8 Content Marketing Trends To Watch Out in 2017 (infographic)

In this digital age, it is imperative for brands and businesses to use content marketing and insert it in their business models. That being said, it is also important for marketers to keep up with what is trending so they know what to expect in coming years. Below are a few trends to look out for...

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by Web Desk via Digital Information World

Fixing Bugs in Running Java Code with Dynamic Attach

Most developers know Java's HotSwap feature as a debugging tool that is built into most JVMs. Using this feature, it is possible to change the implementation of a Java method without restarting a Java process which is typically used via an IDE while developing code. HotSwap can however be used just as much in a production environment. Doing so, it can be used to extend a live application or to fix minor bugs in a running program without an intermediate outage. In this article, I want to showcase dynamic attachment and apply a runtime code change with the attach and instrumentation APIs and introduce Byte Buddy, a library that offers APIs for making such code changes more convenient.

As an example, consider a running application that checks for a HTTP header named X-Priority to be present in a request to undergo special treatment by the server. The check is applied by the following utility class:

class HeaderUtility {

    static boolean isPriorityCall(HttpServletRequest request) {
        return request.getHeader("X-Pirority") != null;
    }

}

Did you spot the typo? Mistakes like these are all too common, especially if constant values are factored out to static fields that are reused in test code. In an unfortunate case, this mistake would only be discovered in a production setup where the header is generated by another application without the spelling error.

Fixing a mistake like the above might not be a problem. In the age of continuous delivery, redeploying a new version might be nothing more than the click of a button. In other cases, changes might not be so easy and a redeployment might be a complex procedure where downtime is unacceptable and living with the error is a better option. With HotSwap, there is however another option for applying small changes whilst avoiding an application restart.

Attach API: Infiltrating Another JVM with Dynamic Attachment

In order to change a live Java program, we first need a way to communicate with a running JVM. As the Java virtual machine implements a managed environment, there fortunately exists a standard API for doing so. The API in question is also known as the attachment API which is part of the official Java tooling. Using this API that the running JVM exposes, it is possible for a second Java process to communicate with it.

As a matter of fact, we all have already used this API: It is applied by any debugging and monitoring tool such as VisualVM or Java Mission Control. The APIs for applying such attachments are however not bundled with the standard Java APIs that we all know and use in our day-jobs. Instead, the API is bundled in a special file, the tools.jar which is only included in a JDK-bundled distribution of the virtual machine. To make things worse, the location of this JAR file is not set, it differs on VMs for Windows, Linux and especially Macintosh where the file is not only at a different location but also named classes.jar on some distributions. Finally, IBM has decided to even rename some of the classes that are contained in this JAR by moving all com.sun classes into the com.ibm namespace, adding another hassle. In Java 9, this mess was finally cleaned up where the tools.jar is replaced by the Jigsaw module jdk.attach.

After locating the API JAR (or module) we have to make it available to the attaching process. On the OpenJDK, the class used to connect to another VM is named VirtualMachine which offers an entry point to any VM that is run by the JDK or a regular HotSpot JVM on the same physical machine. After attaching to another virtual machine process via its process id, we are able to run a JAR file in a designated thread of the targeted VM:

// the following strings must be provided by us
String processId = processId();
String jarFileName = jarFileName();
VirtualMachine virtualMachine = VirtualMachine.attach(processId);
try {
    virtualMachine.loadAgent(jarFileName, "World!");
} finally {
    virtualMachine.detach();
}

Upon receiving a JAR file, the targeted virtual machine looks up the JAR’s manifest and locates the class under the Premain-Class attribute. This is very similar to how a VM executes a main method. With a Java agent, the VM with the denoted process id does however look for a method named agentmain which is then executed by the remote process in a dedicated thread:

public class HelloWorldAgent {

    public static void agentmain(String arg) {
        System.out.println("Hello, " + arg);
    }

}

Using this API, we are now able to print a Hello, World! message on any JVM as long as we know its process id. It is even possible to communicate with JVMs that are not part of a JDK distribution as long as the attaching VM is a JDK installation in order to access the tools.jar.

Continue reading %Fixing Bugs in Running Java Code with Dynamic Attach%

by Rafael Winterhalter via SitePoint

Coding Functional Android Apps in Kotlin: Lambdas, Null Safety & More

Genesis Framework Plugins to Enhance Your WordPress Website

Whether you’re a beginner or an expert, you've most likely come across StudioPress’ masterpiece, the Genesis Framework. This popular WordPress framework is well known for providing a secure foundation for high quality WordPress websites that are easy to setup (and maintain), and also SEO friendly.

Given it's such a popular framework, there are a variety of plugins that have been built to extend upon Genesis. In this article, I'll share some of the most popular Genesis plugins available.

As always, try to be selective in what plugins you install to keep your site lean, just focus on features that you actually need.

Continue reading %Genesis Framework Plugins to Enhance Your WordPress Website%

by Danish Ashrafi via SitePoint

Editorial: What Do You Want to Learn in 2017?

This is the editorial from our latest JavaScript newsletter, you can subscribe here.

Hey everyone, welcome to a brand new year on SitePoint JavaScript. I hope you had a great break (for those of you that took one) and are ready to start off 2017 with a bang.

2016 was a crazy year for JavaScript! We saw an ever increasing adoption of ES6 and the rise of progressive web apps. Also, Yarn emerged as a competitor to npm and JavaScript fatigue fatigue became a thing. In case you missed any of this, or you’d simply like to reminisce on the year just passed, we've got you covered. Craig Buckler looks at these events and more in his post JavaScript: 2016 in Review. It’s well worth a read.

Looking forward to 2017 I wonder two things. Will this year be as crazy as the last? And where should I focus my learning efforts in the coming 365 days? The answer to the first question is “almost definitely”, but the answer to the second is somewhat more complicated. Knowing what to learn depends rather a lot on your situation, for example are you looking for a new job? Do you want to become more productive in your current one? Or do you want to check out a couple of new technologies to get a feel for how they stack up against those you already know?

If you’re in that last group, we’ve got you covered there, too. Tim Severien started 2017 by taking a look at three libraries that are worth keeping an eye on in this coming year. I’d encourage you to give that post a read and let Tim know if you agree with his choices (spoiler: one of them is Vue.js).

As for me, I decided that one of my goals for 2017 would be to cut back on my use of jQuery. This isn’t because I’ve suddenly jumped on the anti-jQuery bandwagon. I haven’t. Rather because jQuery was so awesome when it first came on the scene, that today I often use it without thinking. I don't stop and consider what browsers can do natively.

Continue reading %Editorial: What Do You Want to Learn in 2017?%

by James Hibbard via SitePoint

Moov Labs

Landing page promoting a new retainer-model website development service by Moov Labs. Would have liked the portfolio to link to live examples but overall a clean, spacious design.

by Rob Hope via One Page Love

Clean Code Concepts Adapted for JavaScript

Software engineering principles, from Robert C. Martin's book Clean Code, adapted for JavaScript. This is not a style guide. It's a guide to producing readable, reusable, and refactorable software in JavaScript.

by via jQuery-Plugins.net RSS Feed