Re: GUI development language

On 8/31/07, albartell <albartell@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

<Steve>
I have a user that wants a display where they can drill down to an item
number and have the on hand, in transit, in production, and forecasted
demand of the item displayed to them. then show this information for all
the items of a product category in a grid, with the option to print it or
download in xml form. It would be nice if the user could right click a cell
and popup a context menu with all sorts of useful options. But 90% of the
requirement is to have access to the needed data. With asp.net and odbc you
could have an as400 appl that gives the users what they need coded and
deployed very quickly. And it could be written by someone with no knowledge
of the as400 platform.
</Steve>

I am missing your point. I know you know this can be done with a thick
client (or Microsoft's 'Smart client' approach). Sounds more like you are
challenging 5250 vs. browser - that was not my question at all.


Let's try this...

Have you or Walden used a browser application that was better for the user
than a thick client?

I am not in Walden's class, my perspective as a newcomer is it is
easier to code a desktop application than a web one. ( viewstate, css
vs table alignment, block vs inline elements, client side vs server
size code, ... the programmer needs to know a lot more to code a web
appl than desktop.

I still think what matters the most is deploying functionality to the
user. and for the as400 user that is best accomplished using asp.net
and odbc ( you can code it quickly, it is good enough user experience
wise, browser deployment cant be matched, and the programming model
works well with business logic running on the central as400 and
presentation in the browser.

-Steve