Too Big, Too Small, Just Right

Scream-Driven-Development

Hi,

You probably know this feeling. You want to make a Breaking-Change in your system. Maybe you want to change an API. Or you’d like to switch up your environments. Or you want to shut down a service because it’s no longer needed.

Whenever I face such a decision, I wonder about its consequences. Will it affect other stakeholders? The answer is often, yes.

This is the case now. I want to conduct deployments more frequently in an environment. It’s used to test the upcoming release. And, to keep the feedback loop short, I always want the current development status on the platform.

Marcus Held

Editor Fluency

Hi,

Today, I gave a presentation titled “Pragmatic Programming with Kotlin” at KKON.

It was once again a great pleasure. And because the RabbitMQ Summit is coming up this Friday, followed by the W-JAX in two weeks, I really didn’t feel like creating more slides.

So, I opted for live coding.

That way, I’m certainly faster in preparation (tm).

But aside from my laziness, there was another reason why I chose to do this.

Marcus Held

A Quick Look Back: My Recent Weeks

Hi,

Time flies, and the past weeks have been especially busy for me. Here’s a brief overview of what’s been on my plate:

1. Relaxation and Inspiration: My Vacation in Austria

We all know it: Periods of intense work need to be balanced with times of relaxation.

Last week, I took such a break, spending it with my family at a children’s hotel in Austria.

Even though I had my computer with me, it remained switched off – except for a brief moment due to tax reasons. This break was not only refreshing but also inspiring.

Marcus Held

Deliberate Practice

Hi,

Currently, I am practicing calligraphy. My handwriting has always been purely “functional.” Every day, I write out all the letters of the alphabet, focusing on the quality of each stroke.

Five years ago, I practiced touch-typing. Every day for 10 minutes on https://www.keybr.com/ .

Seven years ago, I banished my mouse within the IDE. I had to learn how to operate everything using the keyboard alone.

And ten years ago, I focused on the Shell. I performed all operations on my system there.

Marcus Held

Java 21 is GA!

Hi,

Java 21 has finally reached General Availability (GA) status since Tuesday 🎉

For months, I’ve taken every opportunity to talk about how virtual threads are the highlight of this release for me. For instance, in this or this old newsletter, or here on my blog.

And that hasn’t changed. I believe virtual threads are one of the most significant improvements in years. Whether everything turns out as expected remains to be seen.

But of course, there are also other features that shouldn’t go unmentioned.

Marcus Held