How to keep up to date on available Java libraries?

Question

I've been writing java.io code verbosely for far too long, and stumbled onto Apache Commons IO last week. I've used a lot of Commons before, but never looked at IO, and now I feel silly for writing a notable amount of extra code over the years.

Is there any good resource for Java libraries that isn't overwhelming, besides maybe reading through all of the available Apache Commons once a year to see if anything new was added?

How do you keep up to date on what's out there?

Adding an edit to summarize. Mostly, I'm looking for push technology; something to help me keep up to date, instead of me having to know what I want to learn.

• The Common Java Cookbook
• Podcasts, including javaposse
• RSS, including theserverside, java.net
• Looking through the dependencies of projects I already use
• Stack Overflow

Additional items that require you know a bit to look for something using them (pull):

• ACM (If this could be pared down more, it'd bump to the first list.)
• Google
• Browse the Maven Repository

Also tangentially related, keeping up on Java itself, this blog was recommended:

• Darcy's Sun Blog

Any other suggestions? Thanks everyone for the helpful advice.

Answer 1

Well, giving the (unsatisfactory) answer to my own question, I can just start reading through Apache Commons once a year to see what I might have missed.

That seems like a high-return-on-investment plan for an afternoon, at least.

Answer 2

The Common Java Cookbook is a very nice reference for useful things that can be done with Apache Commons and some related libraries (Lucene, Velocity).

Answer 3

Since the number of java libraries probably exceeds the amount of free time you have to stay informed of them, you should probably evaluate them lazily. Whenever you are about to write something, search Google first.

Answer 4

Good question.

1. Read sites like this one all the time
2. Read relevant publications - ACM etc. I used to read Dr. Dobbs but have discontinued for about a year.
3. Review the various main projects periodically - like your example of Apache. Ever so often check back on the site.
4. Search for projects when you have a task to do before writing it yourself.

Answer 5

Just by reading QA's in Stack Overflow I get a lot of information about new libraries and stuff like that. I found about google collections on reddit programming, I believe. I guess the secret is to regularly monitor forums and discussion groups - by doing it that way, your universe is not limited to the Apacha Commons only.

Answer 6

google > cool new useful java api

:p

Answer 7

Be curious. Look at required libs for any Java app you use. When I download stuff like IntelliJ IDEA (or other big apps) I like to see what dependencies they have, poke around in the jars, etc. For example, in the IntelliJ/lib dir I see things like groovy, jgoodies, junit, loj4j, nanoxml, picocontainer, velocity, etc. If you didn't know what any of those were before, you certainly have a reason to do some googleing.

If you use a tool like Maven that does dependency management for you, take a look at what is sucks down every time you add a new required library. Or just browse the maven repository http://mvnrepository.com/

Answer 8

I use:

• podcasts like this one
• RSS feeds from theserverside.com, java.net and numerous others
• mailing lists
• Google