Re: swing or awt ?

Date: Sun, 4 May 2003 12:18:45 -0600
Newsgroups: comp.lang.java.gui
Size: 1,667 bytes

Annetta wrote:
> Can anybody tell me the difference or advantages of swing against awt?
> Are there any problems known with browsers?
Sure. Swing's advantages over the AWT include that it depends on fewer
platform variables and is thus more likely to work acceptably on
multiple platforms; that the model/component separation that's built in
through the Swing API lets your adapt your GUI to the underlying logic,
rather than having to worry about the GUI when you actually write the
underlying logic; that there are a far richer set of standard APIs in
Swing than in the AWT; that there are unified frameworks for such things
as keyboard handling that are difficult in the base AWT event model;
that if you want to customize your application look and feel, you can do
so without worrying about what your changes will look like on different
platforms; that Swing provides double-buffering in components by
default; that Swing components automatically handle some nitpicky GUI
stuff like borders on components and so on; and more.
AWT's advantages are that it's native (which some people like for GUI
consistency -- in fact, some people are rather fanatically attached to
it); it's a lower-level toolkit and can sometimes be made a bit more
efficient as a result; and that it's been around a little longer and is
therefore more widely available.
Swing in browsers, for all intents and purposes, requires the Java
PlugIn. If you're writing applets, that could be an additional
advantage of the AWT.
--
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