Student Views and Reviews: Sun on Campus

Student Views and Reviews recently asked Shailesh Kumar, a Master's student in computer science at the International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore, about his experience with JavaFX. Shailesh has a passion for developing mobile applications, which he said first started with the J2ME gaming challenge in 2005. Since then, he has worked with multiple mobile application platforms including Windows mobile and Android.

Shailesh first started using JavaFX when the Code JavaFX Challenge (India) was announced earlier this year, and has primarily used online resources to get up to speed with the programming language. Among the online resource Shailesh found most helpful are javapassion.com “for most of the syntax and basic how-to examples,” as well as the JavaFX.com site where Shailesh said he learned the API and code examples.

Obviously, with Shailesh's keen interest in mobile applications, that is the aspect of JavaFX he is most focused on. When asked what he would like to see added he said, “more integration with APIs,” because Shailesh said he found some limitations with JavaFX not being able to utilize the complete capabilities of MMAPI available on mobile phones when working on his entry for the JavaFX Coding Challenge. As far as his favorite feature, Shailesh says it is hands down the bind keyword, but also said he “really appreciates the ability to mix JavaFX and Java.”

Read the full Q&A with Shailesh here.

Ramin Mohammadi was one of the student winners from this summer's JavaFX Coding Challenge for his Caesar Photobook Mobile application.  The contest ended just a few days before his graduation from University, and he has since started full-time work at Caesar Groep. 

I was more than thrilled to come across this blog post today where Ramin has announced that he was selected to speak at the J-Fall 2009 Conference in November, organized by the Dutch Java Users Group.

Ramin's session will be about developing mobile applications with JavaFX. Ramin wrote in his blog that he plans to give a short introduction to JavaFX and then go through the process of developing a mobile application with his winning Caesar Photobook Mobile app developed for the contest.

So, a heartfelt congratulations to Ramin for already being recognized as an astute JavaFX developer and being selected to present at J-Fall 2009.  This is truly a testament to the idea that hard work can pay off, as it has for recent graduate Ramin!

Student Views and Reviews recently conducted an e-mail interview with Abhishek Munie, a “long-time” user of the JavaFX programming language. Abhishek has been working with JavaFX since the 1.0 release in December 2008. Abhishek reported that he utilized the learning resources and samples available on JavaFX.com to learn the program. He made regular, steady progress in learning the language and was able to develop and submit a complete application for the JavaFX Coding Challenge which he said “was a great experience.”

While Abhishek said he is still exploring the new features in JavaFX 1.2, he reported that his favorite new tools are the javafx.scene.chart and javafx.scene.control. He also said “screen and javafx.util.math class has made my work easy, but I expected more features to be available in class javafx.stage.” When asked what he would like to add to JavaFX right now Abhishek said, “I would like to improve the way a JavaFX application is deployed and run, and make it faster.”

Abhishek said what he likes most about JavaFX is that “it gives the power of Java with easy-to-create good-looking and user-friendly applications.” He pointed out that features such as the timeline and effects give a developer the ability “to easily combine many things within a custom node, which makes it easy to develop a good looking and powerful application, within no time.”

Looking to the future, Abhishek says “the future of programming language is JavaFX, but it has a long way to go.” He acknowledges that the world has already “seen the power of Java-powered mobile apps” and said that he believes “there is no doubt that JavaFX will bring a revolution,” largely because of its ability to easily be deployed on a variety of devices.

Read more of Abhishek's interview here.

Student Views and Reviews recently spoke with Joan Barrull, a law student currently working as a software engineer at Baratz, a software development company headquartered in Spain. Joan has won several programming-related awards including the Mobius prize for a multimedia game in addition to a prize in the JavaFX Blogging Contest.

Joan has been working with JavaFX for several months, and has already contributed to writing an application at Baratz to report employee expenses. He reported that JavaFX proved to be an ideal tool saying “we managed to write the application very fast,” and noted that because the application was so quick and easy to deploy management has since decided to move forward in developing several projects with JavaFX. “With JavaFX it is very easy to write prototypes and proof-of-concepts, so we use JavaFX often.”

