Java™ Application Development on Linux - Dator

24.5 Resources523Most of us, however, will be asking how these technologies can put bread onour table.The key is lifelong learning. And that is where Open has a distinct advantage.You want to know how it works? Look. There is a lot of good code (andsome very bad code) out there, free for the taking, analyzing, and for certainuses. One of the arguments made for closed code is a quality argument. But asprogrammers who have worked on closed systems, we can tell you that we haveseen plenty of bad code out that is closed and proprietary. You just have to lookat news about viruses and worms to know that. The point is that Open Sourceand Free Software are a safer investment. In closed systems there is alwayspressure to “churn” the APIs so that new OS versions and new developmenttools can be sold. There is some of that in Free Software too, but you can watchit as it happens, and if a program is your bread and butter, you can participate.In any revolution, there are the brave and foolhardy rushing to the barricades,banners in hand. But the sensible are keeping their heads down and tryingto figure out how to get through it all. We hope our modest contributionhelps the latter.24.4WHAT YOU STILL DON’T KNOWThis is a book about writing Java applications on Linux systems. We hope we’vegiven you enough to get started, and pointed you to some tools and techniquesthat, while they’ve been around a while, may not all be well known ordocumented.We’ve said it before, but each of our chapters tried to cover in a smallspace what really takes volumes. Our aim has been to give you a flavor, and astart, and a direction.24.5RESOURCESThis book that you are reading is part of the Bruce Perens’ Open Source Series,“a definitive series of Linux and Open Source books” according to the publisherThe Fate of the Commons in a Connected World, and Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technologyand the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity.