Can I code in Java like i did in Delphi?

[Marcello]

Hi,

First of all I would not to dive into discussions likeelphi was
really not object oriented and bla bla bla.


All I want to know is :Is it possible to code in Java like I did in
Delphi.
I mean drag and drop components ,See the whole screen in design time, a

preview of data in design time.<Fn> to find and reach the events and
methods in a click.
Of course doing all this with a free tool
It seems that JBuilder does that ,but it is not free.


I Don´t think that paying for a program is a crime, in fact people pay

for my software too.
The problem is that commercial GUIS seems to be dying.


I don´t have a huge knowledge about JAVA and .NET,I can´t say wich is

better and wich is worst.
In fact, I think very few people in the world know the two plataforms
so well in order to make a comparison(And they probably work for
SUN,IBM or Microsoft).


The only things I know are:
I Would like to use as much free software I can,Microsoft exploits
us,they have always charged an offensive price.


Working with a good gui makes your code easier to keep (I like the pair

DFM .PAS ) delphi provides,I don´t know if it helps in violating any
OOP rule s,All I know is that I never receive a complain.
from a costumer about a slow application in Delphi,I can reuse my code.

I don´t have to create a constructor for every component and I´m sure

that when I destroy that form, every component will be destroyed
either.


My question is,What Can I spect from Java,I´m just begining like once
I did in (Cobol,Clipper,Delphi(op).


How do You use UML in this context, To generate code from models ,or to

generate models from code?


Where can I found a good application that use UML from scratch .
I mean an application where a kind of generator ,generated the classes
from an UML draw.


What tecnologies are good to write ERP applications ,Hibernate,
JDBC,Spring,Struts.


I know I have to concentrate now in the Java basics that a GUI hide
things you have to learn
with an editor.
But working with an Editor for writing a whole ERP is not as productive

as with a GUI.


Any comments, links are welcome.


Regards,

Marcello

 

[James McGill]

Of course doing all this with a free tool
It seems that JBuilder does that ,but it is not free.

What free tool does all that for Delphi?

 

[Marcello]

I think you get me wrong.
Nothing in Delphi is free.
I would like to know ,if using free tools I would do the same thing
I did with paid Delphi.
I´m not saying that Delphi was perfect,in fact it has several
limitations.
I´m talking about the 7th version,the last one I used.
But the environment was productive,specially for database applications.

Marcello

 

[chris brat]

Hi,

There are tools available to generate GUI's - both the Eclipse and
Netbeans IDEs have these facilities. I'm a huge fan of Eclipse but from
what I understand its easier to get started with NetBeans. Both of
these are freely available unless I read something incorrectly.

There are also either free or reasonably inexpensive UML tools - ARGO
UML, Poseidon, Umbrello. A few have options to generate code from
models and the reverse.

Take a look at some of the OS projects in the following repositories :

http://www.onjava.com/pub/q/java_os_directory
http://java-source.net/

Chris

 

[ducnbyu]

All I want to know is :Is it possible to code in Java like I did in
Delphi.
I mean drag and drop components ,See the whole screen in design time, a

preview of data in design time.<Fn> to find and reach the events and
methods in a click.

Eclipse is free and has a Visual Editor for drag and drop. You have to
install VE but you will find installing plugins is extremely simple.
There is a recorded session/presentation here

http://www.eclipse.org/vep/WebContent/docs/demos/custom_field/FieldBean.html

if you would like see a quick demo of what it looks like to work in VE
(included voice so have your headphones on). It's a little out of date
version wise but it is a good example. Notice that as he drops an
object it creates Java source code that creates the object. So there's
no "hidden" attributes that can only be modified though VE. You can
edit the source and VE will update the visual representation
accordingly. Yes it works both ways.

Some people talk about a learning curve with Eclipse and others are up
and running in a couple hours.

I don't know Delphi, but it sounds a lot like VB 6.0 that I am familiar
with.

Eclipse, in comparison with VB (assuming VB is similar to Delphi as
your description makes it sound)... Methods are about as easy. There
are some extra steps for getting to the events. You don't get a list
of events that are applicable to the object so you can't just click to
have it generate a stub. It could have been that easy, it just isn't
in Eclipse. Once you get used to it your productivity will be just as
good though.

