Everyone uses open source these days (well, I hope they do). These are the libraries I use regularly on projects when I can. Some are popular; others more obscure. All of these work well for me. Most of these are used in my web framework and this blog software.

Jetty - my servlet container of choice for many years.

DWR - for Ajax connectivity this is the easiest framework to work with.

Commons HTTPClient - for making calls to web servers from inside your web application.

Jakarta Commons - not all frameworks in commons are equally as useful, but this is the first place to go to find something

FastUtil - when you need fast primitive collections, this can't be beat.

Javolution - faster collections than the JDK with more options.

Jodatime - if you do date and time calculations, there is no option, you must use this. There is a JSR now to include this into a future JDK to replace/supplant the terrible JDK time and date classes.

H2 Database - my favorite Java database, it's fast, well supported by the author, and constantly being updated.

iBatis - easier to work with than Hibernate when you really need to use the power of SQL.

Logback - the next generation of logging by the author of log4j and Slf4J which is a new logging facade.

Rome - you can generate RSS feeds yourself but this is still useful.

StringTemplate - the author of the famous ANTLR parser generator also has a nice template framework. I've used it on and off for quite a while. It's a bit like Velocity but far more powerful and with less side-effects.

JDOM - for manual parsing of known XML, as well as generating known XML, it's the best framework for working with existing XML formats.

Xstream - very fast XML serializer, I always use this to store and load XML content created from my own objects.

Stax - I always use stax when embedding stuff into xml or xhtml (such as a web framework).

I use other things too, but these are very basic to what I do. It's amazing what you can get for free these days.

If you have a blog, go ahead and list your favorites as well in a post. It would be useful to see what everyone else uses.

My Tags: open source frameworks java

I just read this article Open Source is Not Innovative. What a waste of electrons.

The premise is that someone studied the top 500 sourceforge projects and "determined" that only 1% were "truly innovative". First this is a pretty lame study since there is no numerical definition of innovation (unlike gravity) so any study claiming a measurement of it has to be completely subjective.

Innovation does have a dictionary definition, as in "make changes in something established, esp. by introducing new methods, ideas, or products". For this author to state that open source is incapable of innovation is silly. He uses linux as an example ("essentially a copy of another operating system, called Unix"), wikipedia ("encyclopedias have been around since Diderot") and Firefox ("not radically different from any other browser").

Apparently his dictionary has a different definition which requires the earth to move, the sky to fall, and the Cubs to win the World Series before it's really innovative. Apparently his example of non open source innovation is ... Proctor & Gamble?

Funny how the entire web started with free and open "innovation" (HTTP and HTML) but gets no mention by the kindly "Dr". Much of the web is based on open source (Apache, etc.) and apparently has gone unnoticed by this fellow. Saying that wikipedia is like a paper encyclopedia is akin to saying the printing press is no different than a monk with a pen.

I can say my work as a programmer has been incredibly changed over the years by the availability of open source frameworks, languages and tools. They may not all be radical innovations but they sure have radically affected me.

My Tags: open source essay

After reading Where Are All The Open source Billionaires, which made very good points, I thought to myself "we are all open source billionaires". This was echoed in some of the comments.

Yes, we don't have the money, but we gain the benefits of the work of thousands of folks toiling away on something they love and giving it free to the world. As a Java programmer I can build complex web applications and not spend a dime on anything (although I choose to use IntelliJ and Textmate). Same is true of PHP, Python, Perl, Ruby, LISP, Scheme, Smalltalk, etc.

The web probably wouldn't even exist without open source contributions like HTML, Apache, Linux, etc.

Imagine you had to pay for everything you use. Some companies refuse to consider anything they haven't paid a bundle for. I worked for such a company, and we wasted gazillions buying stuff on the assumption that it was of higher quality (dubious at best), had better support (too funny), and had a broad customer base so it must be well tested (so does internet porn). I'm not saying for pay software is necessarily better or worse; in many cases the ROI doesn't make much sense if you can get something similar for nothing, and you still have to spend the same money on development, infrastructure, interconnectivity. Does it make sense for most people to buy a $1,000,000 license for Oracle or use Postgres and spend the money on a better DBA staff? For some things Oracle is the only choice, but often people assume they need it just because it's Oracle.

Naturally the overwhelming choices in the open source world themselves can be a hindrance, and much of it is not useful or represents an extreme experiment not a usable tool. But the rapid evolution and even revolution that comes from the intense open source competition creates new development possibilities at an amazing rate. If all we had was Microsoft's ideas of invention, where would be the world be?

So consider yourself rich beyond compare that you live in a world where amazing software and tools can be had for less than a 99 cent song. It's a wealth that benefits everyone.

My Tags: opinion open source