Re: Swing and its alternatives

Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2003 16:33:53 +0000 (UTC)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.java.gui
Size: 1,544 bytes

Mark <email-address-deleted> writes:
> We saw a presentation yesterday from a project that just implemented usng Swing
> 1.3.1. The chief architect stated that Swing is slow and quite difficult to
> work with.
You can make mistakes that make Swing really slow, yes. But you don't
have to :-). If you need every microsecond of CPU time, than Swing is
not for you, otherwise it is no problem to write responsive
applications in Swing.
Also, Swing is IMHO not more difficult than other GUI toolkits. If you
don't belive me, try to get something up and running using XView, or
Motif, of course with resizable windows :-)))
I would suggest you investigate the folowing: - The crediability of this so called chief architect, esp. with how many other GUI systems he has worked, on what platforms, and how many Swing GUIs and other GUIs he has "architected" before. - The complexity of the application, e.g. if windows have to have a dynamic layout or a static layout. If complect graphics had to be drawn. - "Real-Time requirements". Is there interactive manipulation of complexs graphics objects? - Which tools have been used to build it - To what extend the Sun Style guides have been followed or how consistent the GUI is. This gives some rough indication about the "love" and dedication that went into the development and the experience that the developers had.
And then you might also want to go to the Swing sightings pages on the
Sun web site, which lists many, many nice Swing applications.
/Thomas