For similar reasons it is much easier to develop applications with Java than
with C++.  It can be a major pain to get a set of C++ libraries to compile
and link together... Were they all compiled with exception support?  Are
they COFF or ELF or XXX?  Are they all thread safe?  Which thread API do
they use?  How ANSI compliant are the headers?  Oh no, they named their
widget with the same name as our giget.  Why or why didn't they use
namespaces?  Oops another Microsoft non-standard extension.  Do they use the
same name mangling scheme?  Which version of GCC were they compiled with.
Which version of the GNU runtime libraries work with this compiler?  Oh you
mean I have to download this patch from Oogle's site in order to make GCC
4.5 work with Kobop's libraries?  Template friends have not yet been
implemeted in this compiler.  I could continue for your viewing pleasure,
but I must run.

Mike

> -----Original Message-----
> From: tclug-list-admin at mn-linux.org
> [mailto:tclug-list-admin at mn-linux.org]On Behalf Of Ben Lutgens
> Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2001 9:26 AM
> To: tclug-list at mn-linux.org
> Subject: [TCLUG] Java Ain't so bad. WAS: Hello, I broke startx
>
>
> On Mon, Sep 24, 2001 at 11:01:18PM -0500, Florin Iucha wrote:
> >On Mon, Sep 24, 2001 at 10:04:42PM -0500, Jared Burns wrote:
> >I would love a decent classbrowser and an embedded vim. Just
> don't do it in
> >java, ok?
> >
> I used to complain about java too. But then I was forced to install some
> java stuff that used java2. I realized that I needed to be more familiar
> with the care and feeding of java setups so I decided to install the jdk
> and get some apps.
>
> Since undertaking this trip into curiosity, i've come to the conclusion
> that I'd rather use a java app than some gnome or kde based apps. I know
> that it's not comparing apples to apples. But lets take for instance
> accounting software. I wanted a nice GUI based checkbook register
> with some
> added features. I looked to GNUCash. As I am installing GNUCash I noticed
> it depends on all sorts of shit like guppi, gtkhtml, libxml2, gnumeric and
> a whole host of other stuff. While I understand the benefits of the DLL
> hell that the gnome and kde projects have plunged into from a programmers
> point of view, for the guy who just wants one or two gnome / kde
> based apps
> it just sucks.
>
> Then I found moneydance. Installing it was as simple as utarring it to
> /usr/local and running the damn thing. If you chose not to instlal the JDK
> itself you could download a larger tarball that has it all and
> you're done.
>
> Sure it takes a while to startup, and each new app requires
> another JVM but
> hey, RAM is cheap these days. And the apps work great.
>
> So all in all I've decided java's not so bad. In fact, i've even taken to
> trying to learn how to write a little java and I've found I kinda like it.
> It's a good vehicle for a non-programmer like me to try and learn a little
> bit about programming.
>
>
> --
> Ben Lutgens
> Sistina Software Inc.
>
> "In the war against terrorism, there are no rear lines. We're all on the
> front lines" - William Cohen
>