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Java IDE Technical Preview

A not-so-Anonymous Coward writes: "During a Sun developer 'chalk talk' Thursday, Joe Keller, Sun vice president of Java Web services, said the company will release a preview of the tool, known as Project Rave, that the Santa Clara, Calif., company introduced at its JavaOne conference in June. Sun has touted Project Rave as a rapid application development tool akin to Microsoft Corp.'s Visual Basic. In fact, Sun had its developers study Visual Basic to a great extent while building the tool, Sun sources said. Sounds like .NET is going to get a run for it's money."

67 comments

  1. Project Rave?!? by El · · Score: 3, Funny

    Doesn't this conjure up an image of something developed by people that spend all their free time taking Ecstasy and dancing all night to techno music? Doesn't exactly instill confidence in the product, does it? Give me "Project Squaredance" or "Project Hoedown" any day!

    --

    "Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney

    1. Re:Project Rave?!? by DjReagan · · Score: 1

      Actually, some of the best coders I've come across have been quite partial to spending all night dancing under the influence of class-A's

      --
      "When I grow up, I want to be a weirdo"
    2. Re:Project Rave?!? by turgid · · Score: 1

      You can't beat sitting in a field on a warm summer's day, drinking 10 pints of ale and lsitening to guitar-based rock.

    3. Re:Project Rave?!? by Hypocritical+Guy · · Score: 2, Funny

      Some of the biggest idiots I've come across have been quite partial to spending all night dancing under the influence of class-A's.

      --
      If you liked licking my balls, add me to your foes list!
    4. Re:Project Rave?!? by BoomerSooner · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      And the subsequent brain damage that occurs will certainly affect their future ability to be productive members of society. Hopefully, they'll lay off the drugs before they end up living in a van down by the river.

    5. Re:Project Rave?!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      hahah, another drug war brainwashee

    6. Re:Project Rave?!? by aled · · Score: 1

      How that's different to burn your brains programming all night?

      --

      "I think this line is mostly filler"
    7. Re:Project Rave?!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, you can surely beat the person sitting the field drinking the 10 pints of ale and listening to guitar-based rock. Although, I guess I've never heard any lute or harp based rock.

    8. Re:Project Rave?!? by DjReagan · · Score: 1

      Which proves my point that theres a huge range of people who do that sort of thing. Hence any claims of code-quality lacking due to the product being named "Rave" is stupidly ludicrous.

      --
      "When I grow up, I want to be a weirdo"
    9. Re:Project Rave?!? by Hypocritical+Guy · · Score: 1

      Hence any claims of code-quality lacking due to the product being named "Rave" is stupidly ludicrous.

      No doubt. It still gives people the image of moron pill-popping ravers with lollipops in their mouth giving each other massages. A perfectly good word like "rave" has been ruined forever.

      --
      If you liked licking my balls, add me to your foes list!
    10. Re:Project Rave?!? by Zero_K · · Score: 1

      I think that BoomerSooner might have been making a reference to a Saturday night live skit with chris farely..."you'll end you living in a van down by the river smoking dwebies"

    11. Re:Project Rave?!? by turgid · · Score: 1
      Although, I guess I've never heard any lute or harp based rock.

      Ah, then you are not fimiliar with the work of REM?

    12. Re:Project Rave?!? by turgid · · Score: 1
      I just have one more thing to say to you:

      Techno techno handbag disco.

  2. java is dead by larry+bagina · · Score: 0, Insightful
    Like many people, I swallowed the Sun media machine, hook line and sinker. Sun failed to deliver. Fool me once, shame on you Fool me twice, shame on me.


    So I (and everyone else) was more skeptical when c#/.net/clr was announced. MS has the advantage of time -- faster machines, more memory -- and they saw what SUN did wrong.


    I won't drink the .net koolaid, but I have contributed code to the .mono project.


    As for java, the days are numbered. Many companies are now refusing to touch java since MS JVM will be unsupported (I argued with our R/D VP for two hours, I showed him the Sun, IBM, and Blockdown JVM... it didn't matter). Our .jsp pages are being converted to .csp (better db performace and easier maintenance).


    Java is resigned to a niche market of server backends. C# might fare better for GUI apps, but not until LongHorn (by which time CPU speed will run it better).

    --
    Do you even lift?

