| java vs. IDL [message #22374] |
Fri, 03 November 2000 08:17  |
reardonb
Messages: 16
Registered: December 1999
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Junior Member |
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Lately I have been learning java to address a number of modeling issues
where I work. I have also been playing around with IDL for about 3
years. I do not claim to be a master of either. It seems to me,
however, that Java offers many of the same features that IDL offers
(cross platform operability, a constantly growing library of functions,
easy to implement gui's) along with some definate advantages (it's
free, it's easier to learn, larger user/programmer base, completely OO)
It makes me wonder whether IDL will be able to hold its own in a Java
world. Could anyone out there with experience in both languages care to
spectulate or at least enlighten me as to why IDL will always have a
niche?
Thanks.
Brian Reardon
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
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| Re: java vs. IDL [message #22598 is a reply to message #22374] |
Tue, 21 November 2000 16:45  |
reardonb
Messages: 16
Registered: December 1999
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Junior Member |
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thanks, Vernon. Good break down of pros and cons.
In article <8u8v2n$odl$1@houston.jhuapl.edu>,
"Vernon Stark" <vern.stark@jhuapl.edu> wrote:
> I have over 15 years of IDL experience and have also done a
limited
> amount of Java over the past few years. IDL has an excellent base
of
> software you can tap into to do math, plotting, image manipulation,
etc.
> It's also easy to code GUIs once you get the hang of it. In IDL, I
can sit
> down with a text file full of data and have it plotted in a matter of
> minutes. The last time I tried to do that in Java, I found the file
I/O
> very limited. Just reading in and parsing the data from the text file
was a
> pain.
>
> We've also found IDL excellent for software prototyping. In a few
> months we put together a GUI application that does a lot of file I/O,
image
> manipulation, and handling of user input via GUIs. It started out as
> roughly 10,000 lines of code and we've been adding to it and tweaking
it and
> it's grown to roughly 20,000 lines of code. We've toyed with the idea
of
> porting this GUI application to Java, but have stayed with IDL since
it has
> all the functionality we need and has served us very well so far in
the
> development of this application. The IDL library really facilitates
image
> manipulation, equation solving, plotting, etc. It would probably take
a lot
> more than 20,000 lines of Java code to have the same functionality.
>
> In short, the functionality of IDL allows one to quickly analyze
and
> visualize data or do software prototyping. We feel we can get our
data
> analysis done and our software prototypes up and running faster in IDL
than
> we could in Java. If your goal is data analysis or software
prototyping, IDL
> is hard to beat. If your goal is to have a nice piece of object
oriented
> code, you might choose Java. At the risk of stereotyping, I'd sum it
up by
> suggesting that if you're a data analyst you'll probably prefer IDL
and if
> you're a computer scientist you may prefer Java.
>
> Vern
>
> <reardonb@my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:8tuodt$g0m$1@nnrp1.deja.com...
>> Lately I have been learning java to address a number of modeling
issues
>> where I work. I have also been playing around with IDL for about 3
>> years. I do not claim to be a master of either. It seems to me,
>> however, that Java offers many of the same features that IDL offers
>> (cross platform operability, a constantly growing library of
functions,
>> easy to implement gui's) along with some definate advantages (it's
>> free, it's easier to learn, larger user/programmer base, completely
OO)
>> It makes me wonder whether IDL will be able to hold its own in a
Java
>> world. Could anyone out there with experience in both languages care
to
>> spectulate or at least enlighten me as to why IDL will always have a
>> niche?
>> Thanks.
>> Brian Reardon
>>
>>
>> Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
>> Before you buy.
>
>
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
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