Interview: Bart Kummel, author of Apache MyFaces 1.2 Web Application Development book

Bart Kummel is the author of our recently published Apache MyFaces 1.2 Web Application Development book which helps you in building next-generation web applications with JSF and Facelets.

He is an experienced Java EE developer and architect living in The Netherlands. He studied Electrical Engineering at the Delft University of Technology and graduated with honor from the Hogeschool van Amsterdam, with a specialization in Technical Computer Sciences. After his study, he started as a developer of embedded software for a security systems manufacturer in Amsterdam. After four years of developing embedded software, Bart switched to enterprise software and started working at Transfer Solutions B.V., based in Leerdam. Transfer Solutions is a consulting company that specializes in Oracle and Java technology.

As a consultant for Transfer Solutions, Bart gained a lot of experience with Java EE. He has performed the roles of developer or architect in small as well as large projects for his client. In those projects, he has worked with various frameworks and standards, including Oracle’s Application Development Framework (ADF), Apache MyFaces, EclipseLink, JavaServer Faces (JSF), Java Persistence API (JPA), and Java Messaging Service (JMS). Bart also teaches courses in Object Orientation, UML, Java, Java EE, and ADF, at Transfer Solutions’ education department. As a Competence Manager Java Software Development, Bart is now responsible for Transfer Solutions’ policies on Java software development.

He blogs at: http://www.bartkummel.net

Packt: Your book is published now. How is the feeling of being a published author?

Bart: I’m very proud that I’ve accomplished this. I have worked very hard on this book for over a year. Being able to hold my book in my hands and seeing it offered on so many online stores gives me a very great feeling. It was totally worth the effort!

Packt: What benefits did writing a book bring to your specialist area?

Bart: There was not very much good quality documentation available on MyFaces project. Some of the MyFaces sub projects do have some good documentation as part of the project, but not all of the documents are complete and up to date. Especially some newer sub projects have rather minimal documentation. Generally speaking, project documentation is good as reference for people who already have some experience on the topic. But for people who are new to the topic, a step-by-step approach is probably better suited. I’m happy that I have been able to give the community more than 400 pages of step-by-step guides for various parts of the MyFaces project.

Luckily, my book is not the only book covering (parts of) the MyFaces project. Nowadays a developer using MyFaces libraries can actually chose between different books. Having different books that use different approaches, and emphasise on different topics is a good thing for the community!

Packt: Our authors usually have full-time jobs whilst writing for us. Was this the case for you and how did you approach managing your time?

Bart: Yes, I have a full-time job and day work to finish when I was writing the book. Luckily, my employer, Transfer Solutions, allowed me to use some of the work time to write the book. But the largest part of the book was written over the weekends. This was tougher than I had expected. Dedicating a large part of a weekend to writing is not that hard. But doing this for more than a year is tough.

Packt: Whilst writing your book, did you find that it overshadowed personal life in any way? How did you deal with this?

Bart: Dedicating large parts of my weekends to writing did mean I had less time to spend with my family and friends. Luckily, most of them fully understood this and supported me in the process. This was an important factor in accomplishing the task of writing the book.

Packt: Do you have any advice for other authors who may be interested in writing for Packt, but are still unsure?
Bart: Writing a book is a great experience! However, you should realize that it will take a lot of time and effort. It will also have impact on your social life, but that’s of course only temporary. If I’d ever write another book, I’d try to reserve more time for writing in advance, for example by temporarily reducing my work hours.

Packt: Do you have any tips for other authors, or tricks that you learnt whilst writing, that you’d like to share?

Bart: Apart from the review process of Packt Publishing, I asked some colleagues of mine to review some chapters. I found their feedback very valuable and it helped to further improve the quality of the book. (This does not mean the Packt reviews were less valuable, it just turns out that the more people review a chapter, the more suggestions for improvement you get.)

Another tip is specific for open source projects. I found out that contacting the lead developers of a project can result in a lot of valuable information. I was able to put a lot of information about a not-yet-released version of MyFaces ExtVal in my book, thanks to my contacts with the lead developer of that project. This makes my book the first MyFaces book covering ExtVal and provides the ExtVal community with lots of step-by-step guides for common use cases of ExtVal. Clearly a win-win situation!

Packt: How did you find the overall experience of writing your book for Packt?
Bart: As said, it was a tough, but honorable task to accomplish. I found the people at Packt very friendly and helpful. It was sometimes a bit confusing, as I had a lot of contact persons for different topics. But that’s just a minor inconvenience, as they were always willing to forward any question to the right person within Packt.

Packt: During the writing process, did you come across any issues/ difficulties that affected your writing and how did you overcome them?

Bart: I had some difficulties testing some advanced use cases of the libraries I was writing about. I was able to solve these by contacting the developers via the mailing list of the MyFaces project.

I also had some problems in the layout phase, especially concerning layout errors of source code examples in the book. I resolved them by giving the layout team detailed feedback and suggesting how they could correct the errors.

I think one of the most important causes of these errors was the difference in fonts and sizes used in the editing template and the final layout. I’ve suggested Packt to use the same fonts and sizes throughout the whole process, I hope they will implement this in the future.

Packt: Was there anything interesting that happened during the writing of the book?

Bart: I found the way I was able to work with the lead developer of ExtVal very exciting. He gave me a lot of tips and very useful feedback on the first draft of the ExtVal chapter. It is always a pleasure to work with enthusiastic people!

Packt: How did Packt’s Acquisition Editors help you - what kind of things did they help you with and how did they support you throughout the writing process?

Bart: As I said, I found the people at Packt very helpful and friendly. They helped me keeping an eye on the schedule and adapt the schedule when necessary. I also found their feedback on my writing style very helpful. As a non-native speaker, writing in English is not that easy. I think the Packt editors did a good job in correcting many grammar and spelling mistakes and helped in improving my writing style. They not only corrected errors, but also gave me feedback on how to improve things in following chapters.

Packt: What projects, if any, are you working on at the moment?

Bart: I’m currently working for a client that is modernizing their custom made administration system. They’re moving from an old school Java Swing application to a modern, AJAX-enabled web application. We are using a very interesting technology stack, consisting of EJB 3 and Oracle ADF Faces 11g, among others. (ADF Faces 11g is based on MyFaces Trinidad.) We’re investigating the possibility to add MyFaces ExtVal to the stack.

At Transfer Solutions, I’m now a Competence Manager - Java Software Development, which is a very interesting job to combine with my regular consultancy work. As a Competence Manager, I am responsible for the company’s policy regarding Java Software Development. This includes, among other things, advice to our customers, education of our employees and internal and external communication.

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