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Loco Pollo - 05 Jan 2004 20:37 GMT

i've just started learning java (mostly used VB til now).

just wanted to get some personal opinions on the best tool. i've heard
of symantec's java cafe and a couple of others but beans was free and
so far it seems okay (tho nowhere as simple to learn and use as VB
imho).

any input would be appreciated.

links to tutorials you found helpful would also be appreciated.

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Kristoffel - 05 Jan 2004 20:47 GMT

> i've just started learning java (mostly used VB til now).
>
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>
> any input would be appreciated.

eclipse (http://www.eclipse.org) is also free, and it is very powerfull
in combination with plugins like eclipseUML.

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Loco Pollo - 06 Jan 2004 17:23 GMT

> > i've just started learning java (mostly used VB til now).
> >
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> eclipse (http://www.eclipse.org) is also free, and it is very powerfull
> in combination with plugins like eclipseUML.

so whats the run down on the most popular java developement
environment? what do most people use?

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Tim Ward - 06 Jan 2004 09:59 GMT

> i've just started learning java (mostly used VB til now).
>
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>
> any input would be appreciated.

If you're used to VB you'll find Netbeans slow and buggy and lacking obvious
features. And slow. And also it's not very fast.

--
Tim Ward
Brett Ward Limited - www.brettward.co.uk

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Loco Pollo - 06 Jan 2004 17:22 GMT

> > i've just started learning java (mostly used VB til now).
> >
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> If you're used to VB you'll find Netbeans slow and buggy and lacking obvious
> features. And slow. And also it's not very fast.

yeah i agree but.. threading + cross platform compatibility. VB rocks
for makin stuff fast quick and easy but it's limitations are gettin to
me.

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Karl von Laudermann - 06 Jan 2004 15:06 GMT

> i've just started learning java (mostly used VB til now).
>
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>
> links to tutorials you found helpful would also be appreciated.

Borland JBuilder is a very user friendly IDE, and I believe the
Personal Edition is free.

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David Segall - 06 Jan 2004 17:01 GMT

>i've just started learning java (mostly used VB til now).
>
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>
>any input would be appreciated.

I also came to Java from VB and was disconcerted by having a choice of
IDE's. Because of my VB background I insisted on a "what you see is
what you get" editor for graphical user interface development.

I settled on Netbeans (www.netbeans.org) because it is free and Open
Source. NetBeans also provides the beans for you to use if your own
application is similar to an IDE. I bought the excellent
reference/tutorial (http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/netbeans/) but the
"beta version" is available for free download from
http://www.netbeans.org/download/books/definitive-guide/index.html.

Borland JBuilder Foundation
(http://www.borland.com/jbuilder/foundation/) is also a free download.
It is the entry level JBuilder but it is probably the closest to
Visual Basic so it may be easier to learn than NetBeans. Oracle's
JDeveloper (http://otn.oracle.com/products/jdev/content.html) is a
free download but the license severely restricts what you can do with
programs you write if you do not pay for it. JDeveloper would win on a
feature comparison and it may be the best choice if you are learning
"enterprise level" Java. It comes with some data bound widgets similar
to those available in VB.

There are two other IDE's that I should mention because they have
passionate proponents in this group and I may save them the trouble of
a follow up.

Eclipse (www.eclipse.org) is popular and Open Source but does not have
a built-in GUI builder. There are free plug-ins like
http://www.assisiplugins.com/index_start.html and
http://www.eclipse.org/vep/ for the purpose but I don't think they are
ready yet. IBM's Websphere Studio Application Developer
(http://www-3.ibm.com/software/awdtools/studioappdev/), which is based
on Eclipse, fixes the problem. Websphere is not free but a sixty day
trial is available.

Intellij Idea (http://www.intellij.com/idea/) is not free and does not
have a GUI developer although they are promising one in the next
version. It is much loved by many capable Java developers who say that
it is simple, fast and provides all the features they need in an IDE.

>links to tutorials you found helpful would also be appreciated.

If you are writing GUIs then you probably need to learn Swing. I found
Swing Second Edition (http://www.manning.com/robinson2/) very useful
and I prefer to have it as a book. Manning seem to have removed the
free download of the first edition from their web site but it is still
available from http://custom.lab.unb.br/pub/books/manning.com/sbe/.

I have not tried it but Sun offers free web based training for Sun One
Studio 4 Comunity Edition
(http://training.sun.com/US/catalog/web_based/wlcsundev_live.html).
Sun One is based on, and very similar to, NetBeans. Studio 4 CE is
free and can be downloaded from
http://jsecom16d.sun.com/ECom/EComActionServlet?StoreId=8&PartDetailId=FJCI9-401
-TL9M&TransactionId=try&LMLoadBalanced=.
It has been superseded by Studio 5.

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Loco Pollo - 07 Jan 2004 15:55 GMT

exactly what i was lookin for on a silver platter. thanx!!!

> >i've just started learning java (mostly used VB til now).
> >
[quoted text clipped - 58 lines]
> http://jsecom16d.sun.com/ECom/EComActionServlet?StoreId=8&PartDetailId=FJCI9-401
-TL9M&TransactionId=try&LMLoadBalanced=.
> It has been superseded by Studio 5.

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