    These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

    1. Re:java is dead by chochos · · Score: 4, Informative

      I'm at a Microsoft event for Software Architects right now, and a lot of people that I've been talking to in here (working at companies that are Microsoft partners), have told me that they have many customers that want development in Java. That came as a surprise to me, being my first Microsoft event, I never thought I would hear so much talk about Java from the people here (I've also heard the "L" word, and have even uttered it several times to see people's reaction - yes it's childish, I know, but I'm a little bored).

      Microsoft themselves have said in some conferences that they expect their customers to have a lot of different technologies in their infrastructure and that it's rather rare to find an all-Microsoft infrastructure at a company. And when they say non-Microsoft they usually mean Java (they've said a couple of times).

    2. Re:java is dead by stefanlasiewski · · Score: 1

      Many companies are now refusing to touch java since MS JVM will be unsupported (I argued with our R/D VP for two hours, I showed him the Sun, IBM, and Blockdown JVM... it didn't matter).

      Our .jsp pages are being converted to .csp

      Why does the MS JVM have any influence on your .jsp pages?

      --
      "Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
    3. Re:java is dead by michaelggreer · · Score: 1

      Java is resigned to a niche market of server backends
      Hardly a niche market, my friend. For consumers, perhaps, but for businesses this is and will be a huge need.

    4. Re:java is dead by Pengo · · Score: 4, Interesting


      C# is splendid on the client, if your deploying to windows. Much better than Java in my opinion. But on the server side, C# has a long ways to go before I would ever trust it for a massively scalable project. Frankly java does the job, and does it VERY well on the server side.

      C# has very very limmited options on the server side. In Java I have massive selection of JVM's, --> SERVER PLATFORMS -- , servlet containers, EJB containers, IDE's.

      As a matter of fact, I can't think of a single tier 1 player other than borland jumping in line to give balmer a rim-job and provide technology at a infrastructure level for C# .NET.

      Frankly, I have been burnt by microsoft enough times, that I won't do anything with .NET unless it's a client deployed application that I understand will be limited to a 9x/win2k/XP environment. Java would of been my next choice if we had to suport macs or linux, but we don't.

      Also, to say that database performance is higher with C# is frankly bullshit. I would venture to say that eventually things will improve with C#/CLR based applications, but performance is not a factor between the two. Usually good design implimentation is what determines how well an application runs, not the environment that it runs in.

      BMP/CMP ejb implimentations where hugely misused in early days of EJB. Now that the technology and the people that use it have matured, you can build a VERY scalable and robust solution without any problem.

      to say that C# is perfect, even VS .NET is perfect is frankly a joke too. I have had more than once had to do cludgey work-arounds because the code that the IDE generates when moving a widget causes a problem. Many things are improving in the newer version of VS.NET , but again... lets see.

      Frankly people that say that Java is loosing ground in the enterprise have no idea what they are talking about and are quite out of touch with whats really happening.

      How many european / asian firms would you believe are jumping up-and-down to impliment a lockin-microsoft solution at this point in the game? not many that I know of. Many US organizations are b ecoming more scheptical as well. Possibly because they have found they are tired of being ass-rammed by security/quality issues that come as a concequence of those decisions.

      Microsoft made a mistake not launching a Java alternative early on, but like the internet, they are late to the game and will build on other peoples ideas/mistakes.. but I am scheptical that C# is going to knock java into insignificane until there ar eas many options for C# as there are for Java. That means microsoft letting go of the control, and frankly.. if you believe that will happen, I have land to sell you in the middle of the Great Salt Lake.

    5. Re:java is dead by Antity-H · · Score: 1
      Java would of been my next choice if we had to suport macs or linux, but we don't.
      Though I like Java very much and would love to be able to agree with you, it must be mentionned that sun doesn't provide a PPC native JVM, and that the other JVM are not as advanced as sun's.
      Therefore the "Write once, run anywhere" credo is pretty flawed when it comes to face the real world. Sun's JVM may run on a PPC in x86 emulated mode but it's slow as hell (A friend of mine, who is a mac user, showed it to me while we were arguing about java)
    6. Re:java is dead by saden1 · · Score: 1

      Hehe. MS JVM died back in 1999 and has nothing to do with J2EE technology. About the only thing that used MS JVM are apps developed using Visual J++.

