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SWT: I Still Don't Get It

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Danno Ferrin

Posts: 39
Nickname: shemnon
Registered: Jun, 2003

Danno Ferrin isn't the worst speler you've met, but he's not the best either.
SWT: I Still Don't Get It Posted: Jul 29, 2003 9:00 PM
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Original Post: SWT: I Still Don't Get It
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The lone programmer blogged about my old entry on SWT claims referring to it as a "short critique." I think he was being kind, it was a rant all the way. But his entry reminded me of the old saying "If all you have is a screwdriver everything looks like a screw."

I find it kind of funny that he almost admits that SWT sucks on GTK and Mac OS right now. And then he continues to defend the native widgets of SWT by saying it grants "consistency between the apps on a particular platform." News flash: SWT widgets are normalized across platforms just like swing widgets are. And swing provides the same native client look. Have you seen the new XP look and feel in JDK 1.4.2? It looks just like windows themes, and it even keeps up with arbitrary changes. Why? It gets it's UI painting resources from the native OS DLLs. That's one big reason you won't see it do XP on Win2K, the theme information Java needs isn't in Win2K. With SWT you do get native widgets, complete with slow table re-draws.

But this brings me back to my screwdriver argument. If you want native cool thingies like Mac OS dock integration, sliding accessory windows, windows notificaitons, balloon help, Linux GNOME panel integration, etc. etc. Use the right language! (or at the very least the right APIs). You want all those slick dock integration APIs? Use Objectve C and the Coca APIs. You want Gnome panel integration? Use the Gnome APIs in their particualr language (C, Python, Perl, or Java-GNOME) . You want neeto-skeeto integration with Longhorn? Use C# (but that may make you part of the problem). Just because it can be approximated in Java dosen't mean that you have to use Java! Use the right language for the task. If platform specific features are essential to the user experience use the tools designed to deliver that integration.

Jeez, it seems that Java is a religion. I just hope that they don't start refering to people at java conferences as "the faithful."

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