the Groovy language since the publication of the first edition of Programming Groovy. Programming Groovy 2 will help you learn and apply Groovy's new features. Creating DSLs is easier now, and Groovy's already-powerful metaprogramming facilities have improved even more. You'll see how to work with closures, including tail call optimization and memoization. The book also covers Groovy's new static compilation feature.
Whether you're learning the basics of the language or interested in getting proficient with the new features, Programming Groovy 2 has you covered.
What You Need
To work on the examples in the book you need Groovy 2.0.5 and Java JDK 5 or higher.
Programming Concurrency on the JVM: Mastering Synchronization, STM, and Actors
by Venkat Subramaniam
More than ever, learning to program concurrency is critical to creating faster, responsive applications. Speedy and affordable multicore hardware is driving the demand for high-performing applications, and you can leverage the Java platform to bring these applications to life.
Concurrency on the Java platform has evolved, from the synchronization model of JDK to software transactional memory (STM) and actor-based concurrency. This book is the first to show you all these concurrency styles so you can compare and choose what works best for your applications. You'll learn the benefits of each of these models, when and how to use them, and what their limitations are.
Through hands-on exercises, you'll learn how to avoid shared mutable state and how to write good, elegant, explicit synchronization-free programs so you can create easy and safe concurrent applications. The techniques you learn in this book will take you from dreading concurrency to mastering and enjoying it. Best of all, you can work with Java or a JVM language of your choice - Clojure, JRuby, Groovy, or Scala - to reap the growing power of multicore hardware.
If you are a Java programmer, you'd need JDK 1.5 or later and the Akka 1.0 library. In addition, if you program in Scala, Clojure, Groovy or JRuby you'd need the latest version of your preferred language. Groovy programmers will also need GPars.
Practices of an Agile Developer: Working in the Real World (Pragmatic Bookshelf)
by Venkat Subramaniam and Andy Hunt
These are the proven, effective agile practices that will make you a better developer. You'll learn pragmatic ways of approaching the development process and your personal coding techniques. You'll learn about your own attitudes, issues with working on a team, and how to best manage your learning, all in an iterative, incremental, agile style. You'll see how to apply each practice, and what benefits you can expect. Bottom line: This book will make you a better developer.
.NET Gotchas
by Venkat Subramaniam
Like most complex tasks, .NET programming is fraught with potential costly, and time-consuming hazards. The millions of Microsoft developers worldwide who create applications for the .NET platform can attest to that. Thankfully there's now a book that shows you how to avoid such costly and time-consuming mistakes. It's called .NET Gotchas.The ultimate guide for efficient, pain-free coding, .NET Gotchas from O'Reilly contains 75 common .NET programming pitfalls--and advice on how to work around them. It will help you steer away from those mistakes that cause application performance problems, or so taint code that it just doesn't work right.The book is organized into nine chapters, each focusing on those features and constructs of the .NET platform that consistently baffle developers. Within each chapter are several "gotchas," with detailed examples, discussions, and guidelines for avoiding them. No doubt about it, when applied, these concise presentations of best practices will help you lead a more productive, stress-free existence.What's more, because code examples are written in both VB.NET and C#, .NET Gotchas is of interest to more than 75 percent of the growing numbers of .NET programmers. So if you're a .NET developer who's mired in the trenches and yearning for a better way, this book is most definitely for you.