Java FX! why?

[palla sridhar]

Hello Jim Clarke, Jim Connors & Eric J. Bruno,
Nice to see your offer on Java Fx. I heard so much about this Java FX lately and would like to know all the hype about it.
When did Java FX start?
What is the learning curve for java, JSP, JDBC and JEE professionals?
what is the basic skill required to understand your book? Is it for developers or can anybody without experience in Java FX read it?
what are the employment oppurtunites in this technology?
what are the alternative to Java Fx?
How can we integrate this technology with legacy systems?

[MG]Please avoid unnecessary use of emotcons

[Jim Clarke]

When did Java FX start?
Chris Oliver, from Sun, started it almost 3 years ago when he posted a blog on a concept of his called F3, and posted the scripting language for download. It made a big splash at JavaONE, and Sun quickly jumped on board. Over the three years, it has morphed and grown into what you have today and Sun is solidly behind it.

What is the learning curve for java, JSP, JDBC and JEE professionals?
JavaFX is much, much, and did I say much, easier to learn than Java Swing. If you have a Java background, I would think you could pick it up very easily.

what is the basic skill required to understand your book? Is it for developers or can anybody without experience in Java FX read it?
I think any one could pick it up. In fact, I worked with a Rock musician who had no Computer Science background, and he wrote a cool JavaFX jukebox application in 2 months.

what are the employment oppurtunites in this technology?
I really don't know yet. It is still relatively new, but it is gaining traction.

what are the alternative to Java Fx?
Flex and Silverlight.

How can we integrate this technology with legacy systems?
If you have existing Java jars just include them in your JavaFX project. The Sudoku application in the book leverages an open source Java project for creating the puzzles. If you have an existing Swing component, you can include it with the javafx.ext.swing.SwingComponent.wrap() function.
There is a way to include a JavaFX window in an existing Swing app, but it used private APIs and may need to be changed with future releases of JavaFX.