if it is true microsoft is going to "drop" java ...

... (i.e. visual J++) then does anyone have a recommendation on a java IDE for me?


i was going to get the visual J++ 6.0 upgrade. i currently have visualJ++ 1.1 but i'm thinking maybe i shouldn't spend the $200+ on visual j if it is not going to be updated.


personally, i like the ide. i'm already used to it because it is my C++ environment.


thanks for any advice you might have.


craigk

[email protected]

The latest word out of redmond from Microsoft is that there are no plans to drop Java in the near or not so near future. I even have read that the plans to have a competing language "Cool" are more in question than the future of Visual j++. I can't imagine that java products will be dropped anytime soon. Especially given the impressive growth of java as a development platform.


-Brad

Visual Age for Java 2.0 Enterprise Edition is mighty impressive.

It will generate almost every bit of infrastructure you'll need.

For example:


-it will generate the multicasters for your custom events

and listeners.


-it will generate the whole underlying infrastructure needed

for implementing RMI, even if your classes are not implemented

via the required interfaces.


-it will let you visually connect the constituent components

of your app. By "wiring" the beans, you are in effect implementing

the event listeners.


-it will reverse-engineer any legacy application and create the

object model based on the mapping you specify. In case of a relational

legacy model, you don't even need a mapping specs -- it will

simply create the object model based on the SQL specs that

exist in your legacy.


What's even more impressive, it's a two way street, meaning that if

you have an object model, it will implement its persistence

using the relational technology. Any changes you make to your object

model will get propagated down to RDBMS of your choice. And

vice versa of course: once you have your relational model, you

can change it and let the changes bubble-up to the topmost

object level.


Finally, it will generate all the SQL statements for you based on the

relations between your classes (all the inserts, updates, deletions and

inquiries are automatically generated). This way, you don't

have to worry about SQL (unless you need to tweak it for performance).


There is also a full support for the team development, version

control, source compare... you name it.


Last but not least, it comes with a fabulous debugging facility,

which allows you to modify your source code on the fly, while you

are in a debug mode.


One would be hard pressed to find a fancier Java IDE. On the

downside, VAJ is pretty sluggish, and currently supports only

JDK 1.1.6.


Alex