ask | dr. root

Comic books are ever so popular and many of them are being digitized for access via desktop computers and mobile devices. I've a good a number of them on my iPod Touch - my favorite being "Death Dealer - Shadows of Mirahan". Issue 1 is free on iTunes. Inspired by Fank Frazetta's Death Dealer, this graphic novel is simply beautiful and a great tribute to the iconic artist whose work has inspired generations of fantasy and sci-fi artists. I'm a fan.

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Jeff Friesen, a regular on java.net, has written an article on how to create a simple comic book reader in Java. In a digitized comic book, image files are most commonly packaged into CBR (RAR archive format) and CBZ (ZIP archive format) files.

Jeff's source code is divided into three classes: CBReader, CBZ and FSWindow. CBReader defines the application, CBZ processes CBZ files, and FSWindow enables a fullscreen window that can display and scroll images.

The source code for Jeff's comic book reader can be downloaded and easily amended to include additional features.

To view Jeff's article and download the source code for his comic book reader, go to:
http://bit.ly/daVhlb


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The latest Sun Certification FAQ was posted earlier this week on the Oracle Certification blog site at http://bit.ly/caqRc1


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If you're looking for ref cards / cheat sheets about Java EE, NetBeans, GlassFish or even Virtualization and Cloud Computing, check out the DZone website. They've published over 85 of them and they include tips and source code examples. The ref cards can be downloaded or viewed online. Very handy!

DZone Refcardz:
http://refcardz.dzone.com/home?oid=ban00020-0

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Avnet Open Day: Solaris 8 Containers "Hands-On How-To"
Free Session: Tuesday 2nd March (9.30am - 1pm)

Solaris 8 Containers provide the framework on the Solaris 10 operating system to run separate and protected non-native operating environments. Join us for a free half-day technical session on 2nd March. We will show you how to migrate SPARC systems running the Solaris 8 operating environments through the virtualisation of Solaris 8 Containers.

The session will be held at our training centre and we will introduce you to Solaris 8 Containers and the possibilities that they bring to the management of your datacentre.

This half-day hands-on session is aimed at technology professionals and systems administrators who may be new to Solaris 8 Containers or those who wish to find out more about the implementation of Solaris 8 Containers. Each attendee will have the use of a dedicated workstation to follow technical exercises under the guidance of our instructor.

THIS EVENT IS COMPLETELY FREE OF CHARGE

On the Agenda:

• Introduction to Solaris 8 Containers
• Benefits of Migration
• Solaris 9 Containers
• Solaris 8 Containers and the ZFS file system
• Hands-on:
  - Archive creation
  - Zone Creation
  - Installation of Solaris 8 Containers
  - File systems and Solaris 8 Containers

To secure your seat, register now at: www.ts.avnet.com/ie/events/openday

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Save the date! Thursday 18th February @ 10am (PST) / 6pm (GMT)

Getting Started with Groovy, Grails, and MySQL
(live webcast with Scott Davis, two-time JavaOne RockStar award winner)

http://ow.ly/15Gyk

Groovy is an agile dynamic language that dramatically speeds up Java development. Grails is a Java- and Groovy-based web framework that brings modern practices like scaffolding and convention over configuration to the Java platform.

If you want to "skin" your exiting MySQL database with a web front-end, Grails is the perfect solution. Or, you can let GORM (Grails Object/Relational Mapping API) manage the database for you in your greenfield development. You can define one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many relationships in your Grails domain classes. Grails 1.2 offers new support for named queries, JPA annotations, and finer-grained control of both your data source and cache.

There will be live coding demos of the following:

• Creating a new Grails application
• Mapping a Grails application to an existing database schema
• Creating relationships between domain classes
• Working with GORM methods

To register for this event, go to http://ow.ly/15Gyk

Thierry Manfe at Sun explains in his blog how you can squeeze out a 10%-20% performance gain from your C, C++ and Fortran code by using the Sun Studio compilers (works best on Solaris and SPARC). The commands and options are clearly explained. If you're compiling for performance, check out: http://tinyurl.com/ybezdsk

Oracle has published an FAQ for the Sun developer community on their website - check out:
http://www.oracle.com/technology/community/sun-oracle-community-continuity.html

Equally interesting is the webcast about the Oracle + Sun Java developer tool available at:
http://tinyurl.com/yfppulc