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IBM Releases VisualAge for Linux Preview 96
KilgourTrout writes "The
original story was released earlier this month, but IBM
has put a new spin on things - From an IBM newsletter:
"Now, it's time to vote with your mouse finger. Download the
code today and you'll do your part to convince us that there
is a market for this product."" You can visit the
web site
and download it if you're interested in that whole
Java thing.
All Java IDEs are bad (Score:2)
I've tried many of them. Visual Age, Symantec, JBuilder, etc.....
Visual Age was solid, but it is EXTREMELY slow. You need a monster to run it confortably. It's also a little overkill when you don't need any RAD features.. you know, when you just want to code?
Symantec Cafe... yuk. My least favorite. Crashes all the time.
JBuilder was the one I used for the longest while, but I got really tired of being able to see only one window at a time. Plus the UI for its RAD features is really crude, although I don't use that.
Now, I'm using Ultraedit, my partner is using Textpad, two fine editors. We compile and debug directly with the JDK, and we've never been happier! I must say though that we're not the people that do the bean development/testing on our project. We write the low level stuff, so good editors are enough.
Can't wait to see if Visual Age is faster on Linux (from what I've heard it is). It really seemed to be a solid IDE, just so slow...
On Windows, there is still not a Java IDE that matches the equivalent of VC++ for C/C++ (my personal favorite).
Peace!
Agree & Disagree (Score:1)
I agree with tha part
>At the same time, IBM has been so lethargic about their Smalltalk offerings that I don't even think about it now.
I sorta agree with that. They keep improving their VA-Smalltalk offering and a lot of other companes have good add-ons (VA-Assist) but they don't seem to talk about it much outside of the Smalltalk community, which is a shame. Like I said elsewhere, IBM plays what the market wants to hear and keeps their good stuff buried.
>In fact, the Smalltalk vendors have all convinced me that the language has no commercial future.
Which vendors?
ObjectShare looked like they were going nuts and going under but they seem to have reestablished a vision and a direction. Most of my work now is in VisualWorks Smalltalk on Linux.
Smalltalk/X is pretty strong in Europe.
Object-Arts has a nice product and seem to be doing well in a completely different niche.
Even IBM is doing a lot of sales with VA-Smalltalk and they use it for a lot of stuff, it just doesn't make the press.
>If you program in Java, I can't see any reason to use anything else, though.
That I agree with; if you are stuck slumming in Java, might as well have a half decent tool to do it with.
(Yes, my words are somewhat inflammatory, but there have been first rate Smalltalk development tools for Linux for some time and not many in the Linux community seem to notice)
Take care,
Jay
joconnor@roadrunner.com
http://www.ezboard.com
Re:Metrowerks CodeWarrior Screenshots? Thanks! (Score:1)
Re:jfc 1.0.3, they must be kidding!!!!!!!!! (Score:1)
http://www.software.ibm.co m/ad/r/99enews7/java2-preview/ [ibm.com]
In the mean time...you might be able to trim the bloat by deleting/not importing the swing look-and-feel classes you don't care about (i.e. punt everything but "basic"). No idea if this'll actually work, but it should significantly drop the number of classes.
Re:Worked well on a box here (Score:1)
Re:I wonder how long until VAC++ (Score:1)
Why aren't these written in Java? (Score:1)
You'd think something as *good* as Java should have IDEs written in Java.
Visualage not for hard core coders? (Score:1)
- You actually need to look at more than one method at a time?
- A text editor cranks out the code, but pays little attention to the architecture of that code. VisualAge presents you with packages/classes/methods and the inheritance hierarchy. When you're dealing with hundreds of classes, you need that kind of complexity control.
- "inability to lock source?" Hmm.. VisualAge TeamConnection, perhaps?
- Lack of editor features? Okay, emacs has pretty much everyone licked here, but you CAN add more editor features through VAJ's ide API.
In general, I think that "hardcore coders" don't want to have to think about silly details like source code files, header files, makefiles and compiling everytime they fix something. These people want to design a good, maintainable and fast system. By using a repository, incremental compilation, and excellent class layout paradigm, VisualAge definitely shines for OO designers that want to do their job right.
