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Stuart Howard wrote: |
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> Hi |
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> |
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> I am a Gentoo user with an urge to try my hand at coding, java seems |
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> to fit the bill as a language that has cross platform appeal and so |
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> on, you guys know the rest. |
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> |
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> My question is this, I want to spend my time learning the language not |
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> the various apps that allow me to do this so what would your |
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> recommendation be for a new starter such as myself. |
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> I seem to have a choice of using either blackdown or the sun packages, |
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> I have read sufficient to realise that the blackdown project was the |
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> original linux port of Sun's Java but Today what would you suggest as |
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> the platform to pick ie. is the Blackdown package well supported under |
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> Gentoo? will updates come promptly when considered stable? or the the |
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> Sun package better supported? and for that matter as a new user would |
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> I be better of with one or the other for a reason I have not yet come |
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> too? |
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> Next up would be an IDE, is Kdevelop good for java or is netbeans a |
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> good choice? again your experiance would be helpful at this stage, the |
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> netbeans site seems to imply that they provide functinality not |
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> available elsewhere will this mean that my code [once I get there ;) ] |
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> be specific to netbeans? or should I go for a fundamentalist approach |
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> and stick to "simple" approach and trusty vim? |
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|
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Use an IDE. I haven't seen any responses so far indicating that NetBeans |
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is *not* supported on Gentoo, but there were difficulties with it |
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earlier on. There has recently been much ado about providing Java 5.0 on |
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Gentoo, but again, I don't know the current status. |
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|
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When I was using Gentoo, I installed all of my own Java, because I need |
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a Java 5.0 environment, and NetBeans. I recommend you ask specific |
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questions about these topics. I further recommend starting and staying |
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with Java 5.0. It is the single most far-reaching extension to the |
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language, and it is the future of Java programming. Get used to |
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generics, typesafe enums, extended for loop functionality, autoboxing, |
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etc., and don't look back. |
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|
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I was an Eclipse user until I switched to J5 something over a year ago. |
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At that time Eclipse did not support J5, so I switched to NetBeans 4.0. |
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NB 5.0 is at release candidate stage now, and is a significantly better |
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than 4.0. The new GUI builder, Matisse, offers new layout manager, |
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which you will have have to distribute with applications if you use it. |
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Alternatively, you can opt for the standard Java layout managers, like |
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GridBag. As with most (any?) GUI building tools, if you need round-trip |
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design, you will have to preserve the tool settings in the code, and |
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preserve any ancillary files; form files in the case of NetBeans. By |
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round-trip, I mean the ability to use the designer to build the code, |
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modify the code (possibly in another IDE), and re-open the code in the |
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original GUI designer for modification. |
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|
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When I switched to NetBeans, Eclipse did not support Swing, the |
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Java-provided higher-level GUI classes. If you wanted to build Swing |
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apps, you were on your own. Eclipse had SWT, its own windowing toolkit, |
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with closer links to the underlying operating system. You will have to |
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ask an Eclipse aficionado about the implications of that for |
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portability, but I imagine that you will need to carry some SWT library |
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functionality with your apps. Again, ask an expert about the current |
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Eclipse situation. |
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|
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NetBeans supports web and J2EE app development out of the box. I believe |
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that Eclipse requires various plugins to achieve similar functionality. |
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NB is available as a platform on which to build applications. I assume |
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that same is true of Eclipse, the difference being that your GUI apps |
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built on NB will be Swing based. See the Java API docs for the |
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javax.swing.* packages. |
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|
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Since 4.0, NB has been completely re-designed to align the product with |
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Ant. The build, run, debug and Javadocs build functions of all projects |
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are based on Ant. That includes projects with existing code, and |
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projects with existing code and an existing build.xml script, which was |
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my case. This provides tremendous development flexibility, especially |
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for projects imported with an existing build.xml, but also for new |
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projects built by NB. The former can generally be built by other |
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developers without NB. The latter require a little more tweaking, but |
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the process has been carried out and discussed on the mailing-list. |
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|
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No, I don't work for Sun. NetBeans provided the support I needed for the |
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development of J5 and Swing based open source software, when I needed |
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it, and I like to acknowledge that. |
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|
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Peter |
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-- |
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Peter B. West <http://cv.pbw.id.au/> |
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Folio <http://defoe.sourceforge.net/folio/> |
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