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ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 20,294

Java in Industry?

I have a question for the Software Engineers here.

I am an electrical engineer who writes a lot of C for embedded systems.  I can hold my own in C++, it is my language of choice when I want to create a GUI application (usually to interact with hardware and the embedded systems I have designed)  I use Qt, Gtkmm, and I've been playing with wxWidgets.  Cross platform development is important to me.

I have learned Python, bit have not done anything for production with it (With the exception of a Django driven web site).  I have successfully built PyGtk and PtQt experimental applications.

Given the current economy, I want to keep my skills relevant -- So here is the question:  I have avoided Java. At first because it was interpreted, then because of Microsoft's embrace, extend, extinguish attempt, now I worry about Oracle.   Is my head up and locked, or should I put some effort into learning Java?   Where is it heading? (I perceive it is mostly used in Behind-the-firewall Enterprise Applications by IT groups -- Not of interest to me)  Is it used in end user applications?  Is it still used to drive web applications or has it been surpassed by things like PHP?

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Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
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mrunion

Member

From: Jonesborough, TN

Registered: 2007-01-26

Posts: 1,938

Website

Re: Java in Industry?

I'm in the software development industry -- but it's motly web-based health systems stuff, etc.

Anyway, I have avoided Java like the plauge for years. I two know C, Python, and many other languages.

But.....We may have need of a small application that ca be ran from the desktop for users needing certain system management and data management needs. I run Linux (Arch ), and use it for all the development I do here. I started with Python/PyQt and it was too much trouble for the Mac users to install. I then wen to C++/Qt -- I could build a Windows version, but I had no access to a Mac dev to build a Mac version. I finally broke down and downloaded NetBeans ans started doing the app in Java (while learning it as well). I must say that I'm impressed.

I do not know what the future holds with Java, but I don't feel I've wasted my time with it so far.

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"It is very difficult to educate the educated."

simlan

Member

From: Germany

Registered: 2010-05-30

Posts: 20

Re: Java in Industry?

Unfortuanetly Java rocks when it comes to business.

Webdevelopment--> J2EE or JBoss
Enduser--> Examples: Mathematica,TopSpin....(Just two huge ones that came to my mind)

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Trent

Member

From: Baltimore, MD (US)

Registered: 2009-04-16

Posts: 990

Re: Java in Industry?

I learned Java in high school, and then I learned more in college, but all my work in the software industry has been Perl, SQL, and HTML.  That said, I think Java has some great strengths in the area of enterprise-scale cross-platform development.  jEdit is IMO a great example of a Java program:  extensible, portable, scriptable, open source, and reasonably fast.  OpenOffice is another success story for Java that I wouldn't typically use because I don't agree with all the design decisions of the authors.

On the whole, I'm glad I know Java, even though I don't ever use it   If there's nothing to be gained from learning Java, at least there is nothing to lose.

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: Java in Industry?

I drink a lot of java - does that count?

> Is it still used to drive web applications or has it been surpassed by things like PHP?

Webdevelopment--> J2EE or JBoss

+1
Real WebProfesionals use Java (tm). IMHO it's a fad, but knowing Java may indeed keep your skills relevant ... until the Next Big Thing.

denisfalqueto

Member

From: ES, Brazil

Registered: 2006-03-24

Posts: 197

Re: Java in Industry?

Today, you can't really work with only one language. Java is very cool if you know how to manage it and there is always Groovy. Check Grails Framework as a good example of a well thought framework, that is fun to work with.

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richardmurri

Member

Registered: 2008-10-29

Posts: 39

Re: Java in Industry?

I develop in Java, Python, and various other languages.  Java is still one of the most used languages.  I don't particularly like it, but it's huge in industry.  Personally, I wish it would die.  Despite my wishes, it won't die anytime soon.

Learn java if you want to work in a corporation or on large projects, you'll most likely benefit from your knowledge.   If you like the word 'enterprise' then it's definitely your thing.  Don't learn java if you want to build small websites/programs or work in a small team.  In that case, I'd focus on rapid and flexible languages.

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 20,294

Re: Java in Industry?

Thank you Everyone.

You have convinced me it would not be a wasted effort to learn Java.  In general, I have always worked on small, rapid development teams that integrate new hardware designs with software to support them.  I don't want to work on large, public facing web projects and I certainly don't want to create internal use enterprise applications.

I traditionally want the ability to wrap a cross platform desktop application around things like live surveillance video with automated image processing, raw RADAR FFT data, etc... Most of the processing occurs in hardware, but I need to be able to present these data to the user and allow them to control the system.  I think Java is up to it -- especially with external libraries.  I'll give it a shot.

Again,
Thanks for your inputs

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Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
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Inxsible

Forum Fellow

From: Chicago

Registered: 2008-06-09

Posts: 9,183

Re: Java in Industry?

I have worked both in the public sector and the private. Believe me, when I say this, Java is here to stay at least for the foreseeable future. The amount of applications that are built and also the fact that so many critical applications use Java (for the companies that I have worked on), switching to anything else is highly unlikely.

The management at the private sector company had millions of meetings just to upgrade to Java 5 from Java 4 simply because they didn't want anything to "break" on their watch. Do you think they will just go from Java to something else overnight? That would mean re-creating all of the functionality from scratch.

There are many things I dislike about Java as well -- Generics is the prime example. I think its a shitty way to develop and "backward compatibility" was the reason they did what they did. It sucks, so I try not to use it at all. But Java is what I do, so I can't say that its all bad.

Good thing is that there is Scala (functional programming language similar to Ruby in some regards) which works with Java bytecode, and I am honing my skills in that. So I can develop in Scala and the management won't know the difference. (as long as I just include the scala.jar  in the app )

Last edited by Inxsible (2010-07-07 19:42:03)

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