whether reading swing is worth it?

Question

i planning to read swing concept, if it is worth reading ,please suggest some study material

Answer 1

Swing is necessary to learn if you wish to make desktop applications with Java. Also, it can't hurt to learn about it, as that many of the techniques used in Swing are found in Design Patterns and other GUI toolkits.

Answer 2

There are too many GUI toolkits for Java since the AWT debacle. Even Swing has been seriously downplayed by critics, they have thier reasons though. But there are still lot of advantages of playing with Swing:

1. Inherently Swing is slightly tough to use. So once you have done through swing, you may probably get through any other technology smoothly.
2. Swing has a good design: Ok not from usability point of view, but still there is something really beautiful about Swing's design and approach to GUI programming. You will understand that when I tell you how many different toolkits we have integerated along with Swing, we couldnt do the same for other GUI toolkits.
3. Well I can assure that using Swing will improve your code-digging abilities. People who have suffered Swing would tell you :)

Note: But all this only applies, if you have enough time and a spare job :)

Answer 3

Its good to know, won't hurt. As a Java programmer you might need to make small utility applications from time to time, so why not make them a good GUI.
Aside from that, i would suggest a graphical IDE, like Netbeans. You can use the Swing components and dig in the "auto-generated" code when you need to.

Answer 4

From my experiences with Swing, I think that it really depends on what you are planning on using it for. Swing was the first tool I used for designing GUI applications. I felt it was easy to use, and there is very good documentation and tutorials all over the internet on Swing. After a certain period of time, I came to realize the limitations in Swing and made a personal conclusion that Swing was a great tool for learning, and for developing small desktop applications.

Unfortunately these characteristics can only take you so far. I personally feel that Swing is limiting in that it is not a very powerful tool beyond windows and text boxes. If you are looking at doing something with the absolute most basic need of these features, then yes you would use Swing. On the other hand, if you plan on creating Powerful, professional applications, then swing might not be the tool for you to spend your time mastering. There are other tools out there that allow you to go beyond the limitations of Swing in regards functionality and efficiency.

So once again, it really depends what level you currently consider yourself, as well as what you plan on doing in the future. For everyday, "play" coding, Swing is great, but if you plan on doing anything more, then research other tools first.