The simple things why I prefer to develop Java than Flex

For a long time I spend more than 90% of my developing sessions writing Java code (yes, Spring, JPA, BlazeDS etc). As a Flex developer I felt not very comfortable for a first time but my current project (you can believe me it is a great project!) requires a kind of person who can wear two hats — both server and client developer.

But now I’m very pleased to that situation. The point is that I can surely say: I prefer to write Java code with much more pleasure than Flex. Don’t mind I still love Flex but I’m talking about IDE world. I use JDT+WTP (both Eclipse based) for my Java coding and Flex Builder 4 (prerelease program) for Flex side.

Flex Builder has a lot of cool features you can easily put in product’s feature list (yes its all about marketing). It has great design view. It now has some code generation and (can’t you believe that?) getter/setter generation+file templates. FlexUnit support also sounds good to advertise Flex Builder. And of course a couple of refactorings. That’s great for version 4! We’ll see even more in version 10 I hope.

But I’m just developer. I don’t need this design view at all. Please remove it from my Flex Builder bundle. I still can’t use FlexUnit support and (to tell the true) don’t believe I’ll use it any often. Because of it can’t compile as fast as in Java projects and (and it is annoying thing) it always launches in Flash Player as ordinary Flash application. There is no headless Flash Player and corresponding issue in Adobe JIRA is still without changes and any priority (it isn’t so cool as Design View, right?). And there is no way to intercept all the player exceptions (corresponding JIRA issue — two years old — is still low priority) so you can only rely on timeout to check if tests are failed silently. But the main principle of unit tests is to be fast. If they are very slow to compile and launching them always switches to the browser or debug view and finally take some timeout — what do you think about how often I’ll run them? You know the answer.

I’m not a graphic designer. I’m just a developer. I spend most of my working time in code editor. And can’t enjoy it. But!

The good thing is I use Java editor to develop server side. And I have almost perfect code editor for free. It is just 3.4.2 version and hasn’t build in design view (but available as separate free plug in for Swing and SWT) but I really enjoy writing code there.

I have a lot of navigation options. I have very fast code analysis. I have quick fixes. I have templates which really rules. And I have very useful and fast unit tests. I even don’t need to run server to be confident — my tests are guaranteed my code is working. Getters/setters you say? A lot of dialogs and manipulations? In JDT I can only press ⌘1 and voilà. I have getter/setters generated. A lot of features for everyday coding.

If you think this post is just unproductive complaints I can answer you’re not right. I’ve found the solution. Just divide you working day between Java and Flex. 60/40 or even 90/10. And you can enjoy both comfortable coding and cool looking result (I mean great Flex apps). At least I’m pretty happy now. And wish you the same.

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