      --

      -----
      One is born into aristocracy, but mediocrity can only be achieved through hard work.
    7. Re:java is dead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      LongHorn my ass. If you know anything about enterprise applications and building systems that have to support a significant number of concurrent users, you would have first hand experience seeing SQL Server slow to a crawl. What's worse is for transactional stuff, if it is not processed asynchronously one by one, it pretty much dies. I'm not trolling and this isn't stuff based on what some one else told me. It's from first hand experience benchmarking .NET applications I am actively developing. In fact the scalability factor sucks big time. It's great for small and medium sized companies with less than 200 employees. I know for a fact companies like Fidelity are investing further in J2EE and so are many of the top 20 financial companies on Wall Street. Even chris brumme, who works on .NET CLR admits to the weaknesses of .NET. Java isn't perfect by a long shot, but it is far more mature and scales 10x better than .NET. If you don't believe me, go ask why companies like Merril, Fidelity, Schwab and BOA why they use J2EE on their heavy transaction systems. Also, ask them why they kicked out latent zero, Charles river and other windows Order management systems. Simply put, it blows chunks and scales like crap. These are verifiable facts, not some rumor.

    8. Re:java is dead by chicogeek · · Score: 3, Informative

      "It's from first hand experience benchmarking .NET applications I am actively developing. In fact the scalability factor sucks big time."

      First of all, perhaps you should analyze how you're misusing the framework. I develop an application that is used by 400+ people at one major US entity, it is 100% .NET on the client and SQL Server on the backend. I have had 0 problems with performance on the backend and this app is not only highly-transactional, but also throws an OLAP front-end into the mix. You're obviously doing something wrong if you can't build a scalable enterprise application using .NET and SQL Server. And quoting Brumme like that...no wonder you posted AC. If someone would like to read the Brumme blog, go here. It's all very good information.

    9. Re:java is dead by aricusmaximus · · Score: 1

      Good to hear you're basing an oh-so-informed opinion on second-hand delcarations from your friend.

      Given that there's no apparent Sun JVM for PPC and Apple's JVM seems to be pretty damn close behind Sun's, I do believe you need to do some simple fact-checking before relaying garbage from your friend's mouth to Slashdot.

      Please mod parent down for lack of clue.

    10. Re:java is dead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But tell me what you really feel, Sparky.

    11. Re:java is dead by Antity-H · · Score: 1

      Actually I just checked the sun link you provide and still couldn't find an apparent PPC JVM from sun. I also checked the supported systems page from sun for its JVM and it seems to be confirmed that PPC isn't supported directly from sun.

      As for the Apple JVM, I can't test it directly provided I don't own a mac but, the 1.4.2 JVM offered by Apple is a developer preview. It may be as good and as stable as sun's but there are no warranty about it.

    12. Re:java is dead by leerpm · · Score: 1

      That is because the world has woken up to the fact that writing most applications in managed code (.Net and Java for example) is a good idea. No more buffer overflows, no array out-of-bounds, no crazy user input bringing the whole system down, no more worrying about details of memory management and resource leaks.

      C++ and C should be used only where they are needed. In the kernel of the OS, and in applications that absolutely need to touch to levels below what the OS normally handles, like RDBMS do.

    13. Re:java is dead by leerpm · · Score: 1

      Frankly, I have been burnt by microsoft enough times, that I won't do anything with .NET unless it's a client deployed application that I understand will be limited to a 9x/win2k/XP environment. Java would of been my next choice if we had to suport macs or linux, but we don't.

      There are a lot of good things about .Net that actually made it a decent choice for the server, IF you are a pure-Windows shop already. VS.Net makes building web services and such very, very easy to do. So please do not dismiss .Net as junk relegated to the client only. I will agree it is not as mature as Java, but to deny that it has any advantages over Java is being blind.

      Not all projects are the same, and sometimes it really does make sense to use one tool over another.

    14. Re:java is dead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > LongHorn my ass.

      That about sums up what happens when you commit your business to Microsoft.

      Thanks for the new sig.;-)

    15. Re:java is dead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Forget about performance. Just think about this one: In four years is your .NET app going to need to be rewritten because MS no longer supports the runtime and/or Visual Studio.NET V1? Probably. On the other hand Java will still be supported.

    16. Re:java is dead by Pengo · · Score: 1

      Very true not all projects are the same. But, i said that for (i try not to make ubiquitous statements for blindly for everyone), but i have found that lockin without an option has been nothing but problems.

