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| <h2><a name="Interview_with_Collin_Doering_a"> </a><a name="Interview_with_Collin_Doering_a_"> </a> Interview with Collin Doering - Our youngest NetBeans user? </h2> |
| |
| <table><tr><td> |
| <p><img src="../../../images_www/articles/interviews/collin.png" alt="Collin Doering" class="align-left"> |
| </p><h3><a name="Question_1_Collin_can_you_tell_u"> </a> Question #1: Collin, can you tell us about yourself - who you are and what you do? </h3> |
| <p> |
| My name is Collin Doering; I am 15 years old and from a small |
| town about an hour away from Toronto, Ontario in Canada. I am still in |
| high-school but my favorite hobby, and hopefully future job, is Computer |
| Science. I specifically enjoy programming in Java but do a little of |
| C++,C. |
| </p></td></tr></table><p> |
| </p><h3><a name="Question_2_When_did_you_start_wi"> </a> Question #2: When did you start with programming? Tell us something about your previous experiences with software development. </h3> |
| <p> |
| I started programming in grade 7 with QBasic, but got bored very fast |
| because I could not do very much with it. Then I switched to a |
| programming language called Turing made by Holt Software. |
| </p><p> |
| In the spring of grade 8, I heard about Java; after some investigation |
| I found this was the language for me. At that time I often came home |
| from school and would sit down for four to six hours of learning and |
| programming. After a few months I was able to move onto Swing |
| applications - I created a simple |
| Notepad and programmed a Diary for my little sisters. Over my grade 9 |
| to 10 summer I |
| worked full time. Then mid-way through the summer I started designing |
| the new Diary version 2. This was when I switched to NetBeans. I had |
| worked with it a little, as well as Eclipse, but I did not understand |
| all of its features. At this time I also bought my first Java book. |
| </p><p>I skipped a grade in Computer Science, therefore |
| putting me in a grade 11/12 split. By then I was a fulltime NetBeans |
| user and promoted it to my classmates. I mentioned it to my teacher |
| but he said he would just stick with the plain editor. I bought two |
| more Java books, a UML design book and a C++ book. One thing that I |
| spent a lot of time looking into was how the Java APIs works; I learned |
| some of the design patterns used and how |
| everything fit together. I learned more on my favorite topic: |
| inheritance. Now I am half way done with grade 10 and turn 16 in May. |
| </p><p> |
| </p><p> |
| </p><h3><a name="Question_3_Why_is_NetBeans_your"> </a><a name="Question_3_Why_is_NetBeans_your_"> </a> Question #3: Why is NetBeans your favorite IDE for Java development? What are your favorite features in NetBeans? </h3> |
| <p>NetBeans is my favorite IDE for Java development because, |
| basically, every tool is available to me in one "Super Powered" IDE. I |
| would have to say my favorite feature of NetBeans IDE 5.0 is definitely |
| Project Matisse. It is incredible how much development time it |
| saves. I also like the new refactoring and the new CVS support. The |
| editor is faster in this version, which is also nice. One newly |
| discovered favorite feature is the new module support. |
| This has become my new hobby: programming NetBeans modules and learning |
| the NetBeans Platform architecture and API. |
| </p><p> |
| </p><h3><a name="Question_4_What_features_would_y"> </a> Question #4: What features would you like to see improved in NetBeans? </h3> |
| <p> |
| I would like to see UML support in the next version of |
| NetBeans; I was almost thinking of programming one myself. I would |
| also like to see Java Studio Enterprise 8, Java Studio Creator and Sun |
| Studio come into NetBeans, so you can do any type of development. |
| </p><p> |
| </p><h3><a name="Question_5_Did_you_try_any_other"> </a> Question #5: Did you try any other Java IDEs and if yes, what do you think about them? </h3> |
| <p> |
| Yes, I have tried the additional IDEs: Eclipse 3.1, Java |
| Studio Creator, and Java Studio Enterprise 8. Although Java Studio |
| Creator and Java Studio Enterprise 8 are build on top of NetBeans |
| (version 4.1), I still included them in this list because they are all |
| unique IDEs. |
| </p><p> |
| First off, when I tried Eclipse 3.1, I did like it but |
| one thing I did not like was the Look and Feel. Besides that, there are |
| lots of "plugins" for eclipse and that is good, but kind of a pain, |
| because a lot of them cost money. One thing I want NetBeans to do |
| is stay Open-Source and free. |
| </p><p> |
| Java Studio Creator is great but it is |
| directed at J2EE programming which is not my specialty. Java Studio |
