Java was actually the first language I learned, but once I got into C I pretty much dropped Java. I''ve been current with the changes from version to version, but haven''t produced anything with it in a while. Now, in order to have some things for people to do on my website, I''m preparing to go back to it again to code up some applet games.

the JNI improves performance doesn''t it?

I wish there was a button on my monitor to turn up the intellegince.
Theres a button called 'brightness' but it doesn't work

Archigamer (I always read your name as ARCHIMAGER)-

JNI can improve performance if used properly. For example, if you wanted to write a JNI interface to, say, DirectDraw, then the chances are that your graphics code will be faster. On the other hand, if you were interfacing JNI with DirectX through another lib like Allegro, now you're dealing with sheer slowness (this from experience).

Also there are other things to consider. Some of the latest compilers have imporved the performance of pure java quite a bit. JDK1.3 javac is much better than the older versions. It's possible that you won't see much of a difference between JNI-enabled apps and Pure Java these days, and even less in the future.

Edited by - Aldacron on September 24, 2000 8:41:19 PM

Edited by - Aldacron on September 24, 2000 8:41:53 PM

I learned Java because it was mandated for a project I was working on almost 4 years ago. Since then, I''ve programmed almost exclusively in Java.

Before Java though, I started out in the early 80''s in BASIC, FORTRAN and Pascal, then spent about 10 years programming exclusively in C, followed by a very brief stint of C++ and then Java.

Java''s by far my favorite programming language -- the syntax is clean, it''s easy to read, and easy to manage, but the best thing about Java is all the API''s.

- JavaDoc -- an excellent tool.
- Java2D -- wonderful 2D graphics library that depending on your platform is actually hardware accelerated
- JavaBeans -- well I suppose my favorite thing about these is ease of introspection. It''s a piece of cake to discover the bean''s properties and their set/get methods.
- EJB''s -- the most amazing, incredible and useful technology I''ve encountered in 21 years of programming. jBoss rules! B-)
- Swing -- a very comprehensive set of GUI components. While it''s still got some bugs, it is very nice, and PLAF is great.

I could go on & on. Every day I find out more cool things about Java and its API''s. And Java is constantly improving too, in terms of the language, API''s, tools, and performance.

I use Java because it took care of a lot of things that really annoyed me when using C++ and it also forces you to program in "good style". I learned the basics a year ago so I could try making applets for websites, then dropped it for a while. Only recently I''ve been investigating more of the GUI stuff and making applications. I''ve also been reading the online book "Thinking in Java" by Bruce Eckel (http://www.bruceeckel.com) which has been very helpful.

- Daniel
VG Games

I don''t have any experience with java;
I haven''t haven''t had much experience with java applets, because I avoid them like old vb code.

The little experience i do have with applets is novell''s new set of programs to setup and configure thier netware 5 nos. They are the worst excuse for software I have ever seen. It is painful to run those crappy apps; like word on a dx33 w/win311.
They crash a lot too.

Are all complex java apps that bad? I''ve seen applets that didn''t suck too bad, but not programs

Java can handle very complex programs without to much of a problem take "forte" for example that is complex if you ask me and its smooth if you have the system requirements or swap file advantages.

I wish there was a button on my monitor to turn up the intellegince.
Theres a button called 'brightness' but it doesn't work