Portions are.. (Score:1)
(I know some people who worked on the VisualAge team)
Re:jfc 1.0.3, they must be kidding!!!!!!!!! (Score:2)
in VisualAge Java, make a project called "JDK1.2 kluge". In this project, make empty projects called
javax.swing
and
javax.swing.event.
Then, after the
import javax.swing.*
statements in your code, add a line:
import com.sun.java.swing.*
[ditto for the swing.event package]
then try to import the package, and chances are it will work. To compile the same project using JDK1.2, you will have to export from VisualAge (obviously). Again, make dummy packages
com.sun.java.swing
and
com.sun.java.swing.event
This will allow you to compile the same code base with either VM.
hope this helps.
bye-Ben
Re:I wonder how long until VAC++ (Score:1)
Then my life would be complete. Well, except for the OC48 I want into the back of my linux box.
gnb
Re:jfc 1.0.3, they must be kidding!!!!!!!!! (Score:1)
I can theoretically do it!!!!!!!!
But unfortunatly swing 1.1 has more than 500
classes and as a result, VA is complaining.
yes, yes I have tried it and VA complained...
thanx anyway
tha_skunk
Just get DSL or a Cable Modem (Score:1)
Just go out and get a decent connection.
Will in Seattle
P.S.: Assuming you don't live in places like Tacoma, where they take a whole year to install it.
Re:jfc 1.0.3, they must be kidding!!!!!!!!! (Score:1)
yes, this is very clever!!!!!
I haven't tried it yet, but shoulda work...
But a little to much pain in the ass for my
taste. So I will stick with my xemacs and
JACOB, until they include swing1.1.
I just can't understand why they use 1.0.3.
1.1 is out for quite some time now ain't it????
tha_skunk
Sooner VAC++ than BC++ for Linux (Score:1)
Will in Seattle
P.S.: Has anyone _asked_ Borland to do this or am I the only one? I just asked Symantec to do VisualCafe to RUN on Linux - noted that they talk about Linux a LOT more on their whitepapers - should just take a few people asking for it
Large systems in emacs/vi (Score:3)
I hear lots of "all Java IDEs suck, use emacs or vi", but I don't know if this is C-programmer machismo or not. Maybe you have to appreciate Smalltalk to understand why VisualAge is the way it is, and why so many people are effective in it.
Sure, it's not a great GUI designer, but I don't think Symantec Cafe generates clean GUI code either.
When not using VAJ, I use Emacs (in Viper mode
I guess what I'm saying is - the typical VisualAge user probably comes from a different world from the Linux C hacker. But, they both have one thing in common: most hate Microsoft.
So, I think it's going to be interesting to see hordes of experienced OO developers flocking to Linux because their tool of choice has freed them from Windows. (Since object oriented design is often shied away from in the community at large..)
my 2 cents
And my state is so 1969 (Score:1)
quick clarification (Score:1)
Re:It's "Killgor" not "Killgour" (Score:1)
smalltalk (Score:1)
Figure it out... I can't.
Thanks! (Score:1)
Keep up the good work!
Hep! (Score:1)
I don't know if it's really huge, but certainly more than 10 years of work has gone to it and it's coming along nicely..
--
Pirkka
Registration required (Score:5)
Anyone used it? (Score:1)
Link to a review, perhaps?
Re:Anyone used it? (Score:1)
Re:Anyone used it? (Score:1)
The cons I've heard are that it uses the Motif widget set so it looks somewhat clunky and it's slow. If anyone tried the beta release of VAJ 2.0 for Windows it was an absolute turtle. Startup times of 5 minutes on my PC with frequent crashes. When the final release came out it was tremendously faster. Hopefully if the Linux version is slow the final release will speed things up.
I downloaded it last night. Hopefully I can play with it soon.
VAJ2 Beta - Linux (Score:1)
Well, after at *least* 30 seconds of intense testing, it looks like a lot of the functionality of the windows version is there... (The stuff I was working on in VAJ for doze imported, ran)...
All I can say is. YES! I'll be coughing up the bucks for the full version when it's out. (The preview is limited to 500 classes)
I wonder how long until VAC++ (Score:1)
Unless anyone out there can recommend some I haven't heard of.
