Maven and Ant: When Ant was created there was a particular itch being scratched. The traditional make didn't seem to fit the requirements of a Java based project. Ant was a small utility that was quickly adopted by Java developers. » Read more

Where's the Grid?: Where are the Grid applications?  — Daniel Brookshier

SAML V1.1 is final: SAML V1.1 is now an OASIS Standard. Look here for the 50,000-foot view of SAML and what it's good for. — Eve Maler

Apache Maven Simplified
Maven both sits on Ant and is presented as an alternative to Ant. In Apache Maven Simplified, Dave Ford presents an overview of getting started with Maven. The transformation requires more than just mapping Ant targets to Maven goals. The introduction sets up a basic directory structure and uses Maven to compile the source code, run unit tests, and work with a required library. Finally, you're shown how to extend goals with pre and post goals and how to make a goal portable by creating a plug-in.

Web and Enterprise Architecture Design Patterns for J2EE
"[D]esign patterns introduced by other authors seem to add less and less to the value of the collection initially offered by GoF." You can judge for yourself whether Prasad, Taneja, and Todankar have met the challenge they set for themselves in part one of Web and Enterprise Architecture Design Patterns for J2EE. In this first part they present what they call enterprise patterns dealing with Partitioning and Scope.