> But again, this is not really a standalone desktop application like a word
> processor. I'm just wondering with all the advantages people claim for Java
> why there are not more of those applications out there. Not applets or
> server code, but plain desktop applications.
>
> Gerhard

I've spent the last year or so working on a *very* large Java application
(educational software for Mechanical Engineering).

I was thrown on the project (like most times) when things were going
more slowly than anticipated. The project started 5 years ago.

I had no hand in the initial design of either the objects or the
user interface.

Both of them, well, suck.

On the other hand, the application runs very quickly. And this is using
Java 1.2 (because that was what it started with, and they aren't going
to "waste" the month or so to convert it to Java 1.4).

While the application could use a total rewrite to clean up some
rather skanky code, it works fast and provides the proper results.

This is a *huge* application. It has seven modules that the students
can create simulated experiments and see the results and match them up
against similar data from real experiments. I call this "The Project
That Eats People" because the lead programmer left it because he went
insane, and grad students stay an average of 1 semester working on
this app.

Now, the *first* design for the program would have made it much more
useful and it would be *done* a couple of years ago.
--
D. Jay Newman           ! DCX - it takes off and lands base down,
jay@sprucegrove.com     !       as God and Robert Heinlein intended.
http://enerd.ws/robots/ !

--
http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us!
email listserv@mitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body