So much for IBM's webserver scalability (Score:1)
But I get quite a chuckle when a major name player spends a ton of money advertising how robust their product is, and then it falls flat on it's face.
-Jim
Do NOT mirror this! (Score:1)
--
Slashdotted already, I guess (Score:1)
ACK (Score:1)
Mirrors (Score:1)
Background (Score:1)
I thought the events that preceeded the release were quite interesting. About a year ago one VAJ user [jguru.com] set up web page containing a petition to get IBM to create a Linux version of VAJ. About a thousand people signed it, then he sent it to IBM. The amazing thing is that IBM then did something about it! I'm impressed that so many people signed the petition, and that IBM responded.
Looks pretty good so far (Score:1)
Visual Age for Java is the preferred Java tool where I work, so this is a pretty nice thing to have. I am going to be attending a week long training class on Visual Age pretty soon and I am going to be starting work on a project that is being developed with Visual Age, so I should get some chance to work on it. If it works well for me I will probably buy the professional edition when it ships.
IBM, if you are listening... I'd also like a Solaris (Sparc) version of Visual Age so I could run it on the SparcStation on my desk at work. If it runs on AIX and Linux, it couldn't be much work to make a Solaris version.
Re:Sooner VAC++ than BC++ for Linux (Score:1)
I've heard that Linux is priority ONE at IBM, knocking NT off the hill. The OpenClass framework is a nice package and the new C++ incremental compiler in VA C++ v4.0 is awesome. But then again, using Java for most of the GUI stuff should be fine now that a fast JVM is here (IBM JVM w/JIT v3.0) so the realtime/heavy stuff can be done with gcc easy enough talking through JNI or sockets to the Java GUI.
I wonder if the Java2 ORB is talking with mico? That could be a nice mix......
Re:Anyone used it? (Score:1)
I downloaded the Linux preview yesterday and have been experementing with it. I'm impressed! Its a little unclear what version its supposed to be (Startup says 2.0(NC), About says 3.0 beta, and it has some things not found in 2.0) but it is faster than the Windows version.
Seems to work OK, parts of my project crashed the IDE but I think that has more to do with the DB2 libraries I tried bringing in from the Enterprise edition. Anything non-database is stable.
It'll be voted for with my $$ when the final comes out thats for sure!
A review from JavaPro can be found here [devx.com]
Re:Database integration; compared w/VB, Access? (Score:1)
Re:All Java IDEs are bad (Score:1)
Re:Sooner VAC++ than BC++ for Linux (Score:1)
"Inprise does not have plans to develop C++Builder for Linux at this
time. However, I will forward your inquiry to our C++Builder Product
Marketing Manager for consideration. As well, please continue to check
our website at http://www.borland.com/ for information updates on
platform support.
"
let's hope you're right
Be good to see VA C++ on Linux in any case.
Will in Seattle
Re:I wonder how long until VAC++ (Score:1)
It uses gcc instead of their own compiler. Check their website [metrowerks.com].
Encourage application developers to release RPMs. (Score:1)
RPM's aren't distribution-specific anymore (even Debian and Slackware now handle them pretty naturally with the toys in their respective base install). They're common across the whole of Linux now. Application developers who want to make packages easily installable on Linux by newbies (and, like it or not, each of us was a newbie at one point, how else do you gain users but by attracting and converting newbies) should use RPM any place they'd use "installshield" on a windoze.
How "professional" is it to release a ".zip" file for a windows program? A configuration readme is fine for us techies, but even I have been known to put off installing new software indefinitely if I know it's going to take more than 2 minutes to get it up and I'm just evaluating it, so I won't know if it's worth the effort until I've seen it!
RPM's provide a competitive advantage to Linux application software vendors that use them. It's as much a part of making Linux newbie-friendly (or "career secretary who needs help finding the on switch" friendly) as drool-and-click desktops.
Speaking of which, a desktop can do a much better job figuring out what to do when you click on an RPM than it can when you click on a .tgz file.
Ok, spleen vented, moving on...
Re:Sooner VAC++ than BC++ for Linux (Score:1)
Perhaps they don't want the ligne of imprise's tools in Linux..
