A CONNECT Client Implementation for Netty

If you need an implementation of an HTTP CONNECT client to tunnel SSL (or anything else) through a proxy using Netty, Chris Duryee and I recently landed a patch to do so in Thumbslug.

By all means, make use of it!

The original changeset is here.

Retrofitting drop shadows into existing Android layouts

I had some UI elements in an Android application I'm working on that felt as if they should be above (pushing out of the screen, rather than to the top of it) the elements that followed them in the UI. A good way to indicate this is with a drop shadow, similar to those on Android title bars or Action Bars. An existing method didn't work for me, as my UI is relying heavily on weights to keep proper size ratios between the elements I wanted to add a drop shadow to, and the element they would be casting a shadow on.

Mission Accomplished!

A lot of people are linking to this article about the state of the practice in CS curriculum and its use of Java creating dull replaceable drones.

mdehaan points out a wonderful section wherein the authors relate Java programming to a plumber in a hardware store, finding pieces and putting them together to solve a problem, rather than their unmentioned alternative (maybe an artist molding clay?)

If this is true, then we, the software industry and software engineering fields, are done. We have found the holy grail: true modularity and reusable software components. Drop whatever language you're using and switch to Java.