Consider using JSON arrays instead of JSON objects for serialisation

When implementing the awesome MULTISET operator in jOOQ, its implementation mostly relied on SQL/JSON support of various RDBMS. In short, while standard SQL supports nested collections via ARRAY or MULTISET operators like this: SELECT f.title, MULTISET( SELECT a.first_name, a.last_name FROM actor AS a JOIN film_actor AS fa ON a.actor_id = fa.actor_id WHERE fa.film_id = f.film_id … Continue reading Consider using JSON arrays instead of JSON objects for serialisation

Maven Coordinates of the most popular JDBC Drivers

Do you need to add a JDBC driver to your application, and don't know its Maven coordinates? This blog post lists the most popular drivers from the jOOQ integration tests. Look up the latest versions directly on https://central.sonatype.com/ with parameters g:groupId a:artifactId, for example, the H2 database and driver: https://central.sonatype.com/search?q=g%3Acom.h2database+a%3Ah2 The list only includes drivers … Continue reading Maven Coordinates of the most popular JDBC Drivers

How to Turn a List of Flat Elements into a Hierarchy in Java, SQL, or jOOQ

Occasionally, you want to write a SQL query and fetch a hierarchy of data, whose flat representation may look like this: SELECT id, parent_id, label FROM t_directory; The result might be: |id |parent_id|label | |---|---------|-------------------| |1 | |C: | |2 |1 |eclipse | |3 |2 |configuration | |4 |2 |dropins | |5 |2 |features | … Continue reading How to Turn a List of Flat Elements into a Hierarchy in Java, SQL, or jOOQ

Java’s Checked Exceptions Are Just Weird Union Types

This fun fact has been on my mind for a while, and a recent reddit thread about "Smuggling Checked Exceptions with Sealed Interfaces" made me write this post here. Namely, Java had union types before it was cool! (If you squint hard). What are union types? Ceylon is an underrated JVM language that never really … Continue reading Java’s Checked Exceptions Are Just Weird Union Types

Write C-Style Local Static Variables in Java 16

Java 16 includes an improvement that makes the language a bit more regular via JEP 395. The JEP says: Static members of inner classes It is currently specified to be a compile-time error if an inner class declares a member that is explicitly or implicitly static, unless the member is a constant variable. This means … Continue reading Write C-Style Local Static Variables in Java 16

Could we Have a Language That Hides Collections From Us?

I just fixed a bug. The fix required me to initialise an Object[] array with the init values for each type, instead of just null, i.e. false for boolean, 0 for int, 0.0 for double, etc. So, instead of just doing: Object[] converted = new Object[parameterTypes.length]; I needed: Object[] converted = new Object[parameterTypes.length]; for (int … Continue reading Could we Have a Language That Hides Collections From Us?

A Quick Trick to Make a Java Stream Construction Lazy

One of the Stream APIs greatest features is its laziness. The whole pipeline is constructed lazily, stored as a set of instructions, akin to a SQL execution plan. Only when we invoke a terminal operation, the pipeline is started. It is still lazy, meaning that some operations may be short circuited. Some third party libraries … Continue reading A Quick Trick to Make a Java Stream Construction Lazy

How to Write a Simple, yet Extensible API

How to write a simple API is already an art on its own. I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead. ― Mark Twain But keeping an API simple for beginners and most users, and making it extensible for power users seems even more of a challenge. … Continue reading How to Write a Simple, yet Extensible API

How to Unit Test Your Annotation Processor using jOOR

Annotation processors can be useful as a hacky workaround to get some language feature into the Java language. jOOQ also has an annotation processor that helps validate SQL syntax for: Plain SQL usage (SQL injection risk) SQL dialect support (prevent using an Oracle only feature on MySQL) You can read about it more in detail … Continue reading How to Unit Test Your Annotation Processor using jOOR

How to Create a Good MCVE (Minimal Complete Verifiable Example)

Reporting a bug takes time, and trust me, every vendor appreciates your reporting of a bug! Your voice counts as many voices, for all the other customers of a product who do not want to or cannot take the time to report the same bug are numerous. So, first off, thanks for taking that time … Continue reading How to Create a Good MCVE (Minimal Complete Verifiable Example)