Why does AltioLive have its own IDE?

An IDE is one of the richest forms of user interface.

Back in 1999 the original reason for having an Altio IDE was that there was no dominant IDE in the market place, and show casing your products capabilities in an IDE was a good way of demonstrating what can be achieved.

Being a Java based product it could now be argued that AltioLive applications should be editable using common IDE's, such as Eclipse and NetBeans.  This still does not remove the fact that if a tool is so good then why isn't the IDE written using its own base language. AltioLive is a tool for creating Rich Web Applications so its IDE should be a rich web application. 

The Altio team is now striving to deliver a framework that can be used by a broad spectrum of people with varying software skills. At present we lie somewhere between a development tool and a power user tool. AltioLive will appeal to:

• software developers with little experience of creating user interfaces and do not want to understand the complexities of the Java Swing API's. But, the solution they may want to deliver requires a highly scaleable and rich user interface within the web browser.
• experienced Java developers that want to build their own user interface controls but do not want to build a whole integration framework to the server. They want 80% of the work done for them so that they can get on with the specific needs of the project.
• consultants who want the ability to deliver a rich web application that has security, server push data delivery, reusability and most of all the ability to deliver a user interface solution as quickly as possible.
• designers, and business analysts who want to be able to define a user interface and possibly implement early prototypes without the need to rely upon a development team early in the project.

The above points are not an extensive list, AltioLive is used as an OEM tool within larger products to allow the development of highly customisable, maintainable user interfaces. It is also used within financial institutes to deliver very rich and interactive user interfaces where data is pushed from the server to multiple users.

AltioLive applications can be edited within Eclipse or a simple text editor if you really want to, after all the underlying logic and screen definition are written to XML files in a declarative language. Many of our competitors take this approach now, the strength of Altio is WYSIWYG, you build the user interface interactively.

The bottom line is that I want to see Altio deliver a simple to use application development tool that can be used by someone with the most basic programming knowledge. This in turn should mean the performance of project teams in increased, thus increasing the chances of delivering IT projects at cost and on time.

originally posted to www.altio.com

Where does the time go...and technology extremism

Where did the time go... Wow! It's September and I can't actually think what happened to July and August, well I can and it's been a frenzy of work. For a number of years now I've worked on the basis that during my work year there are two quiet periods - August and December. These quiet times are when I can sit down and do all the little things I just don't have time to do during the rest of the year, one example is looking at a new programming language or technology trend in detail.

A quiet August didn't happen this year. I spent some of August cutting code, and that actually felt good as I haven't had to do real code for quite a while. When I say real code I mean the stuff that has to go into source control and be tested.

July and the rest of August have been consumed by roadmap and technology discussions, talking to existing and prospective clients. The discussions about system architecture and the critical analysis of technologies and how they should be applied are what I enjoy most. These discussions lead to a lot of creative thinking and there is certainly a lot of that going on at Altio - which I'm surprised we manage to do seeing how busy we are.

So will December be quiet for me, nope. That's going to be my first big holiday for a long time, several weeks in Australia, I can't wait. Although, I am a little concerned about getting prepared, will I have time to even pack my bags?

Technology Extremist? - Google just released Chrome their new browser, and you need Java 6 update 10RC1 or later to use the Java Plug-in. This leads me to thinking about if I am some kind of technical extremist. Chrome gets released on Windows only, why not the Mac or Linux? Rhetorical question really - Windows dominates the desktop computer marketplace, so it makes it the best thing for testing new products. Except Microsoft uses the Apple Mac to test new ideas for Microsoft Office, which is why I like Microsoft Office on the Mac so much - so there's my other Technology Extremism, I like using an Apple Mac at home. The final extreme technology, I still believe in Java Applets for doing complex stuff in the Web Browser. This is why I why I sometimes get frustrated when people say Altio is great but why use Java, that's a different rant for another time.

Well my opinion for a long time is that Google is just Microsoft in disguise - it's out to dominate the world, well the web part of it at least. So should I bow to the masses and adopt JavaScript as the way forward for writing rich web based applications? Should I bow to the masses and go Microsoft and use .Net, after all lot's of people keep saying Java is dead (http://www.theserverside.com/news/thread.tss?thread_id=39066, http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=221903, http://java.sys-con.com/node/169595, http://www.oreillynet.com/onjava/blog/2007/01/java_to_the_iphone_can_you_hea.html). I'm sure someone will come up with the bright idea of putting type safety into JavaScript, oh hold on won't that make it Java :-). Anyway, these are all my opinions, and at the moment I see no reason to listen to the news from as far back as 2006 that Java is dead. Sun Microsystems has at least sat up and realised there is still a long way to go and is re-invigorating the Java Swing teams, first step JavaFX.

As far as technology choice goes, you should ensure you have available in your toolkit a number of tools and the knowledge of how they should be used, that way you have a better chance of delivering the most appropriate solutions - on time, within cost and meeting the requirements.

JavaOne2008. Thursday roundup

Wow what a week.

It seems like a long build up to the release of JavaFX and the new browser plugin and I can't wait for it to happen. As Jim mentions in his summary of day 3 I think there will now be a concern amongst AJAX followers that the technology is going to look dated. At the moment AJAX front ends that want to be really rich seem to rely too much upon Flash, look at Google Analytics - all the charts are Flash.