      If .NET is a great technology and your entire team knows it, hold onto it. Trust that your single vendor choice will not let you down. Use it on server.. definately use it on the client. On the same note, C# is not 'harder' to learn and use than someone with a decent amount of experience with Java. i would NEVER even consider moving to C# as a platform until there are more commerical choices. (I don't use Tomcat as a app server for example, it's crap.. I use commercial app servers for our cluster...) Anyway, if MS turned out to have a mediocre solution on C#, your technology is bound without a choice.

      If the mistake doesn't have any real concequence, it doesn't matter... for me to make a huge lock-in mistake that leaves the organiation is a vote of lack-of-confidence that would probably cost me my job.

      C# isn't 'crap' on the desktop. We have bet BIG on that horse, and I don't think it's going to let us down.

      Cheers

  3. THIS SHIT LOOKS NICE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0



    I love java, but I'm sick of compiling .jar files from the fucking command line.

    This shit looks nice.

    1. Re:THIS SHIT LOOKS NICE by saden1 · · Score: 1

      Get Eclipse IDE, it will do it for you. All you have to do is right-click on your source package, select export then Jar files. Then you'll get a nice GUI wizard that will walk you through the creation of jar files and then do it for you.

      --

      -----
      One is born into aristocracy, but mediocrity can only be achieved through hard work.
  4. w0w by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    j00 r teh 1nf0r/\/\471v0
  5. Open Source base kept secret by bartash · · Score: 4, Informative

    Rave is based on NetBeans technology but they don't mention that in the article.

    --
    Read Epic the first RPG novel.
    1. Re:Open Source base kept secret by Pengo · · Score: 1

      Personally I think netbeans is best kept a secret. It's Java's attempt at being emacs for all I can tell. I find myself to be MUCH more productive with Eclipse or IDEA.

    2. Re:Open Source base kept secret by joshsnow · · Score: 1

      Rave is based on NetBeans technology but they don't mention that in the article.

      Actually, there's a sidebar titled "Enabling technologies" which lists netbeans as one of the enablers.

      However, the importance of this tool isn't in the netbeans base, it's in the integration of the server side J2EE tech etc.

    3. Re:Open Source base kept secret by eddy+the+lip · · Score: 1

      It looks like I'm going to be getting into the Java game very soon (and really looking forward to it - I've been wanting to find an excuse to put the time into it). I haven't looked at Java IDEs since NetBeans way back (just pre J2EE, if I recall). Anyway, I'm looking for an IDE I can love, having been generally skeptical of them. I've used emacs or vim for almost everything.

      What would be ideal is something that plays extra-nice with JBoss and won't get in my way, which is my usual complaint with IDEs. I'm leaning toward Eclipse with the JBoss plugins, but I'm curious to know what others think. Anyone care to recommend their favorite?

      --

      This is the voice of World Control. I bring you Peace.

    4. Re:Open Source base kept secret by aled · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Use whatever you like best and you can pay (Netbeans, Jbuilder, idea, eclipse, vim, emacs, notepad, command line, etc).
      No IDE is the best, they all have their woes.

      --

      "I think this line is mostly filler"
  6. What Rave is really by adamy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Is a drag and drop editor for Java Server Faces.

    THey are doing a Direct To DB binding as well.

    Something like this has been neede for a long while, let's just hope that once something is developed in Rave, it can be integrated with other tools (straight Java code) while allowing the people Using Rave to continue to update as well.

    --
    Open Source Identity Management: FreeIPA.org
    1. Re:What Rave is really by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


      How is this different than Borland's JBuilder?

    2. Re:What Rave is really by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yuck, Java Server Faeces.

    3. Re:What Rave is really by saden1 · · Score: 1

      agree...to heavy-wight for my taste.

      --

      -----
      One is born into aristocracy, but mediocrity can only be achieved through hard work.
  7. Hmm.... isn't this J2EE with a new face? by Randolpho · · Score: 0, Redundant

    See the subject. Seriously, what does Project Rave give me that standard J2EE technologies don't already?

    Or are they talking a new IDE? Something to compete with Visual Studio .NET?

    If so, I hope it's not based on NetBeans...

    *shudder*

    --
    "Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
    -Marilyn Manson
  8. At last...? by joshsnow · · Score: 4, Informative

    Could Sun finally have seen the light? Back in 1999, Sun purchased an Enterprise Software company called Forte Software. Forte (not to be confused with the Netbeans rebrand) was an application suite which achieved what J2EE achieves now - but completely painlessly.

