is my boss nuts? about Java vs VS.net

  • Thread starter Thread starter UGH
  • Start date Start date
U

UGH

My boss wants me to learn java so I could build java application. I have
been building application using VB for the last 7 years for the same boss.
He suddenly wants me to learn Java because it can be installed on any
operating systems.



I have been using VS.net for the last year so I know about the framework and
to me it is kind of like j2se. IS MS ever planning to make VS.net
application run off different OS in the future?
 
UGH said:
My boss wants me to learn java so I could build java application. I have
been building application using VB for the last 7 years for the same boss.
He suddenly wants me to learn Java because it can be installed on any
operating systems.

I have been using VS.net for the last year so I know about the framework and
to me it is kind of like j2se. IS MS ever planning to make VS.net
application run off different OS in the future?
Click to expand...

Well, VS.NET and .NET are two different things - the first is an IDE,
the second is a platform.

There are already CLR implementations for other OSes, but I don't think
I'd really trust them for production systems, personally.

For multi-platform applications, Java is pretty much the way to go at
the moment.
 
My boss wants me to learn java so I could build java application. I haveAlthough technically true, ask your boss how many applications he/she uses
and also your clients use on Linux/Unix/Apple OSs? I was originally sucked
into Java by this "write-once, run anywhere" gimic as well, but in reality,
after four years, I'm back to C# doing Windows apps on duh, Windows!

Java does offer a lot of nice things, however, in making some things simple,
they've over complicated a lot of other things. Making a GUI in java is
relatively easy, unfortunately, it's also easy to get it wrong! :< You'll
see a lot of people's complaints stemming around doing too many things on
the main event queue. :< C# and WinForms, although have similar problems,
just make it easy to do things right the first time.
For multi-platform applications, Java is pretty much the way to go at
the moment.
Click to expand...
I would suggest trying to find out truely if your boss wants this cross
platform execution for clients. If you're doing it to have bragging rights,
you'll quickly find out the black eyes hurt too much! :< If you are have a
lot of customers using linux, then why aren't you already doing stuff in
C/C++? My guess is you really want C# apps, all the power of Java, without
a lot of the hassles and they got it "righter" than Sun did. :>

Just my two cents (MSCD in VB and SCJP).
 
Flip said:
Although technically true, ask your boss how many applications he/she uses
and also your clients use on Linux/Unix/Apple OSs? I was originally sucked
into Java by this "write-once, run anywhere" gimic as well, but in reality,
after four years, I'm back to C# doing Windows apps on duh, Windows!
Click to expand...

It all depends on what the application is. While relatively few end-
user apps end up being run on non-Windows OSes, *plenty* of server
applications end up being run on Solaris etc.
Java does offer a lot of nice things, however, in making some things simple,
they've over complicated a lot of other things. Making a GUI in java is
relatively easy, unfortunately, it's also easy to get it wrong! :< You'll
see a lot of people's complaints stemming around doing too many things on
the main event queue. :< C# and WinForms, although have similar problems,
just make it easy to do things right the first time.
Click to expand...

Hmm... I think the same kind of problems are still there. People are
still going to try to modify the UI from the wrong thread, etc.
I would suggest trying to find out truely if your boss wants this cross
platform execution for clients. If you're doing it to have bragging rights,
you'll quickly find out the black eyes hurt too much! :< If you are have a
lot of customers using linux, then why aren't you already doing stuff in
C/C++? My guess is you really want C# apps, all the power of Java, without
a lot of the hassles and they got it "righter" than Sun did. :>
Click to expand...

While I agree that there's plenty of aspects where .NET is better than
Java, platform independence is a real issue for many companies. There's
more to life than just end-user applications.
 
Jon brings up a good point about j2ee vs .NET applications. I'm doing j2ee
apps at work right now. However at home, I'm having a lot more fun with
..NET and I think I'm much more productive with that ennvironment. I even
"upgraded" my linux box to W2k3Server. What I can't do in one week with
java/j2ee/XP, Linux/JBuilder/WebLogic/MySQL, I could do in one night with
C#/.NET/WinXP, w2k3server/VS.NET/IIS/SQLServer! Yup! I kid you not! I was
able install the tools (all the above, and ya, I had two blank machines to
play with :>, and I installed all proper patches too), create a database,
populate it with data, create a webapp, crate a webpage to
view/accews/update the data and deploy it. I can't do with nearly as
quickly with the java technology stack! :<

re server vs client apps
Until Tiger (Java5), Sun and the general population had given up on Java for
thick client development, which is why everyone brings up server apps. The
verdict is still out on thick client development with Java5, it's too soon
to tell. But besides Oracle, I don't know of anyone developing thick client
apps that are truely running on multi-platforms.

And Ugh, before this goes too far, you have to know you're opening up a BIG
can of worms with this right? :> haha It used to be people would fight
religiously over OSs (remember the Windows vs OS/2 debates over wings and
beers many years ago?), now it's back with frameworks and languages. I've
done both, even certified in both. I make my living with java but have all
my fun and therefore am learning much more with C# and .NET. It's up to you
to make your call and stick it through! :>

Good luck.
 
Thanks you guys,



I guess, I will suck it up and learn java so I can use both languages any
time down the road.
 
well that is the right attitude. a language is just a tool to solving a
problem. the more tools you have the better you may be at solving different
kinds of problems. i'm a java bigot by the way but most of my hatred for the
language is really unfounded.-)
 
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