Utility Software, Software I like, Software I made, Stuff about Programing, Links etc... Basically just like thousands of other Programmers out there I think that I know some good ways to do stuff and I will likely blather along about it as though I have more than an audience of about six.

I am (Professionally) a Java J2EE Enterprise Application Developer/Designer/Programmer maybe a bit of Architect (hopefully) but NOT an Engineer. Very few supposed 'Software Engineers' are actual Engineers, Engineers know a LOT of Math! I have a Bachelors Degree in Computer Information Systems and that ain't enough math to call me an Engineer. Ok so I have a bit of a feeling about that.

• Struts Survival Guide - Basics to Best Practices - Covers Struts 1.1 - By Srikanth Shenoy

This is a great book for anyone wanting to learn the basics of Struts. Currently there are two Struts paths the newer 2.0 path and the older 1.0 path. I believe that at this time Struts 1.2.8 is the current version of the 1.0 path. This guide is about the 1.0 path which is still seeing updates though not by an enormous amount and while other J2EE Frameworks are coming up and starting to eclipse the Struts 1.0 path there are still lots of applications out there as well as lots of Programmers and Developers familiar with the framework which will ensure it's continued use for some years.

This little book (I believe only available in pdf and currently free) while covering the older 1.1 version (there where significant changes going into Struts 1.2) is written excellently and I would love to see more technical books which take this approach. The most significant difference from the writing style of this text and others is the continual inclusion of and intertwining of the logical processes involved and the literal actions to achieve the logical reasoning. almost every ware when a literal process is given it is then supported by how this supports the logical processes that are trying to be achieved. Typical in modern text there may be a chapter or two in the beginning indicating the logical constructs then a huge continuation of literal approaches. Leaving the Programmer (which may be quite junior) to work out why to use what when and where. The problem is such an approach does not so much help teach good practices and structures as just teach syntax. This in my experience generates a lot of Programmers whom know how to do something but are poorly able to work out why to chose one method over another, leaving simply preference on familiarity. This of course exposes the differences between Programmers and Developers.

In any case I could feel that this is something good to read if you are wanting to learn Struts or if you are wanting to write any technical text. It should be useful.