For who know both Java Web and Desktop, is it more easy a Java Desktop programmer change to Web, or vice versa?
A:
My opinion is completely subjective and based on no empirical evidence whatsoever but I would guess going from Desktop to Web is harder than the reverse. Couldn't even explain why.
JRL
2010-04-24 21:32:28
If you work on both developments, you can say if there is really big difficult level difference. If you work in both and still think is subjective, maybe there is no really big difficult level difference.
Tom Brito
2010-04-25 00:34:35
+1
A:
I feel more proficient doing Swing development than Struts development. It is easier for me to change Swing than Struts.
If I am allowed, I like GWT.
Romain Hippeau
2010-04-25 00:46:50
+1
A:
Both desktop and web development have their own difficulties that will trip up someone who only knows one or the other.
Web development in general requires a broader knowledge of different technologies - HTML, JavaScript, CSS for the client; Servlets, JSPs, and whatever web framework the project's using; SQL, JDBC, and whatever ORM approach the project's using.
There are so many different Java web frameworks also - the basics are pretty much the same, but there's a really good chance you're going to be learning multiple frameworks as you work on different projects.
The difficulties on desktop projects are different. Rather than a dearth of frameworks, there's really none that are used that widely. (Swing and SWT are not really frameworks for building applications, they're just collections of widgets.) So you usually have to write more code - and that's code's really custom to the app/project/company. (and usually not that great - if only because there's only the small group of developers on your project working on it and using it (who are really more concerned with getting an app out) rather than the larger number of of developers developing and using popular web frameworks. )
Multi-threaded programming problems are a lot more common in desktop apps than web apps. Yes it's possible - but they're pretty well known problems and solutions, and again, web frameworks help again here.
Nate
2010-04-25 01:16:21
I'm not talking about web technologies only - I'm talking about technologies that you'd generally use to develop web applications. It would be pretty rare for a web application not to have some sort of data access, and in the vast majority of these cases, it's going to be a relational database.
Nate
2010-04-25 03:41:14
You are overgeneralizing what happens with desktop projects, it's really inappropriate to say that desktop projects usually produce bad code and web projects don't ;)
fish
2010-04-25 05:04:45
@fish - I didn't say desktop projects produce bad code and web projects don't. If there's a good framework that provides the plumbing needed for your app, you're going to be writing less code, more focused on the actual problem you're trying to solve. When you have to write all this yourself, there's a lot more chance of writing hacky, one-off solutions and not having a good separation of concerns.
Nate
2010-04-25 17:33:12
A:
I don't really think you can get an objective answer to this. Most of the people who have tried both have gone one way or another and base their opinion subjectively on their experiences.
fish
2010-04-25 05:07:24
I hope you are right about "most of people" part. And I want to know from the rare ones who know both Web and Desktop ;)
Tom Brito
2010-04-26 12:54:20