Re: Java

[Keith Brown <bahalana@wt.net>]

Bob Deep wrote:

> >
> > Well, when my boss said, "Oh, and it has to run on these twelve different
> > platforms," I opted for Java.  The learning curve was steep and the
> > language was immature but it has gotten much better.  I think that, today,
> > you can do production work with it.
>
> Yea, you can.. At least I currently am...
>
> I see no real reason not to code any new application in Java if you meet
> the four following tests...
>
> 1. Your application does not need top computational performance in a
> small foot print..
> 2. You can get a VM for the platform.
> 3. You don't need direct access to hardware that cannot be done yet in
> Java on your platform.
> 4. Learning costs of Java are too high.
>
> Of course, it's always a judgment call...

Good points. What I "really meant to say" I guess, is that from my perspective
as an end user give me a native app over Java all other things being equal. If
I was running a heterogenous shop that needed a tool "now" that ran on
everything, I would go with Java as well...

Coincidentally, this very moment, I'm evaluating an experimental UML CASE tool
written in Java called Argo/UML. Its free and opensource, and blows the doors
off of any other CASE tool I've tried so far that was written in Java, some of
which sell for several thousand dollars. It also has features that don't exist
in other commercial tools. So far, performance hasn't been bad either. I'm very
impressed. So you *can* write quality software with Java, but it still lacks
that 'snap' you get with native object code.

There are quite a few freeware and shareware flight planning tools for Windows,
but not on Linux, so I don't see the point of concentrating on portability so
much. That's mainly why I would favor native compiled code, no matter what the
language.

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