ItsAllEasy

I really don’t want to give it a link, but you really need to read it yourself…then maybe come back to see what I thought of it.

ONJava.com: POJO Application Frameworks: Spring Vs. EJB 3.0

You can also read what I believe was the rough-draft at Michael’s blog…where he was even more blatantly anti-Spring.

Man…what a pile of shit. Before I dig down, I’ll tell you up front that I don’t know much about EJB 3.0 and I’m only a novice Spring user…but hey I’m pretty sure this guy has only a very cursory knowledge of Spring.

This is supposed to be a comparison piece between Spring and EJB 3.0. It isn’t. It is really more “Here’s why I heart EJB 3.0 (and Jboss) more than Spring”. Is this apples to apples? Does Spring functionality == EJB 3.0 functionality? I’ve never really heard EJB referred to as an “Application Framework”…maybe it is? Anyway, I don’t think they are mutually exclusive. So to clarify, he’s really comparing functionality specified in EJB 3.0 with how that functionality can be achieved with Spring.

His problems with Spring are: Spring is not a standard and Spring uses icky xml instead of sexy annotations. Pack it up guys…Spring is not a standard…there is no jcp process for it…what the hell were we thinking…sorry to bother you, we’ll be on our way now. What do you MEAN? Should Rod et al have waited until EJB3.0 spec was in the books before launching Spring. Or are you saying “thanks for all the help Spring…we [JBoss with our EJB3.0 shield] will take it from here”. I really love [please read the sarcasm there] how he makes it sound like the 2 were done at the same time…when in reality EJB 3.0 would not be what it is if it were not for Spring’s popularity. I think it is great that EJB3.0 will be more pojo-centric and that it will be cleaner and that it has taken some good things from Spring and Hibernate and will be vastly improved over 2.1. That doesn’t mean that Spring goes out the window. I think (again…I’m not totally familiar with EJB3.0) that they can complement each other.

Annotations are nice…Spring does support them…but apparenlty not as sexily as this guy seems to think it should. I personally think annotations can be over-used. Sure, let me specify transaction rules via annotations, but dependency resolution and security rules? I’d prefer to have that externalized because (in my opinion) it’s more flexible/pluggable that way (not as close to the code and doesn’t need a recompile to reconfigure). Granted the recompile argument is less an issue in an enterprise environment where you probably recompiled before any change gets pushed to production anyway, but I still believe the xml file to be more flexible from a configuration standpoint. Maybe the future will show I’m wrong and I’ll be all about annotations…but the bottom line is that the xml config file is really not complicated and I hope I never have to work with someone who has a hard time reading/understanding them.

I was going to do a more in-depth analysis…commenting on individual lines, but that would take to long…I may still do that later…but I must do at least one:

…in-container tests are recommended, as they are easier, more robust, and more accurate than the mock objects approach.

…right…no reason, no backup, just take it as fact statement of crap. I would have even been ok with: “Now that EJB is more pojo-centric and you can fireup a simply configured container within the test so it is easier/more feasible to run automated and in-container tests…”, but I doubt that is true.

What a missed opportunity. I really think this could have been a simple intro to EJB3.0…with maybe mentions of the simlarities/differences with Spring instead of the bash piece it clearly was.

Juicy Studio: Div Mania. Read it if you can…let me know how it was. I couldn’t get through it…I kept correcting them as I read: “ITS DIV-ITIS, NOT DIV MANIA!”. Why are you giving it a new name.

I’ve been having some trouble with t-mobile’s online billing. I just sent them a ’support question’:

I just want to express my frustration with the billing information available online. I cannot determine what I owe anymore. I don’t believe the bill displayed to me via the website has EVER given me a total that makes any sense (it usually says something like Total Bill: $1.20…which I know is absurd. However, up until about 6 months or so ago, when I went to pay the bill, the ‘amount’ field was pre-populated with what I actually owed…so I could at least figure it out. Now (starting about 6 months ago)…no such luck…the field defaults to 0. The only thing I can do now is hit #bal# to figure out what I owe.

If I’m missing something please let me know. I’m not a below-average computer user. I am a web application developer…I do this stuff for a living. If I can’t figure it out, I’m sure others can’t either. If the feature is there, then the design has not made it obvious or easy to use.

Their response:

Thank you for taking the time to contact T-Mobile.

We do apologize for any frustrations you are experiencing with the website. If you can not get an accurate amount from the website you should go by your paper bill. In addition you can call our customer care for balance information on your account 24 hours a day at Toll Free # 1-800-937-8997. Once again we extent our sincerest apologies.

If you have any further comments, questions, or concerns feel free to contact us at anytime.

Thank you for choosing T-Mobile.

Thanks…I’m sure you’ll be forwarding my frustration along to someone who actually gives a damn.

My follow-up:

Any plans to get it fixed? Not only is it frustrating for we customers, it costs t-mobile money in support cost (see this email). I’m sure people have just paid the amount shown on their web-bill and thought all was well, only to get a larger bill the next month…and If they were like me (don’t even read my paper bill) would be blissfully unaware of their bill racking up higher and higher. If you provide the service, it should be correct…we trust it to be correct. If it isn’t…make it unavailable until it is fixed. What good is it to me if it’s broke?

Them:

Thank you for taking the time to contact T-Mobile.

We do apologize for any inconvenience that this issue may have caused you. We have updated your billing information on tmobile.com. You should now have the ability to view your balance once logged in to tmobile.com. Currently your balance is at $0.

You are a valued customer Aislinn and we want you to know that T-Mobile appreciates your business. Our goal is to provide you with World Class Customer Service. Keep in mind that we are here to answer any questions or concerns 24 hours a day 7 days a week for your convenience. You can also reach us by dialing 611 from your handset or 18009378997.

If you have any further comments, questions, or concerns feel free to contact us at anytime.

Thank you for choosing T-Mobile.

I really do appreciate the customer service here (seriously…no sarcasm). These guys are quick to respond and are at least trying to help.

Me:

I really appreciate your quick replies and information. I just want you to know what I’m talking about and it doesn’t appear that you do (not for lack of trying, I’m sure - again, I really appreciate you replies). When I go to view my current bill online, I see a bill with a “Total Charges” of $3.93…and monthly service charges of $0.00. I took a screen capture of the page and attached the resulting jpeg. I just really want to be sure this is a known/in-progress issue as the service (online bill info) is effectively useless to me as it stands. I did just pay my bill, but after I sent the first support message. I get the same result before and after paying the bill (which makes sense because I’m viewing the actual bill details…or should be anyway).

Thanks again