
When I do the web development, my IDE and the browser windows occupies almost all my screen. I hardly have any space to keep my terminals that runs the webpack compilation script in background. So I keep these terminals either minimized or hidden.

My habit is to check if the webpack compiled my changes by constantly tabbing between IDE and terminals. But this is annoying and not effective.

So here's a little trick that I added to my webpack configuration that announces the compilation is done by saying 'done', thus saving me from constant tabbing.

Create a file named `webpack.announcer.plugin.js` in your project.

```javascript
/* webpack.announcer.plugin.js */
const exec = require('child_process').exec;
const voice = 'Agnes';
const message = 'done';
const doneSound = `say -v ${voice} "${message}"`; // MacOS.
// const doneSound = `echo ${message} | ptts`;  // windows.

function AnnouncerPlugin(options) {
   // customize.
}

AnnouncerPlugin.prototype.apply = (compiler) => {
    compiler.plugin('done', () => {
        exec(doneSound);
    });
};
module.exports = AnnouncerPlugin;
```

Include the above plugin in your webpack config (Eg; `webpack.dev.config.js`);

```javascript
/* webpack.dev.config.js */
let WebpackAnnouncerPlugin = require('./webpack.announcer.plugin.js');
module.exports = {
   /*  other configuration */
   plugins: [
       new WebpackAnnouncerPlugin()
   ]
}
```