Even today AltioLive's Graph control that will be released in Altio 5.2 shows the power of Applet based technologies over JavaScript. There are several JavaScript based graph widgets but they tend to be slow when handling lots of data.

I strongly believe that Java 6 has again made Java Applets an option for consumer Rich Web Applications and can come out from hiding in the enterprise solution area, and JavaFX further strengthens the position of Java Applets as a solution.

I'm sure that if you talk to the Java SE team they will strongly disagree with the idea of JavaFX being "stillborn". Healthy competition between SilverLight, Flash, Applets and AJAX is required to provide end users with the best user experience possible.

If you want to see a real FilthyRich Web Application look at the AltioLive IDE, as Jim put's it we "Eat our own dog food" I don't believe a product can trully say it is good unless you can create an IDE using the underlying framework. I like Eclipse but there must be something wrong if AJAX and Flash don't have IDE's using their own technology. NOTE: there are some AJAX IDE's out there.

JavaOne2008. A day for applets and reporting

If I can conclude anything about JavaOne2008 on Wednesday it's that the Java community is once again thinking about Java Applets (especially if you like JavaFX), the second thing is that there is a big drive to produce highly interactive reporting tools.

We met a number of Sun Microsystems staff today, some we expected to meet and other by chance. I asked Ethan Nicholas who works on the Java JVM kernel if it was possible to get two applets to communicate with each other without using JavaScript and guess what, it may not be a simple task (the question was asked during our talk yesterday).

Jim's thoughts for versions of Java earlier than 1.6u10 would be to use static variables/classes, the problem with this approach is that both applets need to be aware of each other and would be tightly coupled, not Web 2.0 at all. At least this would have worked though.

With the delivery of Java 1.6u10 it's going to be even harder for Applets to communicate in a browser as each Applet will run in its own virtual machine and so globally available static classes are not an option, so it's back to JavaScript - on the plus side Ethan appears keen on the idea of making this happen. I think a solution is needed if Java Applets are to be used on the desktop as demonstrated in one of the key note talks. The standard for desktop applications communicating has been set by Microsoft and so Java will need an equivalent communication mechanism for desktop applications to really succeed, and it needs to ensure applications are loosely coupled.

I regret not seeing the talk on JavaFX where dropping widgets onto the desktop was shown and it seems that it was not made clear during the talk that this ability to drag an applet to the desktop was a plugin feature and not JavaFX. Jim, Tom and I had to explain this several times to people visiting the booth.

I'm going to try and spend the day tomorrow looking at all the different reporting tools, there's a great fit between RIA and reporting, and there are lots of possible products to choose from it's just identify how easily AltioLive could integrate with different reporting products.

JavaOne2008. Java applets still have the power to draw a crowd

Conclusion for Tuesday 6 May - Java 6 update 10 provides a whole new opportunity for Java Applet technologies to compete on a level playing field with Adobe Flex, Microsoft Silverlight. The combination of improved download options, faster JVM load times combined with JavaFX rich graphics will enable the AltioLive product to focus upon adding value to the Java Development community rather than overcoming problems with the Jave SE plugin technology. 2008 and 2009 provide many opportunities for Java Applet technologies and I feel confident enough to say that Applets are NOT a "old school" technology, and are here to stay for the forseable future.

Loss of focus by Sun Microsystems and/or the Java product team is the only concern. If enough Java developers push for improved performance and a simpler user interface API's Sun will need to meet the demands. It's about working as a "community", considering all the options and not thinking Adobe and Microsoft offer the only solution to rich user interfaces in a web browser.

Enough of my soap box rant and a quick review of the day.

The booth had a steady flow of people interested in both the freebies and our product. The interest in a product was really great to see making all the hard work to improve the AltioLive product worth while, and the java development community still has interest in Java Applets technology.



Jim and I guess about 80-100 came to the presentation, and given that the were a number of very big talks by popular speakers I was pleased. Aside from not feeling too good - a serious lack of sleep, the talk went really well, with a few lessons learnt should we do a talk again next year.




The question that catches you out! - "How do you get two applets to communicate in the same browser session?", Jim put a lot of effort into his examples and neither of us spotted the fact that we didn't do an example of Java Applets talking to other Java Applets, is direct communication possible and more importantly should the security model allow it to happen. Not something I plan to answer in this blog.

Jim gets his 10 minutes of fame- a surprise visit by the JavaOne2008 reporter caught us out and Jim had to do a 10 minute technical interview about applets and AltioLive - good interview Jim especially when it was at the end of a very long day.

A roundup of Altio 2007

Wow, what a year 2007 was. It's been a hard year trying to achieve major things, and 2008 has been busy hence late delivery of this message.


I've been in charge of a lot of projects this year including

• deliverying a Graph tool and associated application for displaying relationships in data. The application is used by Compliance officers in big banks to assist in tracking suspicious transactions and relationships.
  


• the next version of Altio using Java Swing for the main infrastructure. Altio as a product has been around for a while and we are now re-positioning ourselves to challange Adobe Flex as a tool for creating rich web applications.
  

As well as the projects I've been in charge of the profesional services including recruitment and working with partners to design new system architecture (SOA etc) as well as talks about Altio. I'm really looking forward to 2008 when Altio 5.2 is released which will have the new designer and new controls, plus a simpler way of adding your own Java controls.