On Thu, Jul 5, 2012 at 3:11 AM, Tim <ignored_mailbox@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Anyway, getting back to the subject of Java, the often vaunted claim > that it's platform independent doesn't hold up. Frequently Java > programs will only work as expected on a certain interpreter, on a > certain underlying OS. I can run Vuze and muCommander on Windows and Linux, and that is cross-platform enough for me. Also, many Java programmers I know use Mac OS-X. Supporting the 3 most used OSs on earth clearly is good enough for me. Apps *are* platform independent, and many can easily detect the underlying OS they're running on, and enable or disable system intergration features. For instance, on muCommander you can have it look like a native WinXP app, or Win7, or GTK on Linux. There's also hooks in the Java APIs to call the system's default web browser, whatever that is, or you can dock apps to the systray or Gnome panel, using JDIC (Java Desktop Integration components). H*ck, I've even run Java apps in my ancient Pentium III box using IBM OS/2 Warp Server, with the OpenJDK port. Writing proper Java apps is another story. Many devs commit the evil mistake of "packaging" Java apps as native executables or installers to make things "easy" for users, which negates the whole benefit of Java, which is having the same .JAR binary, able to run on whatever OS you choose that has a JVM installed. A properly written Java app, in my book, is one that is delivered as a single .jar, and that the user can run on Windows by double-clicking on its JAR or, in other OSs that do not have the file association set correctly, by launching it via java -jar appname.jar I've long advocated that one-Jar http://one-jar.sourceforge.net/ should be part of the OpenJDK compiler and mandatory for Java apps. There's nothing worse than seeing a great Java app delivered as a ZIP file and telling users to manually unpack it and launch it from a .bat/.cmd/.sh. But hey, just my $0.02 FC -- users mailing list users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines Have a question? Ask away: http://ask.fedoraproject.org