    All of the plumbing was hidden from developers, leaving them free to concentrate on business logic. Forte shipped with a complete Application Framework and its own language the Transactional Object Oriented Language(TOOL).

    Basically (to cut a long story short) Java looked as if it had more potential at the time, so Forte was rebranded to Sun ONE Unified Development Server and allowed to wither. It's officially being end-of-lined by Q1 next year.

    The point here is that this Project Rage seems very much like Unified server - but it works in Javaland. It (hopefully) hides all the plumbing of a J2EE application from developers, allowing them to concentrate on business logic. If it's more than Suns version of Eclipse, then it'll certainly be a product to watch. I hope Sun get it right this time and that it's not too late.

    Where this leaves IBM and Weblogic remains to be seen - unless this Rage integrates with their app servers. It ought to - seamlessly of course...
    :)

    1. Re:At last...? by TioHoltzman · · Score: 4, Interesting

      You, my friend, have obviously never had the "pleasure" of working with Forte. I had the utterly miserable misfortune to spend a year on an all forte project at a large US Tire company from the very begining to the intial deployment of the software to the users.

      And it sucked beyound belief.

      The "IDE" that forte provided was a piece of shit (and that's putting it mildly). It was quirky to develop in, ungodly slow, resource intensive, brain dead peice of heaping crap.

      Our CS intern that we got on the project quickly renamed the the language to Forte Objected Oriented Langauge (FOOL).

      Deploying to 5, that's right folks, 5 machines was an utter nightmare, and took 3 of us to keep it going.

      On the other hand you could partition the application to run on different machines. Useful of course, when the application actually ran.

      From a language standpoint, the "plumbing" was indeed hidden from you. It was absurdly easy to talk to objects cross process or cross machines.

      The problem was everything else was an amateurish piece of shit that rarely worked the way Forte claimed it did. And we had a consultant working with us to iron out all the problems (at $250 an hour, thank you very much).

      And when we finally got it to run, the app ran SO slowly, that he had to hand massage the generated C++ (TOOL/FOOL doesn't itself get compiled - it generated C++ which was then compiled) and add a whole bunch of custom stuff, of course none of this was explained or documented, it Just Worked (well sort of - by the time I left the project, the users HATED the app so much because it was clunky and slow, that they never really used it - it was faster to calculate the retirement calcs by hand than to deal with the app).

      So, yeah, Forte was a real good platform to base stuff off of.



      Pfft!
  9. Java IDE? by mabster · · Score: 1

    I don't get it. What does this one have that JBuilder hasn't had for about five years? Or am I missing something?

  10. Licensing Plans? by nurb432 · · Score: 1

    Is this to be under a GPL type of license ( or that sun community license thingy ) or will it be 100% commercial and priced out of reach of us amateurs?

    They opened Netbeans when they bought it.. Speaking of which, i suppose this means the death of sun contributed items to NB.

    Id like to see something like this for Python personally as current python IDE's are dismal.... But at least java is platform independent so its still potentially cool...

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
    1. Re:Licensing Plans? by leerpm · · Score: 1

      I doubt it will be free. But hopefully they do not make it $1000/seat, and relegate the tool to the dustpin. If they charge around $100-$150, and the tool works I can see it becoming very popular.

  11. umm, except not by RevAaron · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This doesn't look like it'll be replacing .NET or VB anytime soon. It looks like an IDE for JSP-based sites, not something that will replace VB as a quick-n-dirty IDE for end-user apps nor will it be anything like .NET, which goes far beyond one language and one way of doing things, as Java+Sun provide.

    But then again, it's not out, I've not used it, so I can't say that for sure. It looks like an equivalent to an ASP-builder, which can use VBScript.

    Java the language could not simply out-VB VB. The language itself is too complicated in ways that will not be solved by a GUI builder. Java could be used as the platform for a language and IDE akin to VB, but taking Java the language and adding an IDE will not make many VB coders productive without doing all the learning of Java that any other Java coder has gone through.

    --

    Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
    1. Re:umm, except not by leerpm · · Score: 1

      Yes, it looks like it is tailored to building web applications and web services. Though with the current direction of the industry, I think more and more applications are being pushed to the web, instead of being fat-client/server applicatons. At least the smaller type projects that this tool is targetting.

      I also agree that Java is a more complicated language, and so it will hinder being able to do some things in the GUI builder. However VB.Net has gotten much more complex than VB 6, and so the differences and gap in 'ease-of-use' have become smaller.

