RE: field initializtion

Joe,

I agree with you. A problem with the list is that most of the times you
don't get answers to questions that arise while developing a Java
Application. It is flooded with newbie questions. And you are right, when
you say that it takes only a bit more effort read books get solutions to
these questions.

But comparison with RPG or any other tool, I feel is quite okay. Basically
tool to tool comparison may sound obsolete at times but there are instances
when you may find a solution to a problem in Java because another tool
prompted you to think that way. And since this forum is for Java based
discussions which will benefit all of us, if a particular discussion
benefits some of us, the question is why not ? Java being a relatively new
tool, I feel we all must contribute towards increasing its user base, and so
participating in any discussion which may eventually contribute to increased
user base is always good. It will be added fun and thrill when you have
experienced hands participating in discussions. How does it matter how you
start (Comparing or whatever..), what finally matters is - Can this list
grow and mature in the future ? This will only happen if you take a
optimistic positive approach to questions like the one from Brad.

Cheers
Vijosh


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-java400-l@midrange.com
[mailto:owner-java400-l@midrange.com]On Behalf Of Joe Pluta
Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2001 3:31 AM
To: JAVA400-L@midrange.com
Subject: RE: field initializtion


MODERATOR NOTE
--------------

My vision for this list was a way for people to share ideas on using Java as
a component of creating applications for the AS/400, not comparing the
merits of RPG and Java.  I also didn't intend it as a Java 101 tutorial,
which is what it's degraded to of late, with questions being asked that
really have little or nothing to do with writing Java applications.

The questions asked here about initializing variables and returning null are
actually pretty silly.  They're equivalent to asking which indicator to use
for SFLCLR - the answer is whatever is best for your application.  That's my
opinion, and I've coded tens of thousands of lines of Java code.  If you'd
like to see how things are done, download the Sun source code and see how
they do things.  Or download the IBM toolbox.  Read some books, do some
programming.  Follow their lead or go your own way.  Make mistakes, live a
little.

No, this list was going to be how to actually write working applications for
the AS/400 taking advantage of things like WebSphere and servlets and
JavaServer Pages.  It was not meant to teach how to write trivial classes or
to compare the speed of RPG-CGI with JSP and servlets.  Over the past couple
of months, the character of the list has changed to what is often little
more than a tutorial on basic Java, continuously punctuated by "That's not
what *I* heard", or "Yeah, but I could do it THIS way in RPG."

So be it.  Those of you who want to find out about Java from an RPG
programmer's perspective are welcome to have your day.  The truth is that
Java isn't anything like RPG, and never will be.  If you're a good RPG
programmer, that's absolutely no assurance that you'll be a good Java
programmer.  Good Java is harder to write than good RPG.


Aaron wrote:
"Most of the time all I hear from this list is high-level garble about
morphing or encapsulation or what not.  I like it when the list gets its
hands dirty and figures out code."

"[Brad] has been asking a lot of questions so the RPG world can find out if
Java is a good investment."


For anybody who thinks polymorphism is garble, then I can answer that
question without all the wasted time: Java is not a good investment for you.
Period.  Stick with RPG.  It makes no sense to learn Java without learning
OO.

Polymorphism, inheritance and encapsulation are what Java is all about.  If
you don't learn those, then Java is a waste of your time.  Getting your
"hands dirty" without at least a basic understanding of those crucial points
leads to bad code and bad habits.  If you're not trying from the get-go to
learn proper OO techniques, then your time is wasted with Java.  It's slow,
cumbersome and syntactically challenging for RPG programmers who just want
to write procedural code.

If, on the other hand, you want to learn how to create object-oriented
systems that promote reuse and scalability and offloading and the
flexibility to meet changing application demands, then by all means learn
OO, then learn Java.

>From now on, I'll not respond to the Java 101 questions or the RPG
comparisons.  Others can carry that ball.  If someone needs help with
WebSphere, or OO, or architectures, I'll chime in.  I apologize for trying
to keep a vision for this list, and perhaps taking it and myself a little
too seriously.

------------------
END MODERATOR NOTE
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