Re: J2ME or network programming or...what do you recommend?

failure_to@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote :
hiya

My head is spinning just from thinking how much I must learn. My
biggest fear is that by the time I learn most of this stuff, it will
already become obsolete ( I'm talking about XML, DHTML, XHTML, JSP )

Hmm, not obsolete for a long time, I would think.


More of you guys answer my first three question, more I will be able
to draw some conclusions about how and what :)

1)
a) Would you recommend learning as much different technologies as
possible ( JavaScript, servlets, DHTML, XHTML ... ), or would you
recommend more of specialization ( knowing less technologies, but can
go deeply when trying to understand them ) ?

I started doing the servlets along with the JSP. Once I got the communication working (user clicks a button, I read the data, I send back the result), then I started to do some fancier stuff. Bit by bit. For instance I know enough Javascript to be able to do some simple stuff. But not nearly enough to write a spell checker.

b) Are you guys more of specialized type or do you know alot of
different technologies ?

Lots of different languges. The more you know...

c) what technologies do you use on regular basis when programming
apps?

All that I mentioned :-)

2)
Say you guys want to build Yahoo like chat server-client program. What
technologies ( servlets etc ) would you use on:
a) server side
b) client side

As I mentioned. Well depending on how dynamic you want the client to be.


3)
Uh, I have 1000 pages long Java book in pdf format, which includes
chapter on servlets, but no mention of J2SE or J2EE. So will I have to
buy a book about J2EE specifically, even if the book I have already
explains Servlets?

Only if you want to use Enterprise Java Beans (EJB). But those are for really large scalable projects.

Servlets are quite easy. You accept user input (get or post), parse the data, do something with it, place the result into a data object, then forward that to a JSP. The JSP retrieves the data object, fills in the HTML, then sends that back to the user.

I have books, but they are mostly reference (ie cookbook style). I do not think I have ever read a tech book cover to cover.


4) do you also recommend learning in addition to java some lover level
language ( like C ), to provide additional functionality ( when
needed ) to java server programs?

No not really. If you want portability, then never. I can do everything in Java, so do not need any other server side language (SQL excepted).

So what are the technologies I should learn regardless of the kind
of network apps I want to create ( should I learn servlets AND
applets AND javascript AND XML and ...)?

How deep do you want to go? Are you doing the entire Web page, or are
you simply supplying data which someone else will extract to the
screen?


Truth be told, I have no idea if doing entire Web page all by myself
is even possible. Only thing I can do is ask all of you guys if that
is even recommendable ( I thought that the more different technologies
you know, less good you are at each of these technologies ) and if
you're able to do entire Web pages by yourself and some time span of
how long would it take for me to become somewhat proficient at this?

It depends. How quick do you learn? Again start small, then work your way up.

Client side:
JSP - well OK, it is on the server, but given to the client.
XHTML
DHTML - for dynamic effects such as mouseover
CSS - for layout, colours, fonts
Javascript - for interactive support
AJAX - not the entire set (though you can), but enough to be able to
communicate in the background.


If I am to do anything at client side then I should learn all of the
above? *faints*

Piece by piece. Start small, then learn what you need as you go. Read a lot. Google is your friend.

For instance, at first do not use DHTML. Once you are comfortable usin HTML, then start adding the dynamic part (onmouseover, onmouseout, gotfocus, blur, etc).


...AND javascript ..
Only relevant if you want the (D)HTML GUI.

So thin-client GUI ( made by servlets ) is not the same as (D)HTML
GUI?

Fat client - most if not all the work is done at the client. Requires large executables to be downloaded. Updates require another d/l. The server, if any, only provides a central storage place with very little business logic.

Chubby client - all the grunt work (SQL etc) is done on the server along with all the business logic. However the client has a lot of code which runs to provide the user with a "rich experience". This code is loaded every time it changes (barring caching control) with no interaction by the user. AJAX etc falls into this category. And Web 2.0

Thin client - Provides a user interface with no real dynamic interaction. This would be how most of the current Web pages work.

--
Wojtek :-)


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