  12. Your sig by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    "When I grow up, I want to be a weirdo."

    Congradulations. You've succeeded.

  13. Eclipse is pretty solid by jtheory · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I've been using Eclipse for about a year for some large J2EE projects, and I've been very happy with it. I had been using JBuilder since version 2 (!), and switched over when the price suddenly became an issue (my employer folded). I've really come to depend on the refactoring support, which is why I can never understand the diehards who refuse to use an IDE.... I always use the latest milestone release (they've all been very stable). IDEA is also well-known as a good refactoring IDE, though I haven't used it due to the price. I tried out NetBeans some time ago (2-3 years ago?) and wasn't fond of it, though I haven't been back to re-evaluate it.

    One thing -- if you ever need to get into building Java GUIs, JBuilder still has the best RAD GUI designer that I've seen, in terms of generating sensible code that you can tweak by hand (within limits), and then use the designer again. GridBagLayout code was never intended to be hand-written! I don't spend much time with Java GUIs anymore, but when I need to I always do the initial cut in JBuilder (the Personal version is free).

    --
    There are only 10 types of people: those who understand decimal, those who don't, and, uh, 8 other types I forget.
    1. Re:Eclipse is pretty solid by eddy+the+lip · · Score: 1

      Thanks for the reply. Refactoring is going to be a major issue on the project I'm looking at (cleaning up offshored code ;) ), so knowing that is very helpful. And it's all server-side, so GUIs aren't an issue for me at this point.

      I've been a die-hard non-IDE type for a long time, although I like to keep my options open and revisit the state of IDEs fairly often. It's looking like some features of IDEs (managing project files, for example) are going to be helpful enough on this one that I can move away from my beloved vim for some things at least. Although if I can get vim keybindings, too, I'll be really happy. Hell, I have a nasty tendency to send emails that end in :wq.

      --

      This is the voice of World Control. I bring you Peace.

    2. Re:Eclipse is pretty solid by ProfKyne · · Score: 1

      I used Eclipse at my last job, but now I'm fortunate enough to be using WebSphere Studio Application Developer, which is essentially Eclipse on steroids -- same core technology, but far more features. Anyway, the point wasn't to gloat about WSAD but to support the OP who said that the refactoring support is incredible -- in fact, I really can't imagine working on a large code base without it, now that I've become addicted to its convenience and ease of use. Even something as simple as "rename", no global search and replace can touch the speed, reliability, and convenience with which I reassign better names to locals, members, and classes.

      And the refactoring features are all present in the free Eclipse 2.0, so you don't need to pay the primo dollars for WSAD if refactoring ease is your main attraction to an IDE.

      --
      "First you gotta do the truffle shuffle."
  14. Eclipse + MyEclipse by LauraW · · Score: 2, Informative

    For J2EE, try Eclipse plus the "MyEclipse Enterprise Workbench" plugins. They do a pretty good job of integrating lots of other open-source J2EE plugins into something that's easy to maintain. And at $30/year it's hard to beat.

    1. Re:Eclipse + MyEclipse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Wow, thanks for that link. I visited their website and found a feature list:

      Web Development Tools
      • Smart editors with code completion and syntax coloring: JSP, HTML, XML, CSS, and J2EE deployment descriptors.
      • JSP syntax validation and native JSP debugging - full support for JSR045.
      • Step Through Debuging for Included JSP Files
      • JSP Rendering
      • Support for JSP 2.0 expression language
      • Customizable creation templates for JSP's HTML, XML, Servlets, and Applets.
      • Integrated browser for real-time rendering.
      • XDoclet Support
      Productivity Wizards
      • Creation of Web, EAR and EJB projects.
      • Java Project to Web Project enablements.
      • WAR, JAR and EAR import and export.
      • EJB Wizards
      • Sync-on Demand automated deployment of applications to integrated servers.
      • Archive Based Deployment (EAR & WAR)
      Application Server Integration
      • Over 20 application server connectors including Bejy Tiger, JBoss, Jetty, Jonas, JRun, Oracle,
      • Orion, Resin, Tomcat, WebLogic and WebSphere.
      • Integrated controls for starting, stopping servers.
      • Full hot swap debugging support for deployed applications.
      Packaging and Installation
      • Windows, Linux and Mac OS/X support.
      • Professional installer.
      • Auto update enabled
      • Free online support.
      • Documentation and tutorials.
      (ps. No, I am not affiliated! I just thought if people actually saw that whole list they would be really thankful)
    2. Re:Eclipse + MyEclipse by eddy+the+lip · · Score: 1

      Cool, thanks! That does look like an excellent package. The feature list that AC posted as a response is enough to make me take a serious look at it. Particularly "WAR, JAR and EAR import and export", "Archive Based Deployment" and Jboss support. Handy, indeed.

