GUI Development?

I've heard that both applets and swing are bad for applications...are these the only two options when it comes to GUI in Java?

Also, if I have heard wrong - can someone give me the scoop?

I've heard that both applets and swing are bad for applications...

What do you mean by "bad"? Swing works well for many folks. Care to back this statement up with any published reports?

are these the only two options when it comes to GUI in Java?

What are you trying to accomplish? Create a GUI that can run on many different platforms? I can't think of many libraries better than Swing for this. If you have other design purposes such as smart phone apps, android apps, ... etc, you'll need to let folks know as different requirements will mean different tools.

I have no resources, no. Just what high level Java devs have told me. I get on IRC a lot and a lot of the channels are hell bent on not using Swing and Applets.

Right now I'm not trying to accomplish anything, I was just wondering. Isn't Eclipse written in Java? That's pretty sophisticated stuff right there. Is that Swing?

mike arnold wrote:Right now I'm not trying to accomplish anything, I was just wondering. Isn't Eclipse written in Java? That's pretty sophisticated stuff right there. Is that Swing?

There are plenty of GUI applications in Swing, that proves that it is a viable API for GUI development.

However, eclipse is not really one of them. IBM decided to create their own GUI API, aka SWT...

http://www.eclipse.org/swt/

for which eclipse is based on.

Henry

mike arnold wrote:I have no resources, no. Just what high level Java devs have told me. I get on IRC a lot and a lot of the channels are hell bent on not using Swing and Applets.

I wouldn't worry about anyone that is "hell bent" on anything. Good programmers know lots of stuff, including many different GUI APIs.

Henry

Thank you Henry.

Some people don't like Swing because they don't actually *know* Swing, and are incapable of writing good, effective Swing apps. Swing is actually pretty good, and has held up well over the years. The current Swing API also provides a lot of helpers for things that used to have to be done manually, and often wasn't done correctly, leading to a misperception of Swing's capabilities.

So when people tell me that Swing sucks, I ask them why; they're almost *always* wrong.

I always equate someone saying 'technology X sucks' to someone saying "Hammers are bad - you should NEVER use a hammer".

Hammers ARE bad...if you're trying to cut a board. But they're great for driving nails!!!

Someone who says "Swing is bad" is either not using it how it should be used, doesn't understand what it is/isn't good for, or probably both.

When I worked in a scene shop, the boss always said "Use the right tool for the right job". That's just as true in software development as anywhere else.