Annotations won’t kill XDoclet

Euxx is worried that there will be stuff lost in the head-long plunge into annotations. Annotations won’t be the death of XDoclet, nor for that matter will they be the death of deployment descriptions.

While the _mechanism_ that XDoclet (or related tools) might shift to annotations instead of Javadoc, that won’t always be the case. Consider that you need compiled code to be able to use annotations; they won’t work off source files. What do you do then when the annotation describes a class that you want generated that you refer to in your code (e.g. the generated value objects that XDoclet can create)? You’ll still need a source-code parser for this.

Nor will deployment descriptors go away, so we will need tools to generate them. One problem the .NET guys will discover is that you can’t go around re-compiling just because the datasource cache size has changed; if you’ve got a 3rdparty component you don’t have source to, you still need to tune it. This is the oft-neglected “Deployer” role in the J2EE architecture.

So worry not, Euxx… annotations won’t kill XDoclet.

Author: Robert Watkins

My name is Robert Watkins. I am a software developer and have been for over 20 years now. I currently work for people, but my opinions here are in no way endorsed by them (which is cool; their opinions aren’t endorsed by me either). My main professional interests are in Java development, using Agile methods, with a historical focus on building web based applications. I’m also a Mac-fan and love my iPhone, which I’m currently learning how to code for. I live and work in Brisbane, Australia, but I grew up in the Northern Territory, and still find Brisbane too cold (after 22 years here). I’m married, with two children and one cat. My politics are socialist in tendency, my religious affiliation is atheist (aka “none of the above”), my attitude is condescending and my moral standing is lying down. View all posts by Robert Watkins