Re: WebDB vs JDeveloper

I don't know if that is just sarcasm ;-)

We are not much into the business of translating relational objects into classes. We need to develop business applications for customers on a cost-effective basis. PL/SQL, and as such WebDB as a tool, is very productive when used with PHP or ASP and Javascript on the browser end, at least so as far as getting an application to the customer fast and efficiently.

With Java, you need to spend a lot of time developing a framework (set of classes) before you can even start developing an application. And the theoretical reusability of Java code (classes) is often reduced to ashes by the instabilty / incompatibility of the base JRE classes. With C++ you supply the entire application in the exe (and dll's). With Java you are always dependent on the runtimes supplied by Sun, MS, Oracle, Apple ... for your application to work. Just take a look at how many questions in this NG refer to OEM not starting, NET8 Easy Config not starting etc. This is Java, live! And Sun's (inventor of Java) Office Application (Star Office) is still partly in C++. (That's why you need different versions of Star Office for different platforms and the performance is still somehow acceptable.) Look at the load times of 8.0.5 OEM compared to 8.1.6 OEM (DBA Studio). And try doing a few hasty clicks and keyboard entries with 8.1.6 OEM and watch how often the background screen just locks or fails to repaint on time or the error message is hidden behind the form and you can't exit the application without the Task-Manager... And companies like Progress (Apptivity) are AFAIK not migrating their Java tools to 1.3 because the amount of effort involved is just not cost-effective. Java is only a few years old and is already suffering from the "costly upgrade" syndrome, whereas our 6 year old PL/SQL code still runs virtually unchanged today. Would you seriously invest millions in a venture that is changing faster than you can keep up with ? (My JRE 1.1 was around 3 MB, 1.2 around 9 MB and 1.3 around 25 MB)

Don't get me wrong, this is not an anti-Java flame. You asked me to compare, and I do that from my personal point of view.

The question (?) of an application server doesn't play all that much of a role in the type of applications we have to deliver. Things like load balancing, multithreading, persistency etc. we solve with lot's of hardware if need be, and that is very seldom. But if those are important to you and you want to develop applications like a computer sciences graduate and cost is no problem, then Java and 9iAS are just great.

:-)

Ted

On Fri, 23 Mar 2001 17:04:04 -0500, Blair Christie <blairc_at_nortelnetworks.com> wrote:

>Great comments guys about the two solutions. What about the need to have
>an applicaiton server and do the translation of relational objects into
>classes? Has this had an effect on you choice of tools?
>
>Keep the comments comming!!
>
>Cheers<
>Blair

EMail: knijff_at_bigfoot.com Received on Sat Mar 24 2001 - 15:20:46 CET