Re: Slow and ugly Java GUIs are programmers' fault
From: Jonathan Neve (jonathan_at_microtec.fr)
Date: 08/26/04
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Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 09:37:02 +0200
Tor Iver Wilhelmsen wrote:
> Jonathan Neve <jonathan@microtec.fr> writes:
>
>
>>It seems to me that most Java IDE that currently exist are focused
>>mainly on web applications, not so much on desktop apps...
>
>
> I've built ten or so desktop apps using JBuilder, so it's definitely
> on par with what little I tried Delphi.
Well, if you're satisfied with JBuilder, that's fine with me. But I'm
from the Delphi world (C++Builder to be more precise), and we have
written about 50 or so real-world applications for our customers using
C++Builder, so I have a lot of experience in this realm. We also own a
copy of JBuilderX, and having tried it out a bit, I can say that it does
not compare (in my experience) with the ease of use of Delphi.
An example is the fact that all the GUI design in JBuilder is stored as
simply Java code, whereas in Delphi, there is an external file which
stores everything. In Delphi, you have for each component a list of
events, which correspond directly to methods in your class; clean,
light, and simple. In JBuilder, it creates an inner adapter class for
each event handler!! In Delphi, the form designer is an independant
window, which will appear at runtime in exactly the same position and
size as at design-time (by default). At any rate, if you have a very
large form to design, you are only limited by the size of your screen.
In JBuilder, the designer is embedded in the main form, and you have to
scroll to see the whole thing if it's too big.
In Delphi, you have the concept of non-visual components, which appear
on the form at design-time, and which you can edit with the object
inspector. In JBuilder, they don't appear on the form at all, you have
to find it in a tree on the left... In Delphi, you have real WYSIWYG
form designing, and a simple but powerful alignment and anchor system
for handling form layout upon resizing. If you want to change the way a
component handles resizing, you simply have to change the properties of
that component. In JBuilder, you have to use Java layouts, a much more
complicated way of doing things...
Many of these are small things, but all in all, it adds up to making
Delphi much simpler to use, and much more productive. There are also
other aspects, for example, the DataSet/DataSource model, and the fact
that the Delphi VCL provides visual components that are much more
advanced and easier to use than the Java equivalent (think of the JTable
as compared to the TDBGrid).
What we need is a set of Swing components that are on par with the
Delphi VCL, not only in theoretic capabilities, but also in ease of
visual design. Naturally, since Swing was not specifically designed to
be edited visually, this lack is hardly surprising. But I think we need
an IDE that provides a set of visual components analog to the Delphi
VCL. These components would of course in reality be wrappers around the
existing Swing components, but they would add several of the
above-mentionned functionnalities in order to provide a real RAD Java IDE.
Jonathan Neve.
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