We thought it was time that the readers of JDJ had a chance to meet the editors, those individuals behind the scenes who work tirelessly to bring you the best articles about Java in particular and i-Technology in general.

Over the next few issues, the editors will provide a brief glimpse into their daily lives, their likes and dislikes, why they like to write, and more.

Joe Winchester
Desktop Java Editor

Q: What is your primary job?

JW: It's the development of software tools for IBM. My specific projects at the moment are the Eclipse Visual Editor project and Rational Application Developer for Java.

Q: What is your typical day like?

JW: I deal with the customers and users. I probably spend one hour dealing with e-mails two to three times a day as well as newsgroup traffic and customer questions. The rest is spent coding for some of the IBM tools I work on, usually knee-deep in the debugger and screen sharing and on the phone with colleagues in the U.S. (I work in the UK) trying to solve problems together.

Q: Why do you write for JDJ?

JW: Before working for IBM I was a user of its tools and hardware. Each time I met someone from IBM I'd beat them up on why there weren't more articles and things written down, and why information was hard to find. I really enjoy reading to find out information for my job and I like to give back by doing the same - writing what I know. I think everyone who has something to say should write it down, especially in the situation where you can't find the information you need and so you do the research and fact-finding to discover it; write and publish it so the next person doesn't suffer the same pain you did.

Q: Do you blog?

JW: Not as much as I should, but I do on www.joewinchester.javadevelopersjournal.com/. I don't read blogs that I think tend to be too "me, me, me" and not that informative. I much prefer sites written by people like Paul Graham (www.paulgraham.com) or Joel Spolsky (www.joelonsoftware.com). If I had the time I'd like to try to create sites like theirs.

Q: What do you like about Java?

JW: The community of people around it, especially in the tools space where I am fortunate enough to work with Eclipse. I also enjoy hearing about and seeing what NetBeans is up to, and I think Java is a very fast-moving and dynamic community. I enjoy the language, although I wish it was as good as Smalltalk, which is my first and only real programming language love.

Q: What don't you like about Java?

JW: Strong typing as this leads to lots of deprecated methods, and also constructs like ((MyClass)getFoo()).doSomething(). In Smalltalk there was soft typing, which didn't have this and it had the error "doesNotUnderstand", but this has just been replaced with ClassCast-Exception. The OO patterns you can do in Java are less flexible than in Small-talk and I don't like interfaces. I'd prefer dynamic typing and a better way of describing behavior.

Q: What would be a perfect job for you?

JW: Teaching sailing in a place where the water is warm. Actually I'm pretty fortunate where I am now - I live five minutes from work and five minutes from where my two sons go to school, so I consider myself lucky.

Q: What's the most exciting project you are working on now?

JW: The Eclipse Visual Editor - I get to work with smart colleagues, companies that extend and leverage it, and when I visit customers and help them I get a big kick out of seeing something that started very small at IBM being used successfully and helping people solve their day-to-day problems. It's fun.

Q: What's your hobby?

JW: Sailing.

Q: Do you have children? If yes, would you like them to be computer programmers?

JW: Two sons: Ben who is eight and Jared who is five. Ben wants to be a scientist who mixes potions as in Harry Potter and Jared wants to be a train driver. As long as they're happy I don't mind what they do. I think programming is fun if you enjoy math and they are both good at math, so maybe they'll hack code one day.

Q: What are the three most important things you've learned during your life in IT?

JW: (1)  Don't become a technology bigot and be prepared to adapt and change if customers and the market changes.
(2)  Don't engage in flaming and always be level-headed and talk to people about the facts and content and disconnect from emotional arguments.
(3)  Keep an open mind about technologies you don't know and don't feel threatened by new ideas and technologies; instead learn and understand them.

Jason Bell
Contributing Editor

Q: What's your primary job?

JB: I'm a freelance Web applica-tions consultant, mainly concentrating on Java systems. I'm also the founder of Aerleasing, which auctions aircraft and aircraft engines.

Q: What's your typical day like?

JB: Every day is different; as a consultant working from home there's no such thing as a typical day. Some days client communication tends to outstrip the programming. Other days you're coding and coding and coding to get to the deadline. Speaking of which...

Q: Why do you write for JDJ?

JB: To encourage other Java programmers to either think about what they are doing and also to look at the big picture where the business is concerned. We IT types sometimes have tunnel vision that doesn't leave the cubicle.

Q: Do you blog?

JB: I did. I don't now for a number of reasons. Time is the first. Second, I never struggled to be a "personality" in the Java world. Third, I'm getting really bored with the medium.

Q: What do you like about Java?

JB: The community support and the wealth of useful libraries out there. From 3D to business intelligence, Java has good coverage of most things.

Q: What don't you like about Java?

JB: There was a time when I so yearned for regular expressions to be in the core JDK; that finally happened in 1.4. There are some Java bigots out there, but that's not a complaint about Java, it's a complaint about the people.

Q: What would be a perfect job for you?

JB: A fine art photographer.

Q: What's the most exciting project you are working on now?

JB: My photography - I have an exhibition coming up in June.

Q: What's your hobby?

JB: Programming :)

Q: Do you have children? If yes, would you like them to be computer programmers?

JB: No, never. If they came to me when they were 16 and really, really, really wanted to do it though, I wouldn't stop them.

Q: What are the three most important things you've learned during your life in IT?

JB: (1)  Most clients don't give a hoot about methodologies.
(2)  Never believe all the hype on the Internet.
(3)  You are only as good as your last project.

Q: What question, not asked here, are you burning to answer?

JB: Yes, I'll take the money in a brown envelope as you promised. Now which wash basin did you say you would leave it under.