Just my $0.02(African one)
Not just for Red Hat? (Score:1)
Fired VAJ up on Debian potato and it works like a charm. Wrote up a quick little applet and wired the events together without any problems.
I even like the install, no rpm putting things who knows where, just a simple tarball. My only complaint with it is that it's very sluggish. But then I think I remember the same from the windows version too.
Good Job (Score:1)
IBM - Consider making this free unless a product is sold that was built using VA ?!?!?
Re:Encourage application developers to release RPM (Score:1)
We ARE talking about a development environment here. I would hope that it's safe to assume any "professional" developer would be able to handle a tar file. If not, I wouldn't want to use anything they developed.
It would be different if we were talking about an "end user" program such as word perfect or an office suite.
Yes, this is meant as a kind of a troll, but think about it. What developer with any self respect would complain about a non-RPM'd developer tool?
Haven't you ever downloaded the tools from prep.ai? Didn't you ever compile GCC, or egcs, from scratch to optimize the compiler and make it run faster? I can't believe I'm hearing a Linux "developer" complain about not knowing how to handle a tar file!
Re:All Java IDEs are bad (Score:1)
just had to add that in..
Re:Why aren't these written in Java? (Score:1)
Re:Encourage application developers to release RPM (Score:1)
>prep.ai? Didn't you ever compile GCC, or egcs,
>from scratch to optimize the compiler and make it
>run faster?
Haven't played with GCC since college and I get the tool sources off of CD usually, but I am in the process of installing a system from scratch starting with kernel source code and the "bootdisk howto". Pretty straightforward going so far, although getting X to recognize an onboard SIS graphics card is a bit of a pain, I'm to the point where everything works except the pixels on the screen are out of order, I might muck around in its source to see if I can fix that...
Might make an "Install Linux yourself from source code with tweezers and a magnifying glass HOWTO" when I'm done... Right now it's just so I'll know what it all does.
>Yes, this is meant as a kind of a troll, but
>think about it. What developer with any self
>respect would complain about a non-RPM'd
>developer tool?
Anyone, such as me, who doesn't think solely and myopically of their own needs.
>I can't believe I'm hearing a Linux
>"developer" complain about not knowing how to
>handle a tar file!
Of course I know how to handle a tar file. But this is precisely the point. The developer community is extremely self-centered, that's why the system's been around for 8 years and we're only JUST starting to write a desktop for the thing.
Think of someone LEARNING to program on linux. Everything had darn well better come pre-installed or they're screwed. And there's more to install than unzipping, there's uninstalling, inventory/versioning, and fun configuration things like enabling desktop icons and making them go away again during uninstall....
Trying to get X working on my graphics card I've installed and uninstalled the server at least three times. (Uninstall the old X server, install X-SIS from suse, uninstall that and try the new 3.3.3.1 SVGA server which has exactly the same pixel ordering problem X-SIS did. The mouse leaves droppings, dragging windows smudges the contents, text is illegible, it's sad...)
It would have been a real pain to figure out which files were XBASE and which were specific to the card without a built-in uninstall. (Cleaning up the sumlinks would have been nice too, but that's at least partly a Red Hat specific problem...)
Getting places like IBM -USED- to providing uniform install packages is important. Like it or not, Red Hat's Package manager is the standard we've got. It is the most widely used install program, and I believe every single distribution except Debian and Slackware now uses it exclusively. And both Debian and slackware provide it as an option.
Rob
Re:Encourage application developers to release RPM (Score:1)
>some RedHat shit on my system.
If I remember correctly, this is why Bruce Perens left. The reason -I- left debian was the general "I don't care if anyone other than me uses it, although I'd prefer it if they didn't" attitude of the mailing list. I could only take about six months of that, then I went for the distribution that was most interested in bringing open source to the largest number of people. Turned out to be Red Hat.
>Plus RPM is a proprietary binary package that
How can you have a proprietary GPL'd toolset?
>can't be extracted with standard tools, so when
>you want to read the README on a
>Sun/Alpha/Windows machine you're completly dead.