Joan also noted that he has several applications he developed that are ready to be submitted to the JavaStore when it opens to users in Europe. Of course, as a law student Joan pointed out, “I know that opening a JavaStore in Europe takes a lot of work in order to comply with the local law (data protection law, copyright law, and corporate law), but I am eager to visit JavaStore Europe.” When asked what he would like to add to JavaFX, Joan responded by saying “I prefer that the designers of JavaFX keep focused on architectural questions rather than spending time on widgets,” noting that he is “against adding features of the sake of it.”

Joan stated that his favorite feature of JavaFX 1.2 is simply “ease of use.” He said he appreciates the fact that with JavaFX you can write a prototype “in just minutes,” which allows him to “focus on the users instead of dealing with obscure technical tricks.” Among the other features Joan noted as “awesome” characteristics were JavaFX's closures and binding. He stated: “Overall, JavaFX is a great authoring platform for designing graphical apps very quickly” pointing out that with JavaFX apps can be designed that “focus on providing a great user experience.”

To read more of Joan's interview click here.

Reviews Interactive recently spoke with Jeff “JavaJeff” Friesen, a freelance software developer and educator specializing in Java technology. Jeff teaches Java at a local college and has written several books on Java, as well as numerous articles for java.net and JavaWorld.com. Jeff has an upcoming article on JavaFX 1.2's animated transition classes that is scheduled to be published in September at InformIT.com.

Jeff's primary involvement with JavaFX is currently academic, helping developers learn how to best use and extend Sun's JavaFX technology. Much of Jeff's research is presented in articles on his Web site at javajeff.mb.ca. Jeff's most recent JavaFX research projects include the "Painter's Canvas" article, which “provides the means to introduce complex graphics, such as fireworks, into a scene that cannot be (easily) generated via nodes,” as well as the recently published Units Converter application for JavaFX 1.2. Jeff reported he is currently working on some new and interesting JavaFX applications and has written additional articles on various JavaFX 1.2 APIs that will be posted in articles on his Web site later this month.

Read more of Jeff's interview and listen to him talk JavaFX here in On The Record.

Hey students, the JavaFX team is hard at work designing a comprehensive curriculum for Java developers and is looking for your input in this JavaFX survey to drive the direction of both JavaFX training and certification. The survey only takes about 5-10 minutes to complete.

The JavaFX team has stated that the primary objective of the curriculum is to enable developers of rich internet applications to use JavaFX technologies. The team is looking for your feedback and input on the types of topics and tasks to include in the training.

This is your chance to help drive the direction of JavaFX. The survey closes on September 16, so make sure you go here to have your say!

The JavaFX Tech Test Train, which I blogged about previously here, has a new feature, which will auto-complete your answer as soon as you begin to type the correct answer.  The goal is to help JavaFX Tech Test Train users to complete answers within the allotted 15-second time frame.

Is this something you find helpful?  Whether your answer is yes or no, go here to leave feedback (at the bottom of the page) and help the JavaFX engineers and game designers improve the learning opportunity for thousands of others with JavaFX Tech Test Train.

Tomás Augusto Müller is a 22-year-old student from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil who is studying Computer Science at Universidade de Santa Cruz do Sul (UNISC). Tomás is a Sun-certified Java developer who began researching JavaFX in February, and won an honorable mention in the recent JavaFX Coding Challenge. Tomás has studied JavaFX independently, beginning with the JavaFX plugin that came with NetBeans 6.5. Tomás pointed to a number of Web sites that helped him better understand JavaFX and noted that “knowing Java language, with this set of sites and with the help of the JavaFX plugin for NetBeans, language learning has become possible and relatively fast.”

When asked about the new JavaFX 1.2 release, Tomás said it “can be considered a big step forward on the platform.” Among the changes he found most helpful “are those related to the construction of graphical interfaces, including the new layouts, new components, and components for building graphs.” When asked what feature he would add to JavaFX right now Tomás said: “More visual elements...effects, components, 3D components, components ready to use in mobile devices.”

