Speaker

Andy Longshaw
Independent Consultant

Andy Longshaw is an independent consultant, writer and educator specialising in .NET, J2EE, XML, Web-based technologies and components, particularly the design and architecture decisions required to use these technologies successfully. Andy has been explaining technology for most of the last decade as a trainer and in conference sessions. He can be contacted as andy@blueskyline.com.

Presentation: "Web Services: It's distribution, Jim, but not as we know it"

Tuesday 15:15 - 16:00, Tutorial Room

There is an old tale of a stranger asking for directions to a landmark (maybe a castle) in a foreign land (commonly said to be Ireland). The local man of whom the stranger had asked directions had thought about this deeply for a few moments and then came out with the following comment "The castle you say? Well, if I were you, I wouldn't start from here...".

Building applications using Web Services has many passing similarities to building applications using traditional distributed component mechanisms (RMI, CORBA, DCOM). However, things are not quite so straightforward as they may seem. There are factors about Web Service protocols that make them quite unsuited as a common distribution mechanism. Add to this the tendency of the tools to encourage developers to do "simple" things like write their code first and generate WSDL afterwards, and there are plenty of pitfalls awaiting designers and developers. This session draws on experience of designing and implementing Web Services using the Microsoft .NET Framework (although almost all of the issues also apply to Java-based Web Services). It examines some of the lessons learned about the use of Web Service protocols and how Web Services are specified and created. It then considers how such issues can be avoided by adopting the right sort of architecture.

Intended Audience
Developers and technical architects who need to understand the strengths and weaknesses of Web Services as a distribution mechanism.

Prerequisite Knowledge Required
Understanding of the basic principles of Web Services.

Level
Intermediate

Web Services: It's distribution, Jim, but not as we know it - (slides)

Please notice that the slides are password protected. You should have received an e-mail containing the required username and password.

Presentation: "The Old Grey WSDL Test"

Monday 15:15 - 16:00, Private Room

As with any new technology, there is a war of words about the capabilities (or otherwise) of different platforms to support that technology. Web Services are no exception. It can be difficult to find the kernels or fact in the sea of vendor marchitecture (where the rubber meets the sky).

This session will examine the Web Service capabilities of two most popular currently shipping platforms - Microsoft's .NET and Sun's J2EE. It will show how Web Services can be built and deployed on each platform and will look at the strengths and weaknesses of each. As a test, it will take a generic Web Service description defined in WSDL and see how easily (or otherwise) this can be mapped into each environment. Will the implementations interoperate? Come along and find out...

Intended Audience
Developers and technical architects who need to assess the suitability of .NET and J2EE as Web Service platforms.

Prerequisite Knowledge Required
Understanding of the basic principles of Web Services. A reading understanding of Java/C#.

Level
Intermediate

The Old Grey WSDL Test - (slides)

Please notice that the slides are password protected. You should have received an e-mail containing the required username and password.

Tutorial: "Designing J2EE Application using Patterns"
Thursday 09:00 - 12:00
There is a lot of technology in the Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) platform. To successfully design applications for the J2EE platform requires a good understanding of these technologies - from Enterprise JavaBeans through to JavaServer Pages. However, it is not enough just knowing the mechanics of the different technologies. As people have deployed J2EE-based applications, many good practices have been identified (and quiet a few bad ones). These good practices have been encapsulated in several J2EE pattern catalogs and blueprints.

This session examines the primary patterns from the various J2EE pattern catalogs and explores how J2EE applications can be built around these patterns. It uses a series of case studies to highlight the applicability (or otherwise) of the patterns in particular contexts.

Intended Audience
Developers, designers and technical architects who need to specify and develop J2EE applications.

Prerequisite Knowledge Required
At a minimum: A reading knowledge of Java and exposure to J2EE technologies.
Ideally: Exeprience of developing applications using Java and some of the J2EE technologies.

Level
Intermediate