RE: Java and Visual Basic, how to learn?

["Joe Pluta" <joepluta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> From: Walden H. Leverich III
>
> My (well documented) preference is for the MS side of the world,
> so I'd look
> at ASP.NET, but the JSP/Servelet side is just as capable and can be hosted
> directly on the iSeries.
>
> Unless your company has a _very_ good reason for writing thick clients
> don't! If you're used to green-screen deployment of applications
> you'll hate
> the distributed deployment requirements of thick applications and love the
> single-instance deployment of web apps.

This may be the Third Sign of the Apocalypse, but for the second time in a
year I entirely concur with Walden.  I was just asked this in an interview,
and I honestly  had a hard time coming up with a justification for a thick
client solution.

1. The biggest advantage thick client has is in tight desktop integration.
It's much easier to integrate with other desktop software (through drag and
drop and so on) via a thick client.

2. If you need detached mode processing (that is, you need to download data
to a laptop then disconnect from the network to do work), then a thick
client is a necessity.

3. Finally, you have TOTAL control over the GUI.  When the browser wars were
raging, this was a much bigger issue.  Now that you're down to basically
Explorer vs. TROU (the old Mac term, an acronym for The Rest Of Us, meaning
basically everything non-IE such as Netscape and Opera), this is less of an
issue.

My recommendation?  Thin-client as the primary delivery mechanism for your
application.  I'm on the opposite side of the coin here from Walden, I
believe strongly in JSP/servlet as opposed to ASP.NET.  And thick-client
only when absolutely necessary, for applications meeting any of the criteria
above.

Joe