The Artima Developer Community
Sponsored Link

Legacy Java Answers Forum
November 2000

Advertisement

Advertisement

This page contains an archived post to the Java Answers Forum made prior to February 25, 2002. If you wish to participate in discussions, please visit the new Artima Forums.

Message:

JBuilder vs VA

Posted by Cristian on October 24, 2001 at 4:09 PM

I haven't seen any article on this subject, but I am researching. The main difference I see between JBuilder 5 and Visual Age 3.5 are the following (That I can see):

1) Visual Age compiles the classes every time you load them in the IDE. As soon as you finish writting a method Visual Age will compile it. In contrast JBuilder will only compile when you say 'Compile', or 'Run'. Consequences:
-In JBuilder you can load classes much faster than in VA.
-In JBuilder you can't run your server or application unless everything compiles (Even the code you are not really using)
-In VA you can test areas of your code that compile, even though other sections of the code are not compiling. This is great for large projects with a lot of people involved.

2) Visual Age is much better for debugging reasons.
-In VA you can change the code at run time and re-test on the fly without re-starting the application.
-In VA you can always inspect the values of variables - this is not always possible in JBuilder.

3) Visual Age has some bugs that are really bothering, but once learned VA is a worthwhile tool. These bugs give VA a steep learning curve.

4) VA is more propertary (Is this a word?) I mean, it is not as open to changes as JBuilder. For example, it is a little behind in JDKs, and doesn't allow integration to WebLogic (big app server).

I hope this helps.

Cristian





Replies:

Sponsored Links



Google
  Web Artima.com   
Copyright © 1996-2009 Artima, Inc. All Rights Reserved. - Privacy Policy - Terms of Use - Advertise with Us