Archive for November, 2008
Just installed Adobe Flex 3 with the AIR runtime. It’s an awesome setup. Both languages are very closely typed. I am still learning what the APIs of both are able to do. I will display some sample apps as soon as I have them ready.
This week, Sun Microsystems announced they had stopped funding the SwingX component library. This has caused a major ripple effect in the Java world, with client-side developer deeply worried about the future of Swing API. You can check out this Javaworld article detailing some of the reaction. The hypothetical reason for Sun to decrease development on Swing seems to be its market share in the RIA space.
The Swing API has been one of the shining aspects of desktop Java since 2000. It is, in my opinion, a very easy library. It took me some time to fully get a handle on writing Swing applications, but I have come to appreciate how well thought out its design is. I don’t use any GUI builders; I do mostly hand-coding.
JavaFX is the supposed successor to Swing. I have been taking a look at it since the announcement, and I have mixed opinions on it. It does seem like a good language, a good way to describe GUI events and components. I am still playing around with it, but so far, it is easy to pick up if you are an avid GUI coder.
In software, there are many systems out there in the world that are the product of rapid business decisions. Deadlines must be met, money must be made, and the system has to be functional at the point of delivery.
What happens down the line, however, is many bugs, crashes, and an unresponsive UI, leading to user frustration.
When it comes to writing software, we must have a passion for it.
“If you do not breathe through writing, if you do not cry out in writing, or sing in writing, then don’t write, because our culture has no use for it.” - Anais Nin
NeoGearX.com is a personal project space that I created, in order to express myself through my code. I love writing software, and seeing all the amazing things that I can do through the machine.