[OT] applications

[Kristian Rink]

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[John Dangler <jdangler at atlantic.net> @ Fri, 16 Feb 2007 04:39:39 -0500]
> java, python, ruby, php, xhtml, C, they all came to mind... that's
> why I posed the question.  While I was looking more toward a visual
> layout tool alone, I know I had an entire IDE in the back of my mind,
> which would probably be optimal since it would certainly make the
> transition go easier from logic/conceptual to physical modeling of
> the application. 

Of course an IDE can be rather helpful here (as it provides you with a
consistent environment of tools to get all these things done). For
that, I'd recommend goin' through 

http://www.netbeans.org/kb/trails/web.html 

for web application development and

http://www.netbeans.org/kb/trails/matisse.html

for the more "desktop-based" kind of stuff. In the end, however, it
comes down to having a good IDE that also employs good frameworks (JEE,
Spring, ...) in order to ease development and building a well-designed
application.

> I'm envisioning this as (primarily) a desktop application that could
> be used locally, but could also connect to a (presumably LAMP) server
> for the backend work.  
Well, if this is a database-backed thing, you're quite in some trouble
by here already, as by then you have to ensure you do have enough
information available locally (in an offline database? in XML files?)
which are consistent to those stored in a server database. In this
case, you should probably think about the "classical" three-tier
architecture and make your client / User Interface connect to the
server using some more or less standardized way - SOAP? XML-RPC? Java
RMI? You even could do this using LAMP given your backend is, in
example, exposing a couple of SOAP service endpoints for the client
application to use... ;)


> applications, I'm not sure what that would entail, but I'm willing to
> give it a go, since I did manage to get my Ubuntu server to run
> pretty well with Apache 2, mysql 5, php5, qmail, and bind9 (it
> started with breezy and currently runs dapper, although I really want
> to upgrade it to edgy).

Looking at tomcat, you will find that getting started with it is rather
straightforward - get a JDK, get tomcat, unzip and get started.
However, if you do have a good architecture and decide not to use
server-side Java for client technology (JSF), you might as well go with
LAMP.


> I really appreciate the well thought out reply!  It really helps.  My
> main skills are in data architecture and database
> design/modeling/development, although I've done my share of UI's on a
> couple of dozen application projects, but I really need a leg up when
> it comes to going through the SDLC for myself.

You're welcome. :) However, in most of these situations a strict
separation of concerns really helps. Set up a LAMP environment to
provide your backend, build a Java desktop client to connect to it, and
do communication using something available in both worlds (SOAP, or
even plain HTTP depending on your requirements), and you'll get the
best of both worlds play nicely together. ;)


Cheers,
Kristian


- -- 
Kristian Rink * http://zimmer428.net * http://flickr.com/photos/z428/
jab: kawazu at jabber.ccc.de * icq: 48874445 * fon: ++49 176 2447 2771
"One dreaming alone, it will be only a dream; many dreaming together
is the beginning of a new reality." (Hundertwasser)
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