Rick Hightower
Rick Hightower has worked as a CTO, Director of Development and a Developer for the last 20 years. He has been involved with J2EE since its inception. He worked at an EJB container company in 1999. He has been working with Java since 1996, and writing code professionally since 1990. Rick was an early Spring enthusiast. Rick enjoys bouncing back and forth between C, Python, Groovy and Java development. He has written several programming and software development books as well as many articles and editorials for journals and magazines over the years.
All of Rick Hightower's Content on InfoQ
Latest featured content by Rick Hightower

- Topics
- MongoDB,
- Distributed Document Oriented Database,
- NoSQL,
- Database
The NoSQL movement is here to stay. The need for reliable storage that can be easily queried and easily scalable without the pain of SQL schema migration is real. Developers want more agile systems. This article uses MongoDB to introduce NoSQL concepts. This article covers the basics of MongoDB architecture, caveats and programming in MongoDB for Java, PHP, and Python developers.
News by Rick Hightower
- Topics
- Membase,
- CouchDB,
- Couchbase,
- Memcached,
- Caching,
- Distributed Cache,
- Distributed Document Oriented Database,
- Companies,
- Clustering & Caching,
- NoSQL,
- Database,
- Performance & Scalability,
- Infrastructure
Recently Couchbase published a comparison of Couchbase and CouchDB to denote the differences and simlarities between the two. This document addresses a common question: "What is the difference between CouchDB and Couchbase?", and what happened to Membase? InfoQ caught up with James Phillips, a Couchbase founder, to discuss the comparison and the merger of the two products Membase and CouchDB.
- Topics
- Icefaces,
- JSF Components,
- JSF,
- jQuery,
- Java Web Frameworks,
- Java EE,
- Javascript,
- Java,
- Web Development,
- Dynamic Languages,
- Languages,
- PrimeFaces,
- Programming
PrimeFaces is claiming IceSoft copied PrimeFaces code "LINE BY LINE" for its new IceSoft Ace. While not claiming legal issues with the fork, the PrimeFaces team is "shocked and disappointed" and claim the new IceSoft Ace components are "up to 90% copied" from PrimeFaces. InfoQ caught up with PrimeFaces and IceSoft about this issue. Is it ok for a competitor to fork an Apache licensed project?
- Topics
- Memcached,
- Distributed Cache,
- Caching,
- MySQL,
- Oracle,
- NoSQL,
- Clustering & Caching,
- Relational Databases,
- Database,
- Performance & Scalability,
- Companies,
- Infrastructure
Oracle fires a new round for the heart of the NoSQL market. This 7.2 release of MySQL Cluster has new features putting it head to head with other NoSQL solutions including REST, memcached wire protocol, NoSQL C++, and standard MySQL interfaces. Oracle boasts 70x speed gains for complex queries using MapReduce like distributed joins. Is the world ready for a MySQL/NoSQL hybrid from Oracle?
- Topics
- JMS,
- Java EE,
- Java,
- Languages,
- HornetQ,
- ActiveMQ,
- Programming
Apache Apollo 1.0, ActiveMQ subproject, was just released. Apollo's new threading model which is geared to multi-core microprocessors makes it faster, more scalable and more reliable than ActiveMQ. Apache Apollo now has JMS support along with a set of JMS benchmarks that show it is a clear competitor in the messaging space.
- Topics
- JSF,
- Java EE,
- Java Web Frameworks,
- Java,
- Languages,
- Programming
InfoQ got a chance to catch up with Ed Burns, JSF specification lead. Ed shared his viewpoints on where JSF stands in light of Ajax, and HTML5 as well as a recap of what happened in JSF 2.0, 2.1 and what is happening in 2.2. Ed covers how JSPs are first processed as Facelets, multi-tenancy, how JSF will support HTML 5, JSF adoption, high-traffic sites that use JSF, and more.
- Topics
- JMS,
- Java EE,
- Java,
- Languages,
- Programming,
- RabbitMQ,
- Benchmark,
- HornetQ,
- ActiveMQ
Apollo is a next generation message queuing solution that recently posted some impressive benchmarks against RabbitMQ, HornetQ, and ActiveMQ. The benchmarks indicate that Apollo will be on a lot of developer's roadmaps for messaging.
- Topics
- Grails,
- Groovy,
- Java Web Frameworks,
- Java,
- JVM Languages,
- Dynamic Languages,
- Languages,
- Programming
The Grails development team at SpringSource, a division of VMWare, recently announced the release of Grails 2.0. This release improves Grails usability akin to Roo console support. GORM, the persistence layers in Grails, maximises the DSL support from the Groovy 1.8 via AST transformations.
Articles by Rick Hightower

- Topics
- Scala,
- Groovy,
- Java,
- JVM Languages,
- Dynamic Languages,
- Languages,
- Functional Programming,
- Ceylon,
- Programming
David Pollak, famous Scala advocate, blog posted, "Yes, Virginia, Scala is hard", causing a brouhaha. Scala use is increasing, yet the post claims that Scala tries to do too much, has poor IDE support, and more. InfoQ catches up with David Pollak and Dick Wall to comment on the complaints in the post, as well as the future of Scala. David has things to say about Groovy, Ceylon and Lambdas too.
Interviews by Rick Hightower

- Topics
- CDI,
- JavaOne2011,
- Java EE,
- Java One,
- Java,
- Languages,
- Programming
In this interview Rick Hightower talks to Peter Muir about the CDI architecture, capabilities, and how it compares to Spring and Guice. Peter discusses CDI's role and where it fits as well as its advantages over Spring. Peter also mentions the wonders of Arquillian and Forge.

- Topics
- JavaOne2011,
- Java One,
- Caching,
- Java,
- Languages,
- Clustering & Caching,
- Programming,
- Performance & Scalability,
- Cloud Computing,
- Infrastructure,
- Data Grid
InfoQ catches up with Manik Surtani to discuss JSR 347, data grids and Inifinispan. Manik dicusses overlap with NoSQL and support for Memcached and HotRod wire protocol as well.