Extending String in Java with enums

Without extension methods in Java 8 (or without changing JVM language) one cannot extend String. Or can one?

public final class ExtendStringWithEnum {
    public static void main(final String... args) {
        out.println(format("%s: %s", APPLE, toCrAzYcAsE(APPLE)));
        out.println(format("%s: %s", BANANA, BANANA.toCrAzYcAsE()));
    }

    public enum EnumConstants {
        APPLE("apple"), BANANA("banana");
        private final String value;

        EnumConstants(final String value) {
            this.value = value;
        }

        public String toCrAzYcAsE() {
            return ExtendStringWithEnum.toCrAzYcAsE(value);
        }

        @Override
        public String toString() {
            return value;
        }
    }

    public static final class StringConstants {
        public static final String APPLE = "apple";
        public static final String BANANA = "banana";
    }

    public static String toCrAzYcAsE(final String value) {
        final StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder(value.length());
        for (int i = 0, x = value.length(); i != x; ++i)
            builder.append(
                    0 == i % 2 ? toUpperCase(value.charAt(i))
                            : toLowerCase(value.charAt(i)));
        return builder.toString();
    }
}

Given suitable static imports, the code in "main" for APPLE is how I write it using string constants; the code for BANANA is how I write it for enum constants wrapping strings, and how I would like to write it for strings as well using the static "toCrAzYcAsE" methods. Maybe Java 9.

OOPs

John D. Cook notes in Too many objects the condition of OOP gone mad:

For example, I had a discussion with a colleague once on how to represent depth in an oil well for software we were writing. I said “Let’s just use a number.”

double depth;

My suggestion was laughed off as hopelessly crude. We need to create depth objects! And not just C++ objects, COM objects! We couldn’t send a double out into the world without first wrapping it in the overhead of an object.

Martin Thompson on GC

Another great post from Martin Thompson, Java Garbage Collection Distilled. In spite of the unassuming title, this is a must-read for advanced Java developers. Introduction:

Serial, Parallel, Concurrent, CMS, G1, Young Gen, New Gen, Old Gen, Perm Gen, Eden, Tenured, Survivor Spaces, Safepoints, and the hundreds of JVM startup flags. Does this all baffle you when trying to tune the garbage collector while trying to get the required throughput and latency from your Java application? If it does then do not worry, you are not alone. Documentation describing garbage collection feels like man pages for an aircraft. Every knob and dial is detailed and explained but nowhere can you find a guide on how to fly. This article will attempt to explain the tradeoffs when choosing and tuning garbage collection algorithms for a particular workload.

The focus will be on Oracle Hotspot JVM and OpenJDK collectors as those are the ones in most common usage. Towards the end other commercial JVMs will be discussed to illustrate alternatives.

I especially like his diagram for G1:

Enjoy!

Example RMI code

Syed Muhammad Humayun posts Java Remote Method Invocation (RMI) with Secure Socket Layer (SSL), a succinct, clear example of using SSL with vanilla RMI in Java. RMI never had good examples that I saw, Sayed's contribution goes into toolbox of tricks.