Book Image

Modular Programming in Java 9

By : Koushik Srinivas Kothagal
Book Image

Modular Programming in Java 9

By: Koushik Srinivas Kothagal

Overview of this book

The Java 9 module system is an important addition to the language that affects the way we design, write, and organize code and libraries in Java. It provides a new way to achieve maintainable code by the encapsulation of Java types, as well as a way to write better libraries that have clear interfaces. Effectively using the module system requires an understanding of how modules work and what the best practices of creating modules are. This book will give you step-by-step instructions to create new modules as well as migrate code from earlier versions of Java to the Java 9 module system. You'll be working on a fully modular sample application and add features to it as you learn about Java modules. You'll learn how to create module definitions, setup inter-module dependencies, and use the built-in modules from the modular JDK. You will also learn about module resolution and how to use jlink to generate custom runtime images. We will end our journey by taking a look at the road ahead. You will learn some powerful best practices that will help you as you start building modular applications. You will also learn how to upgrade an existing Java 8 codebase to Java 9, handle issues with libraries, and how to test Java 9 applications.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Title Page
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Customer Feedback
Preface

Modularizing by concerns


When designing modules, it'll be quickly apparent to you that not all modules are alike. Modules can be classified into multiple different types depending on various characteristics. One such classification can be achieved by their functionality or the concerns they address. At the highest level, you can classify modules into two different types:

  • Vertical concerns: Business and application specific functionality. Solves a specific problem in the business domain. For example, the accounts module in a banking application.
  • Horizontal concerns: Crosscutting functionalities that are not business or application specific. Instead, they provide low level functionality or framework that's business-agnostic. For example, logging or security modules.

When designing modules, a good rule to try and follow is to not mix these two concerns. If you design modules specifically for one of the two concerns, it improves clarity and reuse. For example, in the address book application, the...