Previously I had written about some benefits of the Java programming language. However some people just love writing code in Java. I have worked with many of these people. They will invent up projects just to write some Java. They work extra hours as long as the app is written in Java. Craziness I tell you.

Well I read up on some reasons why people love Java. One is that there is industry standard certifications you can learn. You can tell whether somebody has a least a little Java knowledge by the certification they possess.

Java is also a popular language. You can always find a Java developer for your project. And you can find some supporters for Java in any group of developers out there. Although I have not personally experienced this, I hear Java gives good conferences.

The Java programming language is easy to learn, especially if you know an object oriented language like C++. It is a general purpose language which can fit many needs. And there is one final reason to love Java that can be summed up in one word - Eclipse. Now I won't say that I love Java just yet. But I am slowly warming up to it. I need to write some enterprise application before the final verdict is in for me.

UMLet

I had an assignment from class to include a UML diagram. This was supposed to be pasted into a Microsoft Word file. Now I did not want to scribble a diagram on a piece of paper and scan it in. I also did not want to try to draw the diagram using Microsoft Word drawing tools. The best technique would be to use a tool that knew that UML was I thought.

So I looked around in Eclipse. I could not figure out how to generate a UML diagram. Now I know this is a tool for writing code. However I thought it would have such a tool. Then I checked out the latest Visual Studio that I had. This was the professional edition. But even this tool did not seem to be able to knock out a UML diagram.

Normally I use Rational Rose to bust out UML diagrams. But I did not have access to my computer which has Rational rose installed. I did not feel like searching for a free Rational Rose install as I figured it would be huge.

It was time to Google the web to see what tools were out there. My goal was to find something easy and free. One of the first hits I found was UMLet. Here are some hints on using it. You select an item on the left pane. Then the bottom right hand corner is the free form text that is drawn with that item.

UMLet turned out to be just the thing I was looking for. Later I was happy that I decided against using a graphics tool to draw the UML diagram. I had to add some more items to my class. Then I needed to update my diagram based on error I found. This was trivial with the UMLet tool. A big thank you goes out to the authors of this software. You helped me get an A on this assignment.