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  15. 2 years Forte exp? by joshsnow · · Score: 1

    You, my friend, have obviously never had the "pleasure" of working with Forte.

    I have actually - two years worth back in 1997 through 1999 for a CRM company in the UK.

    I agree that by mordern standards the IDE is dated - but I disagree strongly about everything apart from app partitioning being an "amateurish piece of shit". In fact, in my experience, I'd have to say the exact opposite. The whole thing was so tightly integrated that everything just worked.

    Ok, so we ran into some problems with repository corruptions and a few integration issues, but these were easily surmountable in the first instance by making regular backups and usuing a versions of FTEXEC which were known not to have showstopping bugs and in the second by simple management.

    Not sure what your performance issues were, but we quickly discovered that in order to make the app scale to the 200+ desktops it was to run on, we had to implement a seemingly convoluted design pattern using DataFactories, Data Access Controllers and a mechanism for managing the database connections and minimising network traffic.

    We also had to provide object level transaction management - easily impemented using inheiritance and interfaces.

    From what I remember, if the application wasn't designed to be efficient, then you would see problems if you tried to scale it beyond 5 - 10 machines.

    From a language standpoint, the "plumbing" was indeed hidden from you. It was absurdly easy to talk to objects cross process or cross machines

    Exactly. This is the lesson I'm hoping Sun has learned with this Rave product. Unfourtanately, currently, to produce really efficient J2EE apps requires knowledge of how the EJBs etc work.

    BTW, it's nice to meet someone on slashdot who knows that Forte isn't Netbeans!

  16. I agree by hargettp · · Score: 1

    I think we're heading to a world where all kernel-space code (on your favorite kernel) is C/C++, and all user-space code is, as you put it, managed code: VM, .NET, or others (e.g., a good open source Smalltalk VM. Hate to give Microsoft credit, but if they succeed in delivering the vision of Longhorn they recently articulated, then Microsoft may push the industry into this model.

  17. Yeeeehhhhaaaawwww!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > Give me "Project Squaredance" or "Project Hoedown"
    > any day!

    Doesn't this conjure up an image of a bunch of hyperactive code cowboys furiously coding at the keyboard and changing seats every few minutes?

    No thanks. Code cowboys can really mess up a team, and hyperactive hypercaffienated programmers can drive you *CRAZY* changing arguing and changing subjects every few seconds before you have time to respond.

    No thanks. Give me a nice boring "Project Rhumba" or "Project Salsa" or even "Project Disco" any day!

    1. Re:Yeeeehhhhaaaawwww!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Give me a nice boring "Project Rhumba" or
      > "Project Salsa" or even "Project Disco" any day!

      I vote for "Project Disco".

      My boss "Does the hustle" trying to get us to work 14 hour days in this "Disco Inferno" where I work. We stay because we have to be "Staying Alive" earning "Money, Money, Money". But we're "Super Trouper"s so "I will survive".

  18. Yeah, but it could be a good next step by CarrionBird · · Score: 1
    .. for VB coders to make the jump to the OOP way of doing things. VB 6 coders are in a spot where they must choose among new platforms, none of which (even VB.net) is a small learning curve.

    One of the biggest reasons new programmers get hooked on VB is the ease of doing GUIs (while most other languages you are exposed to in school make GUIs look like some kind of spanish inquisition), if you can replicate that expierence in a more robust language, then you'll see VB dropped like a plague ridden swamp rat carcass.

    Fortunately I had a Java teacher that made it a point to show us how non-impossible GUI programming can be. But in almost every other langauge I was taught, it was all CLI based examples. You may have seen one example of a windows app, but the subject was kept out of scope.

    But when you start looking at VB, right away you are making things that are more like real programs than "hello world" examples. It seems to me that there's no reason that in the world of resuable code that a similar expierence could not be produced using true OOP languages.

    I was hopeing for something like that when I picked up MS C++ .net, and found just another iteration of the same interface.
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