Design Patterns in Database Applications with Java (Java EE / Java SE)

Question

I've been reading StackOverflow for quite a while now and I'm only now building the nerve to ask a question. I'm 20 years old and currently enrolled in college in IT here in my hometown (Cluj-Napoca, Romania). Enough for introductions :D.

Basically I have my little software firm that provides Book-keeping appz. They're (horrifyingly) written in Delphi and I want to start from scratch and write them in Java. I've had little experience with Java in the past but I want to learn and I've chosen Java because of the cheap and quality tools the platform offers.

Now could you please point me to the right direction as where could I find some complete documentation (books, web-sites, blogs etc) as where to get some info on properly building database applications including design patterns with DBs(my choice is PostgreSQL and have already ordered a book) and also Java. I know I won't be able to get it right the first time but at least get it close to right.

Thank you

Answer 1

First of all: welcome at so :-)

There are a lot of good and free resources covering Java as a language ( eg wikibooks ), and the reference documentation by Sun is also quite comprehensive. Once you have understood the basics of the language, I think its time to dive into the depths of database applications, and patterns. How?

First of all, you should try to build some simple database schemes, "playground"-scenarios are helpful from what I can tell. Imagine eg a library and try to model that. It doesn't take long yet you will learn a lot.

For patterns, I generally think of them as a guide, like the MVC pattern which you will likely incorporate. Don't force yourself to use them all in the first place, try to understand one at a time and refactor your code to have some pattern represented there rather than writing to a pattern in the first place.

So, good luck! ( and of course, once you're stuck, just ask! )

Answer 2

Head First Java is a great place to start.

Answer 3

Martin Fowler's "Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture" is quite popular.

http://martinfowler.com/books.html