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Re: Java claims WORA

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Thomas Richter <thor@math.tu-berlin.de> writes:

> Am 20.06.2012 17:33, schrieb owais:
>> Java claims WORA (write once and run anywhere). Do you agree with this statement that all java programs can be run anywhere (all platforms)? Can you identify a scenario where this claim may not hold true?
>
> Java is more like WOTA for me - write once, test everywhere. It's
> quite acceptable for simple programs, but as soon as it gets more
> complex than this, there are subtle differences between Java
> installations on Windows and Linux, and from version to version. I've
> seen cases where Java does not size windows correctly on one version,
> but not on others for reasons that are not clear to me, where input
> focus handling was slightly different and inconsistent, where refresh
> handling and the order of requests is slightly different, where window
> placement may or may not work... In theory, Java is very nice for
> running everywhere, but you still need to test and need to tweak a bit
> to get it working consistently.

A few years ago I was assigned the task of getting a Swing-based
program, developed under Windows, to run under Linux.  At the time it
represented perhaps 30 to 40 programmer-years of work: not large by some
standards but not trivial either.  Part of the build process included a
small set of unit tests and a much larger set of what amounted to
integration tests to load the program and run it through its paces:
these were originally written using jfcUnit but had evolved to the point
that no actual jfcUnit code was still in use.  These tests normally took
somewhat over an hour to run.

It took me a few days to get the program to the point where you could
run and use it under Linux.  There were some custom DLLs written in C++
that had to be recompiled, and a few odd things like Unicode constants
in the source code that needed to be replaced with their hex versions.
But I was never able to get the integration tests to pass, or even to
fail in the same places consistently.  There was an issue with dialogs
that wouldn't go away -- I verified that the code to close them was
running and as far as Java was concerned they seemed to be gone, but you
could still see them on the screen.  Also various random-seeming null
pointer exceptions and such-like.  After I'd been working on it for
about four weeks management decided they didn't want it that much and
abandoned the effort.

The point here isn't that it can't be done.  With enough time and
support from management I could have found and fixed the problems, or we
could have found someone who else who could.  (I'm happy to say that
sending it to customers without passing the tests first was never on the
table.)  But it certainly wasn't automatic.  If you intend to deploy to
multiple platforms my advice would be to test on each platform right
from the start.

-- 
Jim Janney

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Thread

Java claims WORA owais <awais4you@gmail.com> - 2012-06-20 08:33 -0700
  Re: Java claims WORA Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> - 2012-06-20 09:21 -0700
  Re: Java claims WORA Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2012-06-20 09:46 -0700
  Re: Java claims WORA Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2012-06-20 10:47 -0700
    Re: Java claims WORA "Mike Schilling" <mscottschilling@hotmail.com> - 2012-06-24 16:56 -0700
  Re: Java claims WORA Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2012-06-20 17:02 -0400
    Re: Java claims WORA glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2012-06-20 21:45 +0000
      Re: Java claims WORA Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> - 2012-06-20 22:25 +0000
        Re: Java claims WORA Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> - 2012-06-21 00:57 +0200
          Re: Java claims WORA Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2012-06-20 16:46 -0700
            Re: Java claims WORA David Lamb <dalamb@cs.queensu.ca> - 2012-06-20 19:56 -0400
      Re: Java claims WORA Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2012-06-20 19:16 -0400
        Re: Java claims WORA "Mike Schilling" <mscottschilling@hotmail.com> - 2012-06-24 16:58 -0700
  Re: Java claims WORA Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2012-06-20 16:43 -0700
    Re: Java claims WORA Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2012-06-20 20:30 -0400
    Re: Java claims WORA Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2012-06-20 18:37 -0700
      Re: Java claims WORA Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2012-06-20 21:47 -0400
  Re: Java claims WORA Thomas Richter <thor@math.tu-berlin.de> - 2012-06-22 19:18 +0200
    Re: Java claims WORA "John B. Matthews" <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2012-06-22 15:59 -0400
      Re: Java claims WORA Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2012-06-24 04:43 -0700
        Re: Java claims WORA "John B. Matthews" <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2012-06-24 18:51 -0400
          Re: Java claims WORA Lew <noone@lewscanon.com> - 2012-06-24 23:27 -0700
            Re: Java claims WORA "John B. Matthews" <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2012-06-26 15:43 -0400
    Re: Java claims WORA Jim Janney <jjanney@shell.xmission.com> - 2012-06-22 18:23 -0600
  Re: Java claims WORA Jan Burse <janburse@fastmail.fm> - 2012-06-22 21:40 +0200
    Re: Java claims WORA David Lamb <dalamb@cs.queensu.ca> - 2012-06-25 09:57 -0400
      Re: Java claims WORA Jan Burse <janburse@fastmail.fm> - 2012-06-25 20:34 +0200
        Re: Java claims WORA Jan Burse <janburse@fastmail.fm> - 2012-06-25 20:44 +0200

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