Because of the hands-on work that I do, I get a good perspective of several exciting technologies. I have been fortunate enough to be able to transfer the knowledge gained into several articles and books.
Books
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Pro Java ME MMAPI - Published by Apress
This book was published in May 06 and teaches you how to add audio and video support to your mobile applications using the Java ME (J2ME) platform. I maintain a companion book site here.
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Jakarta Commons Online Bookshelf/Jakarta Commons in Action - Published by Manning
This took me over a year to complete, but I can honestly say that the time was well spent. This book is comprehensive and detailed to the point of being called a "Manual". With the several Commons components that it covers, a "Manual" was definitely required
Owing to the way the Commons library is structured, the publisher has decided to trial the book's chapters as standalone modules, available online first. I think it's a smart move and with this book, I completely agree.
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Beginning JSP 2.0 - Published by Apress
This book was originally going to be published by Wrox, but by the time the book went to print, Wrox had gone belly-up and several months later, Apress bought the rights to it. I had started out as a technical reviewer for the book, but ended up writing three chapters. In the new version of the book brought out by Apress, only one chapter remained: "JSP and XML".
I did not get paid for my efforts on the book (because of Wrox's bankruptcy), but I am still proud of my one chapter contribution.
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Professional JSP Site Design - Published by Wrox
My first and safe to say, very poor attempt at writing. I was contacted to do one chapter which, I noticed in the final print, got reduced to three sections. Still, it took me over two weeks to write it, and it did launch my writing career.
Articles
I have written several articles on various topics. I have concentrated on open source Java projects, which have little or no documentation (or which had little or no documentation).
Most of my articles have come about because of personal requirement or experience. If I had trouble understanding a topic or technology, I decided to write about it. Writing makes you look deeper into a technology and not just be superficial about it. Instead of looking for quick fixes, it made me appreciate the structure of some well thought out libraries.
Oh, and it pays a bit too. :)
I have written on only one non technology topic. But again, it was based on personal experience in a technology arena. It was hosted on Java.net and I moderated a discussion around it for a couple of weeks as well.
- Tips to technical interviewing - article and forum archives.
- Analyze Your Classes
- Using the Jakarta Commons, Part 3
- Using the Jakarta Commons, Part 2
- Using the Jakarta Commons, Part 1
- Understanding Classloaders: log4j in a J2EE Environment
- Implementing Templates with Struts
- XML to PDF? Oh, FOP It.
- Build Flexible Logs With log4j
I am particularly proud of the next three articles. These three articles were the first serious effort in documenting the Jakarta Commons project and are still listed in the Jakarta Commons website front page.
I spent hours on end to write the next article and am really proud of this one too. It was my first article for which I was getting paid, and I wanted to make sure that I did a good job. I was very happy with the result which provides a comprehensive look at the Log4J library. I continue to get emails regarding this article.
I have also written a very popular series of tutorial at Java.net on Java ME (J2ME)
If you want more information about these articles please contact me at tech@craftbits.com