Random number generation is one of most basic features in any programming language. The basic utilization is always the same: generate a random number between 0 and 1. With such a simple resource at hand we sometimes overlook some interesting features.What do we learn from the books?The most obvious and maybe intuitive way to generate random numbers in Java is simply calling:java.lang.Math.random()Random generation is in the Math utility class with abs, pow, floor, sqrt and other mathematical functions we see in all other languages. Most people will learn about this class...

In my code journeys and programming adventures I’ve encountered many strange foes, and even stranger allies. I’ve identified at least five different kinds of code warriors, some make for wonderful comrades in arms, while others seem to foil my every plan.However they all have their place in the pantheon of software development. Without a healthy mix of these different programming styles you’ll probably find your projects either take too long to complete, are not stable enough or are too perfect for humans to look upon. The duct tape programmerThe code may not be pretty...

If you Google “Java is the new COBOL” you’ll find a glut of articles proliferating this mantra. I don’t know its origins, however I’m inclined to think it’s mostly repeated (and believed) by the Ruby community. Ruby, from a developer’s perspective is a low-friction language. A developer can just sit down at a text editor and start banging out code without really thinking about such superflous things as types. Java on the other hand, well, you have to think a lot about types. Java is a statically typed language after all, and it makes the deve...