Thursday, May 31, 2007

WebBrowser + Embedded WebServer + Embedded DataBase = Google Gears

Hi!

Today I found out about a new Google project, Google Gears... a new browser plugin... that adds an SQL database and a local, only for that browser on that machine "Web Server" (oh, and an external WorkerPool for threaded asynchronous proceseses)...

So... now the that WebBrowser has an SQL database... a Worker Pool ... and a WebServer... it can run disconnected applications... you can save you emails locally... or your blog entries... or your RSS (I believe that is what google reader does)... WebApplications are now... Desktop applications... (or RIAs as they are called now).

So... now... what is the real advantage of  a RIAG (a RIA with "Google Gears") vs a Desktop App? Well, lets look at its features.. the RIAG... is slower (interpreted)... needs a plugin like Flash to do  real graphical stuff... it can't access anywhere on disk  (we could say it has its own SQL based filesystem)... therefore it is still not better for graphically intensive applications (I don't see a Photoshop or 3dStudio killer in the near future) ...  but could be a nice idea for desktop like stuff (for example a disconnected mail reader, or perhaps even a disconnected wiki). But wait... we already have disconnected mail readers...  (well, but they are not multiplatform.... mmmm... wait, Thunderbird IS multiplatform... and of course we have Java to create those multiplaform mail readers if we need to do so)... okay, but we can create a multiplatform Office like system (yes, a revolutionary idea... wait... what about OpenOffice?) and of course building an Office in a technology like JavaScript will make it really fast in standard hardware (like the very successful Java Office built by Corel a few years ago... wait... never heard of it? mmm, maybe it wasn't that successful... I wonder if that was because Java was really slow on hardware back then... )

Of course... none of that is going to stop Google Gears... people are just hypnotized with building stuff in the "web way" (even if can be done easier on the Desktop)... the way I see it.. with all this stuff, as the "thin client" of the WebBrowser becomes a "rich client" it is also gaining weight, becoming fat, becoming a fat client... so... by this logic... adding a plugin to all available browsers... it is better than a Java applet... but I can't find a logical reason for that... the new RIAs are just applications that use the browsers as the platform.... the  difference with windows applications? that there are many different browsers following the HTML/JavaScript standard, and only 1 windows (of course every browser follows the standard on its own particular way)... the difference with Java? (there isn't, but RIAs are slower... and sliced in pages... that seem to be faster to download... but in fact they consume even more bandwidth than classic fat clients with their proprietary binary protocols ), perhaps the key here is the "openness" of HTML & XML and JSON as protocols for communication (but that can also be done in Java, or in .NET & Mono)

So...  I just don't get it... what it is so great about adding a database plugin to the browser? by following this path all that we are doing is reinventing the wheel (everything that can already be done outside the browser is being re-built inside it... until RIAs become as Fat as Fat-Clients... and then someone else invents the new Thin-Client... and the story repeats again).

I guess the software industry is really, really iterative... we need to go back to an re-try stuff from the previous iteration... to realize it wasn't such a bad idea... enhance that idea... and from there, realize that the idea from 2 iterations ago, was the solution for the drawbacks of our current problems...

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Project OpenJFX

Java counterattacks? The other day I posted that Silverlight and Flash might be going to kill Java... well Java is figting back:

JavaFX is a new family of Sun products based on Java technology and targeted at the high impact, rich content market.

JavaFX Script is a highly productive scripting language that enables content developers to create rich media and content for deployment on Java environments. JavaFX Script is a declarative, statically typed programming language. It has first-class functions, declarative syntax, list-comprehensions, and incremental dependency-based evaluation. It can make direct calls to Java APIs that are on the platform. Since JavaFX Script is statically typed, it has the same code structuring, reuse, and encapsulation features (such as packages, classes, inheritance, and separate compilation and deployment units) that make it possible to create and maintain very large programs using Java technology. See the FAQ for more information.

I am very impressed with the demos in the site, and the way less verbose way to describe interfaces (when compared with traditional Java Swing code, and I am thinking it could even be a threath for XAML & XML, some people on the net believe that XML is the poor man's parser, and that it is being overutilized to create stuff that should be implemented as an specific language... well, JavaFX is not XML... is this the start of a new trend?), I was also very exited to see how easy is to add animation to Java 2D application with this new API (everything that can be done with Flash will be possible... and maybe even more...). Now... the question are:

  • Will Sun release a "UI Designers Pack" for Netbeans that will be pretty much something like Microsoft Expressions for Java?
  • Could OpenJFX be adopted by projects like OpenLaszlo?
  • Is using JavaScript like languages the new trend?
  • Will JSON stuff become the new poor man's parser?

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Eclipse... Is NOT an IDE

Okay... have been trying to use Eclipse 3.2 like an IDE all week... that failed miserably...

  • VisualStudio.NET is an IDE
  • Borland Developer Studio is an IDE
  • NetBeans is an IDE
  • IntelliJ is an IDE
  • FlexBuilder (an Eclipse plugin) is an IDE
  • JBuilder (an Eclipse plugin) is an IDE

But... Eclipse... Eclipse... is a PE... "Plug Environment", NOT an IDE: Integrated Development Environment.

After you add JDT to it can be considered an IDE... if you only build Console tools (command line applications) but, if you want to build anything more complex than that... then  JDT  is a very limited IDE.

Yes, you can add lots of plugins to Eclipse... and make it become JBuilder... (like Borland did or as Macromedia did with FlexBuilder), but the thing is, that it is JBuilder (the plugin) the thing that IS the IDE, Eclipse is just the PLATFORM for the IDE..., saying that Eclipse is an IDE it is like saying that Windows is word processor... or graphic design application... or why not, Windows is a IDE! (Of course, that is crazy... well saying that Eclipse is an IDE is crazy... comparing it to any real IDE is crazy...) Eclipse is a PLATFORM, and you can build an IDE on top of that, but, the quality (and INTEGRATION) of the free available plugins in Eclipse Callipso,  in my opinion is not enough to call it an IDE

Netbeans is a great IDE, the best OpenSource IDE for Java for Swing or Web or J2EE applications, Eclipse is NOT and IDE. Period.

(I guess this is my first rant in a blog)