Tag Archives: web applications

Does Complexity Necessarily Translate Into Capability?

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Two months ago I started work as a Java developer at Bluerush Media Group.  Shifting gears back into Java EE/JSP/Servlet and mostly backend work from Android development definitely took a while.  On one hand my work now is hidden behind layers and layers of servers, middleware and other “businessy” systems.  I definitely miss being able to have my work appreciated by many people.  Now only my fellow developers can compliment or complain about my work.  But on the other hand, I enjoy working with tested and tried technologies and platforms.  No more worrying about inconsistencies between devices.  No more fretting about what systems I communicate with.  No more frustrating moments of dealing with performance and optimization issues.  Instead there is more than enough computational power lying around that automation and abstraction become powerful tools to approaching and solving problems.  I feel less guilty about using some crazy library to configure itself, gather the necessary data and build part of the system for me.  In short, as with everything in life there are pros and cons to my work.

Just recently I discovered the joy of using JAXB.  It is mindbogglingly convenient to build entire packages of Java model classes from a single XML schema, and having JAXB handle the serialization and deserialization of Java models into XML and back again.   Using JAXB, some XML configuration files, a TestNG suite and some result data in CSV form, I could build out a pretty sweet and rather involved automated testing setup.  This let me run real stress tests on the application I am working on and letting me flesh out the code much faster and with greater confidence.  Or take the use of dependency injection from Spring or Guice, to help a developer initialize a large number of objects with complicated dependencies without getting lost.  The amount of automation and abstraction in Java EE is simply overwhelming.  However it does come with a price: complexity.  So while using the full power of Java EE and various libraries gives my applications a lot of capability, they also make the applications terribly complex.  It only gets more complex, the more “enterprisey” the application becomes.  There is simply no way I could even build the applications that I do, without having lots of complex tools such as a full-on IDE like Eclipse.

This brings me to the point of my post.  At same time as I delved further into Java EE, I am getting more and more interested in Python and Django.  After playing around a tiny bit with PySide building Qt apps in Python, and looking into Django I am surprised by how terse yet functional Python is.  Yes, Python being a scripted language will never outperform a compiled program (or even byte-code compiled Java app) in terms of performance.  But looking at how much computing power is available and how many more steps it takes to write a Java or other compiled source app… I wonder if programming in something like Python can not be more efficient.  What I am especially curious to find out is if one can build and maintain a large complex web app as one can in Java EE, but in Django and Python.  Basically I am curious of the capability of an app is proportional to its complexity.  Or is this just an illusion from living with a language and platform that lets you easily craft monolithic monsters?  Can one get the same results with good architecture, some smart engineering and a flexible language?

Web 2.0: Hype or Future?

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I recently applied for a web designer job, and among the requirements was a knowledge of Javascript and this new thing, AJAX. Truth be told, I never loved (or love) Javascript and never really enjoyed most client-side based web gimmicks (applets, Flash, etc.). In a few cases, these technologies were beneficial to the site deployed. For the most part I just found them to be irritating and in the way. Not to mention browser incompatibilities (Heck, they can’t handle a simple idea like CSS correctly why should they a full blown scripting language).

Needless to say, I avoided Javascript through most of my career, and mostly used it to “authenticate” on the client side (if there is such a thing as security on the client). When I heard of AJAX, I thought oh know… another gimmick and now it wants to “grope” my precious server with its “XMLHttpRequests”. Then my good friend Dima mentioned Bindows. Interesting a full desktop-like application in a browser. Today at a web seminar by MySQL, they showcased Zimbra. An open source full communications suite in AJAX. Impressive.

So what is this Web 2.0? The idea is to get more interactive applications on the web. The goal is to integrate all the information floating on the web, condense it and present in a dynamic manner. Hence the use of AJAX (or Javascript) as the underlying front end for web browsers. Yet the idea is broader than that. Not only are computers with web browsers involved, but also the myriad of different network-capable handheld devices. An interesting and lofty goal but can it be achieved?

Technology wise, the extensive use of Javascript and XML is produces impressive results. The idea of finally separating the presentation layer from the business logic and data is commendable. Before anyone starts waving the flag of revolution and buys stocks for the Web 2.0 boom, here are a few thoughts. The use of Javascript is SO intensive there is a need for whole UI and layout toolkits. In the open source community there are around 30 right now. In the desktop realm there is maybe 10 UI development kits: Swing/AWT, Gtk, Qt, along with the native Mac and Windows widgets being the most popular. Some standards exist for linking the many parts together but they vary widely. As with any standard, every vendor has their own perspective of how it should be implemented. Microsoft who is the founder of this entire paradigm, is shifting their attention to .net, which will mean locking in the client to the platform. And a swift kick to the head for the community effort. Finally even what to expect from a Web 2.0 application is not set in stone.

My analysis is this: the current situation is a messy free-for-all. The standards will almost certainly be abused, and you can look to the usual suspects for that one. The toolkits are all over the place. Finally a known fact is that a project without a rigorous specification is going to go off on a tangent. Tangents like these cause what is called in my part of the woods “development hell”.

A case in point is CSS. The W3C has done in my opinion an amazing job of nailing down the idea of what a stylesheet should do, and how. The details are there, and the theory is beautiful. Now lets look at the vendors or what-my-web-browser-really-does side. The specification is rarely ever held to, and thanks to Microsoft’s Vader-like grasp on the browser market is abused terribly. The folks at Netscape and the Mozilla Foundation do a much better job but its not perfect. Just ask any web designer who wrote an aesthetic layout in CSS how many hoops they had to jump through to get it work on the majority of browsers. If we can not get something as simple as CSS right, then I fear other more complex technologies will simply break.

In the end, I think AJAX will benefit a few large companies. Web developers and designers will still groan and will dream of a better, simpler web. Web 2.0 will not finally get everyone on the same page. Then again, I might be completely wrong.