Practical writing on Java, Spring, AI, and the craft of software engineering.
If you're building with Java and Spring (or trying to figure out where AI fits into your development workflow) you're in the right place. I write practical, beginner-friendly deep dives on Spring Boot, Spring AI, and software engineering fundamentals, collected here in chronological order.
Filtering by tag: Java
My CYC 2025 Demo: Why Building MCP Servers in Java Just Got Ridiculously Simple
Learn how Spring AI 1.1.0-M2 makes building MCP servers in Java incredibly simple with just annotations. No callbacks, no complex setup. Includes complete code from my Commit Your Code 2025 conference demo, showing how to expose your Java application's data to Claude and other AI assistants.
Spring Boot 3.x Features: A Complete Guide (3.0 to 3.5)
Every major Spring Boot 3.x feature from 3.0 to 3.5—Java 17, GraalVM native images, virtual threads, Docker Compose, Testcontainers, and structured logging.
JDK 24's Major Improvement: Virtual Threads Without Pinning
Discover JDK 24's breakthrough enhancement that eliminates virtual thread pinning with synchronized blocks and methods. This comprehensive guide explores how this change revolutionizes Java concurrency, dramatically improving scalability for Spring Boot applications with legacy synchronized code. You'll learn about the technical details of thread pinning, see practical performance comparisons, and...
Creating Your First MCP Server in Java with Spring Boot
Build your first Model Context Protocol (MCP) server in Java using Spring Boot and Spring AI, exposing tools that let Claude and other AI models call your code.
Stream Gatherers in JDK 24: Building Custom Intermediate Operations for the Stream API
Discover how the new Stream Gatherers feature in JDK 24 provides a more elegant solution for processing blog content compared to traditional stream operations.
Modern Java: Why You Might Not Need Lombok Anymore
A detailed exploration of why Java developers should reconsider using Project Lombok, examining its drawbacks and modern alternatives in Java development.
Getting Started with Spring AI and RAG: A Practical Guide
Learn how to build intelligent applications using Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) with Spring AI. This practical guide covers everything from understanding tokens and context windows to implementing a full RAG solution.
Building Generative AI Applications in Java: From Simple Scripts to Spring Boot
Explore how Java developers can leverage generative AI, from basic curl commands to robust Spring Boot applications. Learn to integrate OpenAI's GPT models, use Java's HTTP client, and harness the power of Spring AI for structured output and simplified AI integration.
Calling Multiple LLMs with Spring AI: A Practical Guide
Learn how to integrate and call multiple Large Language Models (LLMs) like OpenAI's GPT-4 and Anthropic's Claude in a single Spring Boot application using Spring AI. This tutorial covers project setup, configuration, and implementation of separate controllers for each LLM.