Apple deprecates Java • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple deprecates Java

#51

Post by albertcardona » Thu, Oct 21, 2010, 9:39 AM UTC

fdb wrote: post #46

So then what's the best way to do cross-platform development? For all its faults, Java does deliver something that resembles the "write once, run anywhere" dream. Any idea for a high-performance, cross-platform, native UI development stack? Is C++/Objective-C still the best option?

GTK is trying to get there. Gimp was ported to MacOSX GTK--haven't checked in a while the state of the port. The Inkscape dev team at least has high hopes that GTK will become stable for MacOSX.

http://gtk-osx.sourceforge.net/

Re: Apple deprecates Java

#52

Post by blub » Thu, Oct 21, 2010, 9:44 AM UTC

albertcardona wrote: post #51

fdb wrote: post #46

So then what's the best way to do cross-platform development? For all its faults, Java does deliver something that resembles the "write once, run anywhere" dream. Any idea for a high-performance, cross-platform, native UI development stack? Is C++/Objective-C still the best option?

GTK is trying to get there. Gimp was ported to MacOSX GTK--haven't checked in a while the state of the port. The Inkscape dev team at least has high hopes that GTK will become stable for MacOSX. http://gtk-osx.sourceforge.net/

I disagree with GTK, and I recommend Qt. I use several GTK apps on Windows and they don't look native. Furthermore, GTK has some deeply ingrained usability issues - such as the close button - that they bring to all platforms.

Re: Apple deprecates Java

#53

Post by Isofarro » Thu, Oct 21, 2010, 9:46 AM UTC

fdb wrote: post #46

So then what's the best way to do cross-platform development? For all its faults, Java does deliver something that resembles the "write once, run anywhere" dream. Any idea for a high-performance, cross-platform, native UI development stack? Is C++/Objective-C still the best option?

Open Pascal with Lazarus.

Re: Apple deprecates Java

#54

Post by dragonquest » Thu, Oct 21, 2010, 9:52 AM UTC

Isofarro wrote: post #53

fdb wrote: post #46

So then what's the best way to do cross-platform development? For all its faults, Java does deliver something that resembles the "write once, run anywhere" dream. Any idea for a high-performance, cross-platform, native UI development stack? Is C++/Objective-C still the best option?

Open Pascal with Lazarus.

Shouldn't that be Object Pascal?

Re: Apple deprecates Java

#55

Post by FooBarWidget » Thu, Oct 21, 2010, 9:56 AM UTC

blub wrote: post #52

albertcardona wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GTK is trying to get there. Gimp was ported to MacOSX GTK--haven't checked in a while the state of the port. The Inkscape dev team at least has high hopes that GTK will become stable for MacOSX. http://gtk-osx.sourceforge.net/

I disagree with GTK, and I recommend Qt. I use several GTK apps on Windows and they don't look native. Furthermore, GTK has some deeply ingrained usability issues - such as the close button - that they bring to all platforms.

Which close button are you talking about and how is it inherent to GTK?

Re: Apple deprecates Java

#56

Post by lyso » Thu, Oct 21, 2010, 9:57 AM UTC

pmjordan wrote: post #33

masklinn wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe it is Sun's JVM with OSX-specific customizations to make the UI suck less (it still sucked, generally speaking).

The Cocoa (UI) bindings were already deprecated sometime during 10.4/Tiger if I remember correctly.

However it isn't just the Cocoa bindings that are important. AFAIK SoyLatte's Swing/AWT elements run through X11. Apple's Java allows for Java GUIs without starting X11.

Re: Apple deprecates Java

#57

Post by FooBarWidget » Thu, Oct 21, 2010, 9:58 AM UTC

dragonquest wrote: post #54

Isofarro wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Open Pascal with Lazarus.

Shouldn't that be Object Pascal?

No, and neither should it be Open Pascal. He meant Free Pascal, an open source implementation of Pascal that also supports Delphi syntax (Object Pascal).

Re: Apple deprecates Java

#58

Post by rimantas » Thu, Oct 21, 2010, 9:58 AM UTC

hboon wrote: post #36

riffraff wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

is there such a proliferation? the only java app I use on the mac is cyberduck, and it is neither shoddy nor un-maclike

Had no idea Cyberduck is written in Java. If only all Java desktop applications are like this.

I use SmartSVN, wouldn't call it ugly.

Re: Apple deprecates Java

#59

Post by pmjordan » Thu, Oct 21, 2010, 10:02 AM UTC

fdb wrote: post #46

So then what's the best way to do cross-platform development? For all its faults, Java does deliver something that resembles the "write once, run anywhere" dream. Any idea for a high-performance, cross-platform, native UI development stack? Is C++/Objective-C still the best option?

UI & cross-platform dev are two separate issues. Cocoa/Java has been dead for some time, and nobody who cares about design or usability seems to use Swing etc. It mainly seems to be developer tools in the Java ecosystem.

I'm more worried about development of server stuff becoming more painful, particularly as Clojure, my favourite language, is (currently) JVM-based. There's obviously plenty of other JVM-based server development going on, and it'll be a pain if that stops working properly.

As for Cocoa bindings in higher-level languages on Mac, there are MacRuby, Nu and Mono. I haven't tried any of them, but this will be relevant for me in the near future so I'd be interested in any war stories from anyone deviating from the Objective-C path.

I generally wouldn't recommend cross-platform GUI development, it just ends up producing mediocre software; obviously, try and pick a common language/runtime if you're going to have different frontends.

Re: Apple deprecates Java

#60

Post by voidpointer » Thu, Oct 21, 2010, 10:03 AM UTC

fdb wrote: post #46

So then what's the best way to do cross-platform development? For all its faults, Java does deliver something that resembles the "write once, run anywhere" dream. Any idea for a high-performance, cross-platform, native UI development stack? Is C++/Objective-C still the best option?

Depending on what you want to do, Adobe AIR would be a practical way of delivering applications on Mac, Win and Linux...