Hi Mark,
I can sure empathize with you. I guess I've had many weekends with similar frustrations.
I use VA Java a little bit. I've used Forte, but I haven't used Borland's
product. Odd, really, since I like them as a company and have heard so many
good things about it.
But VAJ is a really good product. I think that what you have to get used
to in learning to program Java using VAJ is that you will have three areas
to learn. Java syntax (easy), Java class libraries (easy but tedious), and
VisualAge (medium to complex). That is considering that you start with an
understanding of OOP and components (which are JavaBeans in this environment).
I don't really remember ever having the debugger not work, so I'm not
sure what to say about that one. I know that I have experienced lockup problems
and I think I've found the cause of that (if you were getting the "Java program
not responding" when using the visual editor).
I'm not interested in talking you into using VA Java if you really don't
want to play with it, but I would like to help if you cool off and want to
get rolling with it again.
There are some resources you might find useful, like IBM's newsserver groups, hang on...
news.software.ibm.com
There are several news groups discussing the various aspects of Visual
Age for java. These are really, really busy news groups with lots of excellent
professionals helping each other out. Plus, IBM monitors the groups.
There is also a book, Effective VisualAge for Java, that I recommend. I'm just a reader of it, not affiliated.
Now, I know that Sun has many Java discussion forums in their developer's
exchange area on their web site and that can be very useful, but I personally
don't like the way web based message boards operate. I like being able to
set up my own editor, etc. However, Forte is a great product and let's you
focus much more on just using Java and less on worrying about component assembly.
I know that if you've used VB you'll be familiar with component assembly
already, but the switch in paradigms might be exactly what gets in your way
with VAJ.
I haven't used Code/400 in a few years. I always really liked Code/400
for development of RPG and is really confused my why sites wouldn't upgrade
to it since I felt it really made a big difference in programmer productivity.
I assume it is only better now then when I last used it. So I don't want
to disparage it at all, I'm just pointing out that VisualAge for Java is
really a very good product. I'm a really whiner and if there was plenty to
whine about I'd be pouring it out here.
MWalter@hanoverwire.com wrote:
OFF67C5A9C.4058EF1B-ON85256A6F.0042E8D7@HANOVERWIRE.COM">THAT'S IT. I'VE HAD IT. I've tried all weekend to make VAJAVA work for me.
[snip]
OFF67C5A9C.4058EF1B-ON85256A6F.0042E8D7@HANOVERWIRE.COM">
Mark
Mark Walter
Sr. Programmer/Analyst
Hanover Wire Cloth a div of CCX, Inc.
mwalter@hanoverwire.com
http://www.hanoverwire.com
717.637.3795 Ext.3040
--
Chris Rehm
midrange.com
