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Java development on Macintosh -- is it viable or not?

Find out whether a Java developer using a Mac can be competitive, given the history of lags in delivery of tools for the MacOS

By Daniel H. Steinberg, JavaWorld.com, 07/01/97

Page 2 of 4

Why would you use a Mac

Steve Rose is one of six Java developers at his company and the only one to use a Mac. Rose prefers to use Metrowerks CodeWarrior, saying that while his Windows-based "co-workers do their compiles from the command line in DOS ... [and] can't reliably set break-points and step through code when debugging ... I can even examine variables including the contents of Vectors while debugging. I can set my output to Apple, Application, Class Files, or a zip file. I can even run a zip file while in debug mode if I like."

Last month's cover story in JavaWorld, "Which Java visual development environment is best for you?," compared five top tools. Even though JavaWorld has covered Mac-based integrated development environments in a previous review and promises a follow-up review of Mac IDEs, the recent review considered only tools running on Windows 95 or NT. The article mentioned that many of the environments plan Mac ports, but Microsoft's Java evangelist, Brad Merrill, says that there are no plans for a Macintosh version of Visual J++.

Many of the programmers who offered input for this article use both Windows and Macintosh machines and prefer Java development on the Mac. Most respondents to my Usenet newsgroup query told similar stories about being happy using CodeWarrior or Symantec's Cafe for Java development on a Mac. "The tools I get with CodeWarrior are first rate," remarked Glenn Howes, a Macintosh programmer. After reading complaints on Usenet newsgroups about Java on Windows "not having proper source level debuggers, having to launch applets from the command shell, and [how Visual J++] is the fastest way to turn a 17-inch monitor into a 14-inch [monitor]," Howes wondered: "Shouldn't this drive people from Windows 95 to MacOS?"

The second-most-cited reason for preferring the Mac is the superiority of text editors available on the Mac. (Favorites include BBEdit, MPW, CodeWarrior, and Alpha.) One developer complained that although the Mac has the best text editors, it is hard to stay with the Mac given the lack of JDK 1.1 support. Programmer Wally Wedel answered this objection by suggesting Mac developers seeking 1.1 support "use BBEdit on the Mac, zip things over to Windows 95, and compile and go."

Isn't everyone rushing to 1.1?

Many of us have been programming in Java since it was a beta or even an alpha release. It is difficult for us not to want to play with the newest and coolest features -- but is that the best way to produce stable software for customers?

Apple's Will Iverson distinguishes between the needs of developers and those of users: "We must have both early access to bleeding-edge technology for developers, and a solid, stable, high-performance technology for end-users, and these demand radically different release and quality schedules."

Many respondents say that even if JDK 1.1 for the MacOS was available, they would not necessarily make the make the change from JDK 1.0.2. "The lack of 1.1 support on the Mac doesn't keep us from moving to it," Steve Rose says. "It is [the combination of] the lack of any other support for it, the time to modify our code for 1.1, and the newness of it all... Do any browsers support 1.1? [JDK] 1.1 is still new and [people] are finding bugs in it."

 

Improve efficiency with Visual Studio(r) 2010 Beta 2. - Microsoft

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