Purpose of this blog

This is a blog where I will be sharing some of my hands-on experiences with different open source projects.

I have keen interest in the following:

• Spring Framework
• ORM technologies
• Distributed Version Control Systems
• GIT/GitHub
• Middleware Integration
• WSO2 product suite
• Apache Camel Integration framework
• Apache ActiveMQ
• SOAP/REST Web Services
• Spring WS
• Axis
• CXF
• OSGI
• Apache Karaf
• Virgo
• Scripting languages
• Test Driven Development
• JUnit
• TestNG
• DBUnit
• XmlUnit
• Mocking Technologies
• Easymock
• Powermock
• Mockito
• Build Management
• Maven
• Continuous Integration
• Jenkins on Cloudbees
• Code Quality
• Sonar
• FindBugs
• Artifact Repository
• Artifactory
• Archiva
• Nexus
• Big Data
• DataStax/Cassandra
• AWS/Rackspace/Cloudfoundry
• Troubleshooting
• SAP Memory Analyzer for JVM heap dump (surely not fun at all)
• JVisualVM (remote monitoring through JMX)

I like to revisit GoF Patterns, Enterprise Integration Patterns and SOA Design patterns from time to time. In my opinion those are essential books to have.

Over time my interests will evolve as I handle newer projects that will stretch me to handle greater challenges.

Like most software professionals I use google(90%)/bing(10%) to find answers to errors, stacktraces or to learn up and coming technologies. The more equipped we are with varied skills and technologies, the better we can be at finding a suitable solution to a given problem. We have heard that if the only tool you have is a hammer then everything looks like a nail. Off late I find myself doing that because I tend to apply what I already know. But I find that keeping myself open to newer ideas and technologies helps me find better solutions over time.

Best part of working with open source projects is the breadth of choices and depth of content/expertise already available. It is like “standing on shoulders of giants” as my brilliant colleague Matthew says!

At times I have wondered..hmm..wouldn’t it be nice if a certain open source product or a specific functionality was better documented or explained. It would have saved me considerable amount of time. My goal is to help make time to share some of my practical know-how in certain technologies. I have also realized that through sharing I actually end up learning more! Nice side effect 

Thanks again for visiting!