Obfuscation and Java Obfuscators
Lewis Coosner
2021-02-01
Obfuscation makes it harder to access the intellectual property in our code. In this article we look at what a Java obfuscator does.
Programming
The Reference API
Lewis Coosner
2021-01-26
The Reference API in Java is a way to add a level of indirection. Indirection is the ability to reference something using a name, reference, or container instead of the value itself. It is an important principle in computer science.
The Reflection API
Lewis Coosner
2021-01-18
The Reflection API is a way to find out about the internals of a Java class – its fields, constructors, methods and annotations. In this article we look at the Reflection API class and some example code.
Decompiling Java Source Code
Lewis Coosner
2021-01-12
Sometimes we need to decompile Java source code. This is useful to retrieve lost source code, or to see what the compiler has automatically generated. We conduct a quick experiment using two Java decompilers.
The -g Debug Compiler Flag in Java
Lewis Coosner
2021-01-04
The debug compiler flag is a way to get the compiler to insert more debugging information. When we debug Java code, we want as much information about our code as possible.
Easy documentation with Javadoc
Lewis Coosner
2020-12-28
There’s probably nothing programmers hate more than documenting their code. Fortunately for Java developers, help is at hand. The JavaDoc tool generates HTML documentation from comments we write in our code.
The Effect of Caching in Wrapper Classes
Lewis Coosner
2020-12-21
When you auto-box integral primitives n Java to their respective wrapper classes, the wrapper classes cache all values from -128 to +127. This has practical implications that you should know about.
The Dreaded OutOfMemoryError
Lewis Coosner
2020-12-14
Occasionally during development, your program may crash with an OutOfMemoryError. What happened and how do you prevent it?
When to suppress warnings in Java
Lewis Coosner
2020-12-09
The Java compiler can warn you of potential problems. Should you suppress warnings? Some useful information on types of warnings and using the @SuppressWarnings annotation.
Higher-order Functions in Java
Lewis Coosner
2020-12-03
Higher-order functions are functions that either accept other functions as arguments, or return a function as a result. Let’s look at how Java 8 supports higher-order functions.