done!
```


Webpack tip to play sound on successful compilation


\*\*In this post, I'm going to explain how you can setup a Java development environment (JDK Eclipse) in Ubuntu. I'm using Ubuntu 10.10, but these steps should be applicable to majority of Ubuntu versions.

Let's start with JDK first.

## Install Sun JDK:

1.  Download the Linux version of latest JDK binary from the [Oracle website][1]. For Java 6, the file name would be: **_jdk-6u22-linux-i586.bin_**
2.  Copy the downloaded JDK file to a directory where you want to install the JDK. I use ***/home//java/*jdk-6u22-linux-i586.bin\*\***
3.  Open terminal window and navigate to the directory where you copied the downloaded file. Then type the command: **\*sudo sh jdk-6u22-linux-i586.bin** \*and press enter.
4.  If it asks for root password, give it and JDK installation will begin. The JDK will be installed on the same directory where the binary is placed.

[1]: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html "JDK downloads"

That's it. JDK installation is done. But we still have one more step to complete. That is, setting up the _JAVA_HOME_ environment variable.

## Setting up JAVA_HOME environment variable:

1.  Go to Nautilus file browser (_Places -> Home Folder_) and open this file: **_'.bashrc'_**. By default this file is hidden. So, press *Ctrl H *which will show all hidden files and then you can see the *.bashrc *file.
2.  Add the below code snippet at the end of the *.bashrc *file:
    export JAVA_HOME=/home//java/jdk1.6.0_22
    PATH=.:$JAVA_HOME/bin:$JAVA_HOME/jre/bin:$PATH

    **Don't forget to change the path in first line according to where you installed your JDK**

    - That's it. Log off and Log in again for the changes to take effect. To test whether the installation successful, open Terminal and type *java -version *which should show you the currently installed JDK version.

    ## Install Eclipse:

    Installing Eclipse in Ubuntu is pretty simple. Just [download][2] the ZIP file from Eclipse.org and then unzip it. The installation is done. ![;-)][3]

[2]: http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/ "Eclipse downloads"
[3]: https://veerasundar.com/blog/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif


How to setup Java development environment in Ubuntu?


As a Java developer, I always choose Java as my first programming language to develop any of my ideas into a real application. If I want this application to be available for the world, then I have to put it on the web. But, when you compare with the options available for hosting a PHP application, with the Java's options, you can see a whole lot of difference. Usually, the Java hosting providers charge too much which you can not afford if your app is going to be a FREE service.

One of the main reason for Java not catching up with PHP in web programming, is the hassles that are involved in hosting a Java web application. As your Java web application is going be on a shared server, which will also shared by some other applications as well, maintaining your application on this environment becomes hard. You can not release a new version of your app, with out affecting other applications. If a change in your web app needed a re-start of server which may not be possible at all in a shared environment. But for PHP, none of these matters. That's the reason you can see a n-number of [PHP hosting][1] providers, but very few for Java.

[1]: http://www.webhostingsearch.com/php-web-hosting.php "PHP hosting"

So, In order to host your Java application in a **lower cost** you have the following options (as of today) in your hand.

## 1. Hosting Java application in Google App Engine

[![Google App Engine Logo][3]Google App Engine][3] is a free service from Google that [allows the Java applications][3] to be hosted on the cloud. And, it is completely free for starters. You only need to pay if you want more bandwidth or storage space, etc. But if your application is going to be a small one, you hardly need to pay anything for hosting your Java web applications in Google App Engine.

[]: http://code.google.com/appengine/ "Run your web apps on Google's infrastructure."
[3]: https://veerasundar.com/blog/google-has-brought-the-java-to-appengine "Google has brought the Java to AppEngine"

## 2. Amazon EC2 - Cloud Hosting

![Amazon EC2 Logo][4]Another hosting service from a biggie. Amazon provides this **[Elastic Compute Cloud][5]** (EC2) for all kind of computing resources. You can host your Java application in EC2 in very cheap rates. Hosting on EC2 costs you on-demand basis. i.e. if your web application is going to get lot more hits, which means increased bandwidth and computing on cloud, you get to pay more. Otherwise, you get to pay less. Pay for what you use, that's the advantage of EC2 (off course, there are lot more than this one!).

[4]: http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x201/talktoveera/logo_aws.gif
[5]: http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/ "Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) is a web service that provides resizable compute capacity in the cloud. It is designed to make web-scale computing easier for developers."

## 3. JavaProvider.net - Cheap Java Hosting

\**  
[![JavaProvider.net Logo][7]JavaProvider.net][7] is one the cheap Java hosting provider that I could find on Google. At around 5$/month, this service provides some competitive plans with good number features. They are using *CentOS\* as their operating system and they even allow you to start/stop tomcat, which will be a good thing.

[]: http://javaprovider.net/ "Hosting JSP/Servlets should not be expensive. We provide cheap but high quality Java hosting for developers from around the world."

## 4. Lot more Java hosting providers

![Java Hosting Provider Directory][7]Not content with the above list? You can always check this BIG [directory of providers supporting Servlet][8]. The website claims that the list contains the ISPs who support Servlet. But I'm not sure whether they provide proper Java application environment or not. You need to enquire the ISP properly if you are going to choose one from this list.

[7]: http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x201/talktoveera/servlets_logo_rnd-90short.jpg
