Alex's Undercover Blog

Better Builds with Maven

Posted: 2007-03-12T06:23Z[UTC] by Alex

As a software developer I'm constantly looking for tools and techniques to make the development process easier. I used to use a strict command-line environment and XEmacs for my Java Development until I was introduced to Eclipse which is a very nice, extensible IDE for Java and other languages (though it does Java best). The fact that I can refactor code (rename a class for example), constantly build in the background to check for errors, handle version control and project dependencies all in one place was a God-send. There was still one glaring flaw, however. Ant builds, while flexible, can be a pain to setup, even with an IDE, and because there's no standard for how to setup builds (because it's so flexible) the setup process can tend to be a bit frustrating. This is where Maven comes in.

World of Warcraft Installation Problems Solved

Posted: 2007-03-03T10:56Z[UTC] by Alex

I've been playing the World of Warcraft off and on ever since it's release in November of 2004. In general I've been really happy with it. As with everything else that I do in my free time I would occasionally move on to other things and, especially owning my own house now, most of my free time has been filled with house "to-do's". After playing through a bit of several characters to about the level 20 point I would inevitably start a new character to try and experience what all the different race/class combinations had to offer. As I had played through most of them I was really stoked for the release of the first expansion for the game, the Burning Crusade.

Alex's New Geeky Blog!

Posted: 2007-02-25T12:08Z[UTC] by Alex

I've been wanting to create a newblog for my nerdier, less family-oriented side for a while but never really put the time in. Not much here yet but this is a good start.