When asked what he liked the most about JavaFX Tomás said “I like the easy learning and the ability to reuse existing Java Code.” According to Tomás, the reuse of Java code “without additional difficulties,” is one of the biggest difference between JavaFX and other RIA development programs. In addition, Tomás stated: “Its syntax is simple, and the language offers great features. It facilitates integrations with various frameworks and other dynamic languages.”

Looking to the future, Tomás believes the JavaFX Authoring Tool “will be determinant to the success of JavaFX.” He said with the tool enabling the quick and easy building of interfaces while simplifying the use of platform functionalities, “I have no doubt that JavaFX will be a strong competitor among other RIAs.”

To read more of Tomás's interview in English, click here. To read it in Brazilian Portuguese, click here.

Looking for a fun and interactive way to get started with JavaFX?  I just got tipped off to this cool Tech Test Train application the other day and thought I ought to share it with everyone!

The Tech Test Train is an interactive eLearning game that was built entirely with JavaFX 1.2.  The Tech Test Train is intended to give you a hands-on introduction to JavaFX technology by allowing you to ride the train and test your knowledge, which is measured by earning points.  At the end of each route you can see what you missed to get access and links to suggested documentation and tutorials.  The Tech Test Train right now is only supported on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Mac OS X 10.5.

The Tech Test Train goes through the following introductory JavaFX technology concepts:

1. Getting Started
2. Core Constructs
3. GUI Constructs
4. Deployment
5. Media

After testing the game out, or if you have any problems with the game you can leave feedback and comments on this site where the game's designers have been interacting with users here and have offered some great tips and insight.  A warning to you though -- the game was not meant to be EASY -- it was designed to help you learn JavaFX. 

I am glad to see that Sun continues to roll out more tools to help people learn JavaFX!  For more on all the tools available to learn JavaFX check out this site.  And stay tuned -- who knows what will be next?!

Yesterday, I was sent some information on a really cool and FREE "summer camp" course on JavaFX for students between the ages of 13-18, that has just a few weeks left, so please don't waste any time checking out the links!

The course is brought to you by FreshBrain, which is an education platform for youth that focuses on technology and offers opportunities for teenagers to learn about and work with cutting-edge technologies in a safe community environment. FreshBrain has built an entire free virtual Summer Camp program with eight different "learning paths" students can choose from.  This includes the "Building Flash Websites with JavaFX" path in which students learn how to create animated content for a Web site on both desktop and mobile applications.

The only prerequisite is prior computer programming experience.  However, if you don't have any you still have time to take the "Learn Java Programming" learning path before signing up to learn JavaFX.

There are activities under each learning path that, when completed, will earn you a Badge!  Additionally, there is a challenge activity in which you can compete for cool prizes -- like winning up to $1,500 in the "Building Flashy Websites with JavaFX" path (second prize = $1,000, third prize = $500)!

The camp runs through August 14th, so there is still plenty of time to get involved -- FreshBrain estimates that each complete learning path will take about a week to complete.

So for those of you who know a 13-18-year-old interested in learning some new technology (and who doesn't!) please pass this information along ASAP!

A new session of the free 15-week JavaFX Programming (with Passion!) online course will begin August 25.  This is a great course to get you introduced to the JavaFX programming language and covers GUIs, Animation, RESTful Services, and WidgetFX amongst a host of other topics. To register, all you have to do is send a blank e-mail to this alias: javafxprogramming-subscribe@googlegroups.com

The first session of the free 15-week JavaFX Programming (with Passion!) online course ended last Saturday, July 25. There were approximately 4,000 participants in this session -- amazing!

If you are not familiar with the program, click here to check it out.  The course is run similarly to a college course in which students do weekly homework after studying presentation materials and taking part in a hands-on lab.  However, unlike college this course is free and can be taken entirely online.  Students interact with each other through e-mail where they exchange information as well as ask and answer questions.

JavaFX Coding Challenge Student Winner Ramin Mohammadi took this course, so it goes to show just how much you will learn from this free program!

For more information on Java Passion check out:

• Course topics
• Course Web site
• Course FAQs