[8]: http://servlets.com/isps/servlet/ISPViewAll "List of ISPs who support Servlet hosting"

I hope this list gives you the starting point for your [Java hosting provider][9] search. Are you aware of any of the ISP provider which is not listed here? **Do leave a comment, then!** Your input will be very much appreciated.

[9]: http://www.google.co.in/search?q=java hosting provider "Google Search - Java Hosting Provider"

If want to learn java for the web then join [test king][10] web development course and get free [testking 70-680][11] tutorials and [testking 642-825][12] demos to learn how to use java applications in web development.

[10]: http://www.testking.com
[11]: http://www.testking.com/70-680.htm
[12]: http://www.testking.com/642-825.htm


Hosting Java applications in the web


Recently I was reading a blog post [Personal development environment][1], in which the author was asking the readers to share what are the software they use for their personal projects. We all use advanced,enterprise development applications at office, because the company pays for it. But when it comes to home/personal projects, we can not afford for a commercial IDE just to develop Hello World application. So, most of us would go for a open source / free development applications. I am too not an exception for this rule. So, here goes my list of applications that I use for my personal projects.

[1]: http://www.michaelminella.com/blog/41.html

- **[Eclipse IDE][2]** - The free integrated development environment that suits perfectly for my programming needs.
- **[Notepad ][3]** - feature rich, light weight alternative for Notepad. I like Notepad 's ability to color code more than 30 languages. I use it as my default SQL editor. (If you worked in AS400 STRSQL editor, then you will know how much I like Notepad as my SQL editor)
- **[Visual SVN][4]** - as my windows Subversion server. Easy to install and a good GUI for the Subversion.
- **[Tortoise SVN][5]** - as my windows Subversion client. I am using [Subclipse][6] also as a subversion plug-in in eclipse.
- **[XAMPP][7]** - using it to design and test my wordpress blogs.
- **[WinSCP][8]** is an open source SFTP client and FTP client for Windows. Its main function is the secure file transfer between a local and a remote computer. Beyond this, WinSCP offers basic file manager functionality. It uses Secure Shell (SSH) and supports, in addition to Secure FTP, also legacy SCP protocol.

[2]: http://www.eclipse.org/ "Open source - free application development tools"
[3]: http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm "Open source - free application development tools"
[4]: http://www.visualsvn.com/ "Open source - free application development tools"
[5]: http://tortoisesvn.tigris.org/ "Open source - free application development tools"
[6]: http://subclipse.tigris.org/ "Open source - free application development tools"
[7]: http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html "Open source - free application development tools"
[8]: http://winscp.net/eng/index.php

So what are your software? Are you using any software that you would like to recommend to other developers? You can either a leave a comment here or write a post in your blog and let me know the URL by commenting in this blog.


Development environment @ home


\*\*
I have been using few UML modeling tools like argoUML and starUML for quite some time. I have [already blogged][1] about my first impressions on argoUML.In that blog post, one user replied that I should have a look at starUML which is also free/open source and is lot better than the argoUML modeling tool. So, I tried starUML also. After using both UML modeling tools, here are my observations on them.

## starUML

[**starUML**][2] is an open source UML modeling application licensed under a modified version of GNU GPL. Since the goal of starUML is to compete with the commercial UML modeling applications like Microsoft's Visio and IBM's Rational Rose, starUML boasts a complete set of UML modeling features.

#### Pros / Features of starUML

- Supports most of the diagrams specified in UML 2.0.
- Very rich feature set and formatting options.
- Ability to generate source code from the UML diagram.
- Reverse engineer the existing code into UML diagrams.
- Supported languages : C , C# and Java.
- Fast load time/execution time compared with other UML tools.
- Familiar _Visual Studio_ like user interface.
- Supports exporting diagrams into JPG / XMI formats.

#### Cons of starUML

- Does not supports exporting diagrams into SVG format.

## argoUML

[**argoUML**][3] is written in Java and released under open source BSD License. argoUML is not yet developed completely, still is in **O.xx** versions. As it is already available in market and used by many developers around the world, I am putting my reviews on this UML tool.

#### Pros / Features of argoUML

\*\*

- Written in Java, so runs in all the platforms where Java runs.
- Supports Code generation from the UML diagram / UML Diagram generation from the code.
- Currently supported languages are C , C#, Java and PHP.
- Ability to manage ToDo list.
- Export UML diagram into XMI / JPG / SVG / PS formats.

#### Cons of argoUML

- Not fully supports UML 2.0.
- Can't Undo! Developers of argoUML must be so optimistic that people (especially Software Developers) never do mistakes. ![:)][4]
- Written in Java, so run comparatively slower than starUML.
- Lack of formatting options.

After using these two UML modeling tools, **I recommend starUML** for any developer.

What is your opinion on these two UML tools? Are they capable of replacing Visio and Rational Rose? Are there any other Free / Open Source UML modeling tools that I am missing here? Please leave your thoughts in the [comments section][5].

[1]: https://veerasundar.com/blog/argouml-a-free-visio-counterpart "ArgoUML - a free Visio counterpart"
[2]: http://staruml.sourceforge.net/en/ "starUML - a free / Open source UML modeling tool"
[3]: http://argouml.tigris.org/ "argoUML - a free / open source, java based UML modeling tool"
[4]: https://veerasundar.com/blog/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif
[5]: #comments


#development (5)