Jacob Hookom's Blog

RIA - Why can't any of them work?

AJAX/HTML - On one hand, I've grown a new appreciation for the platform. It forces you to keep things simple for users and working directly with the full Java stack on the server is a bonus for maintenance and monitor-ability. The problem when you look at doing anything worthy of ooh's and aah's is that AJAX/HTML and browser dependencies must always be coded for the lowest common denominator and whatever faults it presents. I'm consistently amazed at widget libraries like ext-js, but find some people's browsers struggle through much more basic content. Lastly, I doubt you could simply populate some of these widgets with large sets of data and expect usable performance.

Flex/AIR - I've fallen in love with the markup based solution and the desktop deployment-- but why does Adobe torture me and place my app in a glass cage? The limited API and the initial security policies for the platform present a doubtful outlook for anyone attempting to do anything but create a fancy web page. Yes there's file system support, but please, at least allow us to create modules in native (C++) code if Adobe's not going to provide the feature out of the box (specifically thinking of device connectivity).

Java WebStart/JavaFX - Today I went to Java.com, hoping to see some examples of Java WebStart, after all, I've heard a bit on JavaScript/deployment issues. Of course, I was rewarded with about five JavaScript errors when I loaded Java.com-- lovely. What can I say about JavaFX now? While I liked programming in Lisp in college, I don't care to write:{my:[{UI:'s'}, in:it]}.

Comments

• Your C++ asking is a bit strange to me. You're comparing apples and oranges here. Flex and AIR is not the same. And when you talk about *desktop* technology, where's Eclipse RCP resp. Netbeans RCP in your comparison? Would be better to compare browser-based (AJAX/HTML, Flex) separated from desktop-based (AIR, Eclipse RCP, Netbeans RCP, Web Start) here.

  Posted by: rainwebs on October 10, 2007 at 12:51 AM

• Hi Jacob, have you looked at OpenLaszlo, that's a markup based solution with kick-ass data binding ... and it renders to Ajax/HTML and Flash. I really like it.

  Posted by: gbevin on October 10, 2007 at 01:59 AM

• Maybe the browser isn't the right answer for every problem.

  Posted by: alxs on October 10, 2007 at 03:59 AM

• 
  For AJAX/HTML see ZK Framework

  
  While I would be nervous about implementing a large scale transaction based system with it (scalability issues), for Intranet applications it is perfect and it works.

  
  P.S. JSF could learn an awful lot about ease of use from the ZK Framework, and alot about integrating fairly easily with other frameworks.
  

  Posted by: drichm on November 05, 2007 at 11:04 PM

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.