| Enterprise 8 was very appealing because it has a UML module. I tested |
| it and I found some parts of the module "unstable" and annoying like |
| some of the code generation and some visual formatting errors. |
| </p><p> |
| So I went NetBeans!! |
| </p><p> |
| </p><p> |
| </p><img src="../../../images_www/articles/interviews/collin-desk.jpg" alt="Collin Doering" class="align-right" height="300"> |
| <h3><a name="Question_6_How_did_you_learn_Jav"> </a> Question #6: |
| How did you learn Java - do you read books or do you attend any |
| courses? Do you visit Java conferences? What would you recommend is the |
| best way to learn Java? </h3> |
| <p> |
| I learned Java by a few methods: one is a lot of reading; tutorials and |
| many books. Recently I took the day off school to go to the NetBeans |
| World Tour in Toronto. This was a very nice learning experience. |
| </p><p> |
| I especially like the servlet and midlet communicating with one another, |
| the amount of RAM being used on the server. One of my favorite parts |
| of the conference |
| was when I got to meet "The Father of Java", James Gosling. |
| </p><p> |
| I wanted to go to all the Sun Tech Days but I was not able to. Next year |
| I already am planning on going to every one and trying for my first |
| certification exam. |
| </p><p> |
| I would say the best way to lean Java would be to read lots and make |
| sure you understand what is happening in the background (the API and such). |
| </p><p> |
| </p><h3><a name="Question_7_I_know_you_re_keeping"> </a> Question #7: I know you're keeping a blog at <a href="http://rekahsoft.blogspot.com/" target="_top">http://rekahsoft.blogspot.com</a> and you wrote you're planning to contribute to NetBeans. What are your plans for the contributions? </h3> |
| <p> |
| I have already started with a "Time Management" Module. The |
| developer will create "tasks" and attach them to certain file/s. When |
| they start the IDE, my module will keep track of how much time they |
| spend in each file. If the IDE is minimized all timers are paused. The |
| timer will only count time for the document that is correctly open and |
| is the selected tab. |
| </p><p> |
| This module will allow developers to keep track |
| of their time. When I have more experience developing under the |
| NetBeans platform, I would like to contribute to other projects. One I |
| had in mind was a UML project. |
| </p><p> |
| </p><h3><a name="Question_8_I_m_pleasantly_surpri"> </a> Question #8: |
| I'm pleasantly surprised by your activity. You must have already |
| studied some of the NetBeans APIs - what do you think about them? Are |
| they easy to understand? Is there enough documentation? </h3> |
| <p> |
| I very much enjoy the <a href="https://netbeans.org/download/dev/javadoc/">NetBeans APIs</a>. They are very interesting. |
| They are pretty simple to understand and for NetBeans 5.0 there is |
| plenty of <a href="https://netbeans.org/kb/trails/platform.html">documentation and code examples</a>. |
| </p><p> |
| </p><h3><a name="Question_9_I_read_your_interesti"> </a> Question #9: I read your interesting story with your Java teacher. Tell us what happened. </h3> |
| <p> |
| First off, my Java teacher is a great guy and his circumstance |
| is a hard one to fill. He has to create lessons that people just |
| starting Java can understand, but that don't bore students who already |
| know a bit or more than him in my case. So because of this, I am very |
| bored in this class and spend most of my time programming my own |
| things or helping the 12 grade students. I am known to them as their "Walking |
| Documentation". My teacher is a math teacher and does not have a |
| degree in programming at all. So when it comes to mathematical logic |
| in programs he is very good. He has said that I am better at Java and |
| Programming; we even sometimes joke about it. |
| </p><p> |
| </p><h3><a name="Question_10_I_also_read_on_your"> </a><a name="Question_10_I_also_read_on_your_"> </a> Question #10: I also read on your blog that you recommend people to switch to NetBeans. Why do you recommend it? </h3> |
| <p> |
| Collin: I would recommend people to switch to NetBeans because of the |
| power, stability and saved time in NetBeans. Every tool is available |
| even to students like me and if there are not they come out very soon |
| or your could even create them yourself. |
| </p><p> |
| </p><h3><a name="Question_11_Is_there_anything_el"> </a> Question #11: Is there anything else you'd like to say - any message for the NetBeans community? </h3> |
| <p> |
| Collin: Keep up the good work; you guys are doing a phenomenal job!! |
| Even though I am young, don't count me out now or in the future!! |
| </p> |
| |
| </body> |