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the full interview with Martijn Verburg

 
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Due to space constraints (hey, people will only read so many bytes in a newsletter), we only published snippets of the interview in the December Journal. This post contains the full interview. Do check out the December Journal for snippets of our author interviews, the Countdown to 2014 promotion and links to the other author interviews.

Martijn on Books
Jeanne:Why did you decide to write a book?
Martijn: Met Ben at the LJC Open Conference - he suggested it as a challenge, we both had plenty to rant about soo......
Jeanne: Do you prefer to read e-books or paper books? Why?
Martijn: Paper books - it just *feels* right - but that's possibly because I was brought up on volumes and volumes of paper books. That said for quickly scanning a few pages and e-copy just has a better find implementation than my hands and eyes :-).
Jeanne: Whoo hoo! You are the first person I've interviewed who said that. I like paper books better too!
Jeanne: What is your favorite book that you didn't write?
Martijn: Gardens of the Moon - Steven Erikson (Fiction)

Martijn on Technology
Jeanne: If you had a magic wand and could universally improve one software development practice, what would it be?
Martijn: Less typing, more thinking! Too many developers want to just get in and write code - typing is the easy part. Understanding what the problem is and coming up with an elegant and efficient solution is a lot harder.
Jeanne: You mean we aren't paid per character . That's what I'm always thinking when management asks about lines of code. You want lines of code? I'll get on that right away! I'd never act on that though. If someone was going to learn one language other than Java, which would you recommend and why? And no picking SQL, HTML, CSS or JavaScript!
Martijn: Groovy - it gives you the familiar comfort of Java-like syntax and behaviour with a gentle introduction in the the worlds of functional programming and dynamic languages.
Jeanne: In the forums, some people who aren't yet working have a goal of becoming a "Java developer." Do you think this is a good goal? Why or why not?
Martijn: I don't think it's a good goal no. Developers should aim to be good software developers and understand and apply principles. Java is an amazing platform and language, but it's the underlying aspects you want to master (OO, a managed GC and JIT is good for you etc).
Jeanne: Phew. That question was a setup to have something to point the next person to who asks!

More Martijn
Jeanne: Do you have a favorite quote? If so, what is it?
Martijn: "The Street finds its own uses" - William Gibson
Jeanne: What is an interesting hobby that you have?
Martijn: Not many hobbies anymore - my start-up jClarity and the java community work (my main 'hobby') pretty much eats up life these days. I guess in a strange way public speaking / motivational speaking is a hobby.
Jeanne: Sorry, it's not strange.
Martijn: It's all Adopt OpenJDK (http://adoptopendk.java.net) and Adopt a JSR (http://adoptajsr.java.net) for me.
Jeanne: What is something cool about London and/or the London JUG?
Martijn: Oh goodness - everyone will say this about their city but London is a ridiculously amazing place with arts, culture, music and anything else you'd want 24/7. The start-up tech scene here is also pretty amazing and the tech scene in general is heavily supported by the amazing London JUG which holds events several times a week for it's 3500 members.
 
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