Looking at Docker (Again)

I downloaded and installed the new Netbeans IDE (version 8.2) and noticed that it had Docker support.  It’s been a while since I looked at Docker, so today I’m going to revisit it.

Got Docker upgraded and running by following the online tutorial.  When I tried to add the Docker instance to Netbeans, I noticed I’d have to change the daemon’s configuration to listen on a TCP port (instead of a Unix socket that I think it runs on by default).  After modifying /etc/default/docker and adding the instance to Netbeans, I could no longer use the client commands like “docker images”.  After sorting through the docs for a while, I found out that the Docker client will use the “DOCKER_HOST” environment variable to set the “-H” option (for “host”).

I also set up a Docker Hub account while going through the tutorial.

In any case, I’ve got a few ideas I’d like to try to exercise Docker a little bit and hopefully I’ll be able to get to it and log what I do on this blog.

Investigating Some New Java Tools

I was looking around java.net – somewhere I haven’t been for a while – and noticed an article discussing a few new Java tools.  I cloned the project and poked around a bit.  I found reference to the Retrofit project and did a deeper dive.  It looks like it’s most popular on the Android, but I see no reason why it couldn’t be used in a regular ol’ Java SE-type of application.  Basically, Retrofit supplies an abstraction for accessing RESTful web services.

To put it to the test, I found a public API called “Brewery DB” and used an online tool to churn out some POJOs based on the sample JSON for the web service.  Unfortunately, it looks like the RESTful service I chose has died on the vine.  In any case, I was able to query the API for its list of beers and get populated Java objects out of it.  I hope to revisit Retrofit again in the near future.

Looking at Firefox WebExtensions

So apparently the Add-On SDK for Firefox extension development is being put to rest.  WebExtensions are where it’s at.  This is probably old news to many, but I’ve not been paying close attention.  The new method is modeled after Chrome’s extension stuff and supposedly even Edge has a similar method.

Anyway, I spent Thursday and Friday of this week working on a little Firefox WebExtension.  I’ve added a toolbar button with a popup dialog and some code to communicate with a background script.  The next step is to use the “storage” part of the API.