Domino & the state of Java
Mikkel Heisterberg has had some great threads going on lately, all around the use of Java by Notes and Domino developers. Here are the main posts; be sure to check out the comments too:
- Is the lack of Java skills in the Notes/Domino developer community the Achilles’ heel of IBM?
- Re: Is the lack of Java skills in the Notes/Domino developer community the Achilles’ heel of IBM?
- Ed Brill on Mikkel’s post
Much of this was prompted by a post over on Ed’s site that I mentioned a few weeks ago. Whilst I entirely agree with Mikkel’s overall message:
Instead of bitching and moaning I think we, as a community, should be thrilled and instead focus on the fact that IBM has seen this shift coming, and that Notes/Domino with the Hannover client is embracing the future and providing the tooling to leverage existing investments in other platforms. Lets embrace the future not hide away from it refusing to accept the change that is coming.
... I don’t think that this perceived “resistance” is down to the majority of Notes & Domino developers parading around the place with their procedural Lotusscript, pausing only to insert heads in the sand. As I’ve said before, it all comes down to how well Java works for you, and what project opportunities come your way. As an aside, seeing as IBM have added Javascript to their JVM for the new Workplace stuff, why not stick Lotusscript in there too?
When it comes to getting Lotusscript developers to learn Java, I’ve seen a number of people recommend that those developers write all their back-end agents in Java rather than LS, just to get the hang of things. Well, I have an issue with this on two counts:
- this should not be done within a production environment. By all means tinker with re-writes in development, just to learn syntax, but don’t roll this stuff out!
- most people, understandably, take this as a sign that they should simply emulate Lotusscript coding patterns in Java: i.e. they stay procedural. Net gain? Nothing. You’re not learning Java that way, just learning to insert semi-colons and curly braces in your code (oh, OK, you get nicer error handling!)
With Hannover pending, the waters become a little muddied. There is understandable excitement around what IBM have done with the various bits and pieces that make up the traditional Notes client—for example, separating the back-end from the old Windows C UI, replacing the decrepit stuff with Eclipse components. What I still don’t have a feeling for is how this “deep” Java integration will stretch, if at all, into the back-end Notes object model. Despite the impressive efforts of Iris engineers working on the Java model in 4.6, I would say that in 2006 Domino needs a far steadier hand when it comes to Java.
Will Hannover offer this?
Posted at 14:02 GDT on 29 Mar 2006 | Categories:
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lotus notes domino
java
hannover (5 comments)
http://www.nsftools.com/blog/blog-03-2006.htm#03-29-06
Deploying Java in a Domino environment is a nightmare.
-- I think this sums it up pretty well.
Most people, understandably, take this as a sign that they should simply emulate Lotusscript coding patterns in Java: i.e. they stay procedural.
-- In the organization that I work for, we have 3 Domino programmers and 1 Java programmer. Our switch to Java has included a code review by our Java programmer. In this arena, really quickly you learn that your LotusScript coding style is not the same for Java. With each piece of Java you write, and after its review, you are that much better equipped to write production quality Java, even if it is on your Domino platform.
But new requirments direct you to Java..