Only by your definition of "standard tools". Considering you have to download gzip for most platforms other than Linux anyway, where's the problem? (Other unixen come with "compress", remember?) On linux (including debian), a tool to use the suckers is part of the base package.
And why isn't the readme on the web page you download it from?
>The Debian package format has the advantage to be
>an 'ar' archive (+ tar.gz inside)
It has the disadvantage of nobody using it.
Nobody replaces an established standard without a darn good reason, and even then it's an uphill battle. That's the whole reason micros~1 has survived this far. GIF is patented 8 bit with no transparency and clearly superior PNG -STILL- is having an uphill battle.
There an art to knowing what can and cannot work, and one big trick is not to confuse the means with the ends (such as Stallman telling people not to call the system "Linux").
Don't stand at the bottom of hoover dam and push. It won't work. Go around, get dynamite, do something useful. But standing there and pushing is just sad.
>Proposing RPM to be the standard on Linux
>machines is the worse idea I've ever seen
You should get out more. Try visiting Washington DC, it's an eye-opener.
Rob
Re:It didn't crash, and it is scaleable (Score:1)
As I pointed out, I'm not convinced it was
In any case, they're telling people in newsletters and press releases to go and check out their product. They should be prepared for a large response. Especially a company like IBM which advertises themselves heavily as an Internet server company. Perceptions of a company and its abilities come from many sources. This is just one.
Which JDK are they using? (Score:1)
Yes-and it's very, very good (Score:1)
Lots of other features as well, including the ability to execute arbitrary code snippets on the fly, a powerful versioning system, and so on.
No, I don't work for IBM, I just really dig this tool.
Re:Which JDK are they using? (Score:2)
Re:Registration required (Score:1)
Password: slashdot
Still can't get in. (Score:1)
You'd think IBM's site would be better than this. I can't believe it!
Metrowerks CodeWarrior Screenshots? (Score:1)
Re:I wonder how long until VAC++ (Score:1)
If my opinion doesn't sell you, keep in mind that even John Carmack would agree that Code Warrior is the simplest, fastest way to write good code....
jfc 1.0.3, they must be kidding!!!!!!!!! (Score:1)
Just downloaded the package and runs just
cool.Was even able to import a package
from me.
BUT, the shit uses jfc 1.0.3 and my package
swing1.1. So all those import javax.swing.*
are considered of going into nirvana
And with a limit of 500Classes I can't even
import the hole swingall.jar
anybody knows how I can get it to accept
swing1.1??????
tha_skunk
Re:It's "Killgor" not "Killgour" (Score:1)
Also, D.M. Kilgour studied the effects of high temperatures on fish in 1985 and B.G. Kilgour studied bioassessment of freshwater ecosystems.
Who's to say what the reference is, really?
Worked well on a box here (Score:1)
Seems that maybe we will get Borland C++ soon - they just announced JBuilder for Linux, so they're probably working on Borland C++ Builder for Linux as we speak, saving the announcement for the next Linux show. Might not hurt to pop over to their web site and ask them when they'll have C++ Builder for the Linux platform just to
Will in Seattle
Re:I wonder how long until VAC++ (Score:1)
This release was prompted by a large user demand. A similar outcry for VASmalltalk for Linux might have a similar effect. As someone mentioned already, VAJ/Linux implies that some/all of VAST already runs on Linux.
As an added bonus, this might remind IBM that the Smalltalk community hasn't died.
Re:Encourage application developers to release RPM (Score:1)
uncompress file.tar.Z
tar -xf file.tar
./vajide
What could be simpler? No su-ing, nothing, just unpack and go
Re:I wonder how long until VAC++ (Score:2)
A busy session with "make", "gdb" and some interactive source-level debugging can look like this screenshot [abisource.com]. XEmacs parses gcc's output and with a click you jump right to the warning or error.
Best yet, you can do everything with your hands on the keyboard, or you can use the mouse if you feel like it. XEmacs 21, the new beta series, also has a very nice package management system. Select a package source from the Options/Manage Packages menu and it'll retrieve them from the net and install them--modes for every language known to man.
Re:Metrowerks CodeWarrior Screenshots? (yes) (Score:1)
http://ragnar.spinweb.net/code/JhttpServer/JhttpS