Re: Obj-C vs Java
Re: Obj-C vs Java
- Subject: Re: Obj-C vs Java
- From: "Doug Knowles \(PB\)" <email@hidden>
- Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2001 16:08:34 -0400
What the heck; I might as well enlist in the war...
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Even though I agree with the fact that they aren't many consumer apps
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developed in Java, there are still pretty impressive desktop apps
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written in Java. In particular, the ones that I use daily:
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Together and JBuilder. I know also about research tools for linguistic
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annotations written in Java (audio-video annotation/transcription)... So
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no, there isn't any Java version of Word but that doesn't mean that
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there aren't any impressive desktop apps written in Java.
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I've only seen a demo of Together, but I have used JBuilder and Forte
extensively, and I would argue that while these apps show great promise,
their interfaces are "compromised" by virture of their use of Java; they are
not best-of-breed desktop interfaces, especially if Mac fit-and-finish
standards are applied. (I would offer up CodeWarrior as an example of how a
native UI can be just that much better.) I would further argue that any
cross-platform UI toolkit I have seen shares similar weaknesses, and it is
probably an inevitable consequence of adding a platform-independent
abstraction layer to the UI toolkit.
Nonetheless, I think they are outstanding tools for their genre, and benefit
mightily from being as readily portable as they are. (And I doubt that
either Borland or Sun/NetBeans would have invested in a Mac-native
implementation of their UIs.) In this space, these Java desktop apps are
more than just good enough.
Looking forward, I like the options Apple offers. I can go fully native, I
can write Pure Java and expect a workable solution, or I can combine my Pure
Java application logic with a native UI to get the platform fit-and-finish I
desire. I am pursuing this last route, and while I might wish for more Java
documentation and sample code sooner, the situation isn't all that bad for a
new platform.
Doug K;