Unified, Smunified - Program Java ME widgets instead
Tom Yager's blog post makes the wrong assumption that applications should run exactly the same on a Java ME cell phone as they do on a desktop PC. Bzzzt! Wrong answer. Developers and content developers should be able to program and develop the same way on a cell phone and PC (like use the same NetBeans IDE) and use the same programming language, like Java technology. But, the same bits should not necessarily need to run on the two different types of devices. Although in theory the Grand Unified Theory of apps running the same way on a phone as a PC as a TV, etc. has been around for years and sounds good on paper, in practice the reality is that the form factors (input devices, keyboards/keypads, screen res, etc.) are too different. For example, you do not run a Nintendo GameBoy DS game the same way as on the Nintendo Wii game console--two different paradigms, two different user experiences, therefore two different apps. The same bits should not run on the two different types of devices. A lot of people don't get that. See: Tom Yager's doesn't get the difference Here's a quote: It's thrilling to imagine rich, responsive, attractive client applications that run identically on desktops, notebooks, and mobile devices, as well as over remote connections. Java promised us that.Java ME technology promises a small learning curve for programmers of small devices (if you know Java SE you know Java ME). And, the new concept of widgets (small integrated services that run in a minimal Java GUI, not full blown apps) applied with Java ME addresses running on desktops, notebooks, and mobile devices. Creating small chunks of Java code to be widgets, like a weather report widget, or a traffic report widget, or cheapest gas locater widget, will make the "write once, run anywhere" promise a reality on Java SE desktops/notebooks and Java ME cell phones and TV set-top boxes. The bits linking the different types of Java widgets together then becomes the only difference (such as, an app manager or a "browser"), but the widgets are where unification happens, not the browser. |
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Posted by mika on July 21, 2007 at 03:51 AM PDT #