🚀 go-pugleaf

Paul Murray <pmurray@nospam.bigpond.com> wrote in message
news:YABE5.67451$c5.186717@newsfeeds.bigpond.com...
> "Doug Rickard" <rickard@primus.com.au> wrote in message
> news:39e1b447@news.iprimus.com.au...

> Well, I think Java is wonderful, so I'll take moment to advocate it. I
> regret frigtening you off, if that's what Iv'e done.

Always ready to listen to an informed discussion from someone who knows what
they are talking about..

> As for environment variables - there's ongoing discussion as we speak.
Yes,
> java is still a work in progress. Java has a general config mechanism -
> properties in property files. Environment variables are not always
relevant
> (eg, in EJBs). In windows, they are an anachronism - aren't we supposed to
> be using the registry for this kind of thing these days?

I have a series of code libraries built up over a period of about 30+ years.
I can generally put togethet a full client /server based data base system to
a customers specification in under an hour. My standard client code skeleton
runs on DOS, Win95/98/2000/NT, Linux/Unix, VMS, etc without alteration. One
of the things I have aimed for is user configurability. Each user can
configure just about every single characteristic of the system as he see it
by means of environment variables/logical names. The user can change
date/time formats, screen layout, character size, font, colours, etc etc to
their own particular likes and dislikes. Things like the Windows registry
are a system wide feature, not a user accessable feature. I sometimes have
up to 30 to 40 variables to configure the system at actual run time. The
users absolutely love these features. I have often won contracts based on
this configurability feature alone. However, I take your point on
configuration files. It may be time to change my approach and use
user-editable configuration files. There is no reason the same type of
information could not be obtained from a configuration file instead of
environment variables. If fact my current approach is to define the
environment variables in the users start up file. It's just one file or
another. Must look into that approach more deeply.

However I feel the need to move up to a more modern language environment.
During the first half of this year while in hospital for 3 months I made a
particular point of learning C++ so as to be able to evaluate its
suitability as a new standard. I was able to convert all our existing
special features over to C++ without any problems, and it gave me a taste
for object orientated languages.

Now I wish to try a similar evaluation of Java. I am taking some of the
configurability features and seeing if I can convert each one of them to
Java. So far this has proven to be fairly difficult. A couple of other
respondents to this newsgroup have come up with some suggestions that bear
looking into, and I hope to do this as soon as possible. However it looks
like moving to Java means discarding libraries built up over 30 years and
starting afresh. Code reusability has always been my motto, and all my
existing libraries have been used over and over many times, even though they
have been written in a wide range of languages. The Java concept seems to be
that you can only reuse Java code, and only for Java applications.

I must admit that we got a simple client/server working under Java last
night, but the problems of how to personalise it still seem daunting at this
stage.

> That said: if you are writing a windows app to run on windows, Visual
Basic
> or Visual C++ are still excellent choices. There's an existing skill base,
> the tools have fewer bugs, and it's faster.

Yes, we have used VB, and for process control systems, and in fact one of my
son's VB programs was reviewed in the January-2000 issue of the magazine
Silicon Chips.

>If there are reasons you were
> looking at Java, specifically, they are probably still good. However,
> learning the APIs and the Java-ish way to accomplish things is a
significant
> task, and not to be underestimated.

Yes, trying to evaluate the balance of the steep learning curve vs. any
productivity improvements is a difficult one.

> Or you can hire me <g>.

Maybe once upon a time. I am actually retired these days because of medical
reasons. I was a senior consultant for one of the larger computer companies
for many years. These days I still act as an adviser to many companies just
for the fun of it, otherwise I would go crazy. I love people coming to me
with a problem that they think is insoluble, and then showing them a working
prototype in under an hour.

Thanks for the discussion. Much appreciated.

Regards,

Doug.