There is an implied list of events that give you enough information,
for instance if you have a Button object called goButton and you type
"goButton." (notice the dot) in the source code editor you will get a
dropdown list of all of the methods available to goButton. In that
dropdown list you will see a number of methods such as add(...)Listener
where (...) is the name of the type of listener applicable to goButton.
Listeners are what listen for events. From there you can go look in
the API documentation at the addKeyListener for instance which will
tell you what you need. But you soon recognize the pattern and hardly
need to look at the docs to know what you need even for events you
haven't used yet.

How do You use UML in this context, To generate code from models

If you choose Eclipse, best to start off learning Eclipse Modeling
Framework (EMF) there is a good intro here

http://www.eclipse.org/emf/docs.php?doc=references/overview/EMF.html

if you want to research. (Also you will want to become familiar with
the Eclipse site to stomp around to help in your decision if it is on
your list of candidates.)

If you get so far as to install and try Eclipse you may want to follow
this tutorial of generating an EMF model

http://www.eclipse.org/emf/docs.php?doc=tutorials/clibmod/clibmod.html

And then maybe this one to extend and existing EMF Model

http://www.eclipse.org/emf/docs.php?doc=tutorials/slibmod/slibmod.html

After you are comfortable with EMF go to

http://www.omondo.com

which has a free graphical UML tool for Eclipse fine if you are an
individual developer also a not free version if you are a team of
developers. If I recall there's docs there too if you want to research
before installing anything.

,or to
generate models from code?

I haven't research this direction so I can't say if that is available.
If you look around in the Eclipse site I would not be at all surprised
if it is an available feature.

 

[Marcello]

hI,

I´m amazed how easy is being for me to learn Java.
JAVA OOP implementation is very close to Object Pascal.
It is funny but the UML notation is much more Obect Pacal like
than JAVA.
I might be wrong but the VB(UNTIL VERSION 6) didn´t have inheritance.

Unfortunatelly due to Borland Narrow minded administrators ,Delphi have
no future
but dying.
I expect I´m doing the wright decision moving to Java.
I think the market will be divided(At least for the next 20 years)
between JAVA e .NET.
(JAVA e C#).
Since I prefer to sell pop corn than to be at Bill Gates side,I have no
choice but Java.
Better if it is the best tool too.

Marcello

 

[Marcello]

Hi,

I forgot to say,I think one of the biggest merits of Java is
that somebody without OOP knowledge can do nothing.

Delphi lets you do OOP ,but let you do a lot of things,
without it too,wich is very bad.

Marcello

 

[David Segall]

Hi,

First of all I would not to dive into discussions likeelphi was
really not object oriented and bla bla bla.


All I want to know is :Is it possible to code in Java like I did in
Delphi.
I mean drag and drop components ,See the whole screen in design time, a

preview of data in design time.<Fn> to find and reach the events and
methods in a click.
Of course doing all this with a free tool
It seems that JBuilder does that ,but it is not free.

The Foundation edition of JBuilder is free. I have a complete list of
IDE's that meet your specifications at <http://ide.profectus.com.au>.
For GUI building I think that Netbeans is currently well ahead of the
rest.

 

[chris brat]

I'd rather say that one of the merits is that someone without OOP
knowledge can quickly learn how to do something ;-)

 

[jarrod.roberson]

wrong, I have seen many many thousands of lines of FORTRAN and C
written Java where the developer had no clue about anything Object
Oriented

 

[chris brat]

I dont understand you comment.

I was saying that it is easy for someone without OOP experience to
learn how to do things with Java.

Where did FORTRAN and C enter?

 

[chris brat]

Apologies Jarrod,

My eyes are failing me - thought your post was a response to mine.

 

[Marcello]

His answer was out of scope.
It was a private answer ,not public one.
I guess I´m getting a little bit narrow minded.
:>}

Marcello

 

[Monique Y. Mudama]

Hi,

I forgot to say,I think one of the biggest merits of Java is that
somebody without OOP knowledge can do nothing.

I don't know about that. My first big Java program looked awfully
procedural. Everything in one class, for example.

Fortunately I worked with a lot of really knowledgeable OO people, and
some of it eventually rubbed off on me.