My Jev Experiment: Choosing Effort for Codex and Claude Code
A reproducible Jev effort recommendation, the commands to apply it in Codex and Claude Code, and the cache and cost tradeoffs I still need to measure.
October 1, 2026
The journal.
Articles on software engineering, tools, and best practices
Testing Java Backends: Unit, Integration, and Contract Tests
A practical guide to testing strategy for Java backend systems — from unit tests with JUnit and Mockito, to integration tests with Testcontainers, contract tests with Pact, and concurrency tests that catch race conditions. Includes a complete fintech wallet example.
May 22, 2026
Java 25 is here — and it's actually worth upgrading for
Scoped Values are production-ready, object headers just got smaller, and you can finally write code before super(). Here's why Java 25 is the LTS release you shouldn't skip.
May 18, 2026
How to properly build an MCP server
A practical guide to building Model Context Protocol servers — covering tools, resources, and prompts, plus the rules that separate production servers from proof-of-concepts.
May 13, 2026
ACID: Four letters that keep your data safe
A practical guide to Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, and Durability — with SQL examples and a bank transfer walkthrough showing all four properties in action.
May 4, 2026
HashCode vs Equals in Java: The Contract Every Developer Must Understand
Understand what hashcodes really are, how HashMap lookups work under the hood, and why the hashCode-equals contract is the foundation of every cache and collection in your application.
April 28, 2026
Immutability in Java: Why Your Objects Should Be Stone Tablets, Not Whiteboards
Learn what immutability really means in Java, how to make objects immutable (the five rules), why Strings work the way they do, and every way to make collections immutable — with tradeoffs.
April 21, 2026
Domain-Driven Design: Models That Actually Mean Something
Learn what DDD really is, when it makes sense, and how Entities, Value Objects, Aggregates, and Invariants work — with a complete feature walkthrough from domain layer to API.
April 15, 2026
Thread Safety in Java: Race Conditions, Shared State, and How to Fix Them
Understand thread safety from first principles — race conditions, shared mutable state, and five practical fixes from `volatile` to database locking. Complete fintech wallet example included.
April 9, 2026
Dependency Injection in Java: Why It Matters Beyond Spring Magic
Learn DI from first principles — constructor vs field injection, interfaces, testability, and why it's a design idea, not a Spring feature.
April 2, 2026
Get to know Git aliases
Discover how to boost your productivity with Git aliases. Learn how to create custom shortcuts for common Git commands and streamline your development workflow.
May 20, 2024
Concurrency in Java: A guide to ExecutorService and Future
Learn how to use ExecutorService and Future in Java to build efficient, concurrent applications. This comprehensive guide covers thread pools, task submission, and asynchronous programming patterns.
May 19, 2024
How to ignore files in Git
Learn how to effectively manage files in Git using .gitignore and global exclude files. Discover the differences between shared and private ignore patterns.
February 25, 2023