Is it OK to use Java Application in client/server RDDMS? Thanks

[Anton]

Hello everybody,
I am software developer and was involved in all sort of projects but mostly it was C, C++, MFC for Windows, however it has been some time since my last client/server RDBMS project and there are number of changes in this part of software development. Right now we plan to use Borland JBuilder 5 for Java Application, client side at least. So I have just started to look at it, at samples, etc… Main idea - we want to have platform independent application, not to be dependent on Microsoft platforms and we do not want separated "platform dependant" projects for the same product.
However I have number of doubts about Java. At this stage I found that Java Applications (java client, jdbc, etc...) are less reliable, slow, memory “hungry”. User interface is less comfortable. So far I have not seen and have not heard about good client/server commercial Java Applications and even JBuilder itself (java application too) is not that much impressive.
Please understand me right, I need advice from experienced people about it from technical point of view and do not want to start discussion about personal preference because I am happy to work with any dev. environment if it gives what I want.
So:
- Why would you use Java? (Except “theoretical platform independence”)
- Would you use Java if your project was only for one platform? If Yes, why? If not, what would you prefer?
- Could you confirm and/or argue against my “disappointment” in Java
- Any other ideas on this subject and/or forums/sites where I could get more info.
- Any alternative technology/language/dev. environment for client/server DB Applications. (Once again I would prefer from your real experience)
Thank you,
Anton

 

[KBD]

You can use Java to write client/server applications and it does work and the apps are not slow.
Who writes for one platform any more? Users want access to the applications from anywhere at anytime. My clients are WinNT, Linux, and Win98. Next the users will want to log in from their PlayStation.
This is where java rules. Lite/No Install client.

Punt on the client/server. Take a look at browser based clients talking to JSPs and/or Servletts. Oh do some research on XML


KBD

 

[pipk]

I think the main advantage of java is not its portability but rather its potential for extremely quick development of robust GUI oriented applications (forget applets, Java is booming in the application arena) compared to a language such as C++, which although is probably the best all-round language for building systems and applications, there tends to be an extra overhead in terms of time frame relative to java.

You can do some serious stuff in java very quickly indeed and in todays world where time is money i believe this to be extremely advantagous. As for Java's speed, this can be a pain in the but, however it is improving and can often be improved just by increasing RAM in your machine (RAm is cheap at the momen).

I think the issues with Java at the moment will be insignificant this time next year. Hence why so many big businessses are investing in it at the moment.

 

[Anton]

Thanks all for some info and ideas, Anton.