🚀 go-pugleaf

A Nonymous wrote:
> I am looking for some advise concerning future direction of our software 
> development.  
> Now for the $64K question: Do you think Java is a suitable development 
> platform for these sort of applications?
> 
> 
> I am interested in an unbiased opinion from someone who develops Java 
> apps, not just a lot of PR hype about how Java can walk on water...
> 
Kevin answered these questions as well as anyone could, in a manner I 
would have to say was not biased.

My concerns would be centered around your statement that you are using a 
  non HTTP protocol for communication. Is this protocol you are using, 
based on socket to socket communication or is it something else?

If sockets, you would be OK with Java or NET, although for XPlatform 
outside the Windows world, I would forget NET. If you really need to 
support Linux, Macs, Unix, and non MS powered PDAs, NET is going to be a 
  great source of frustration for you and your team.

Of course you could use WML for your embedded devices (that would 
require Http however), and get part of the way with NET, but remember IE 
based development does not translate well on non IE browsers. This would 
include embedded browsers.

I have personally found out the hard way, that anytime you are using MS 
specific tools and frameworks, rendering on non MS browsers is not 
always straightforward. In fact, nothing is straightforward when you are 
attempting to work with open standards (including ECMA and W3C 
standards) and MS.

If you must do true Mobile development then Java 2 ME works pretty well. 
However, as Kevin stated, different devices use different Java specs, so 
I would definitely do my homework on those devices you plan to support 
to see what type of Java implementations they have or support. Most are 
attempting today to follow the J2ME standards, and most of the 
differences today have to do with CDLC type concerns, But to be safe, I 
would still check them out.

 From what I have read of your descriptions thus far, I think I would 
opt for Java for the main portions of your programs and use C/C++ for 
the more low level functionality. You can call these C/C++ functions 
using JNI and there are both commercial and open source options that 
make JNI much easier than the SUN specifications. Look to Source Forge 
for such JNI type projects and look to Excelsior Jet. Excelsior may not 
run on all platforms however. The Open Source offerings may have a 
higher target audience for JNI.

Although my embedded experience is not that great, I do have some 
experience with it. Overall, as stated, it works pretty well with more 
modern devices. If the devices you are planning to support do not 
support standard J2ME, then you may have to do some code variations for 
the different devices.

The majority of the time, these variations are minor, unless you plan to 
use embedded databases. If you need embedded Database support, things 
can  get a little hairy on some devices, especially when supporting 
small devices with little memory like Cell Phones.


Good Luck.

Paul