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Re: Recommendation for a good Android programming book?

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On 5/26/2015 3:52 PM, Martin Gregorie wrote:
> On Tue, 26 May 2015 13:27:03 +0200, Joerg Meier wrote:
>
>>
>> My God, do you guys still use MS-DOS and OS/2 as well ?
>>
> [...] In short, almost all my professional programming career has
> used command linbes for development. I have never been impressed enough
> with the additional capabilities, if any, of any IDE I've seen to think
> it was worth installing and learning to use it.
>
> However, that's a personal viewpoint and yours may well be quite
> different.

     An IDE (I use NetBeans for Java work) can be helpful in a few ways
a plain editor isn't, mostly because the IDE can be language-aware.
If I decide to change the name of a variable or method, or even of
a class or a package, the IDE can manage the change throughout an
entire source collection.  This is a more precise operation than a
global search-and-replace, because the IDE can distinguish one `x'
from another: If I rename one of my instance fields from `x' to
`columnIndex', the IDE won't mess up the references to `x' in some
other class like java.awt.Point.

     Another convenience is auto-generation of code, or at least of
code stubs.  If I add `implements Kissable' to a class declaration,
the IDE will tell me to write pucker() and smooch() methods, and
will even offer to generate skeletons for them:

	@Override
	public void pucker() {
	    throw new UnsupportedOperationException(
	        "Not implemented yet.");
	}

	@Override
	public PulseRate smooch(long timeout) {
	    throw new UnsupportedOperationException(
	        "Not implemented yet.");
	}

Granted, these aren't the most useful method bodies imaginable, but
I find it helpful to have the boiler-plate in place (and typo-free).
The IDE will also generate full-fledged implementations for getters
and setters (although one often must add validity checks to the
latter), and for equals() and hashCode() and a few others.  (And
when it writes equals() for you, it doesn't ever fall into the all-
too-easy trap of writing `public boolean equals(Thing that)' instead
of `public boolean equals(Object obj)'.)

     Finally, I like auto-completion.  Java's class libraries have
caught the interminableIdentifierLongerIsByDefinitionBetterDisease,
and a clumsy typist (that would be Me) is happy to type `JFrame.EX'
and let the IDE supply `IT_ON_CLOSE', correctly spelled and all.
Editors can do this, sort of, but the IDE's suggestions are sensitive
to the context: In a JFrame context `EX' elicits `IT_ON_CLOSE', while
in a CanonizalizationMethod context you'll see `CLUSIVE' and
`CLUSIVE_WITH_COMMENTS'.

     Admittedly, there are times I wish the IDE would just get out of
my way and let me write code.  It's constantly nagging me about non-
problems:

	private static final int NORTH = 0;
	private static final int EAST = 1;
	private static final int SOUTH = 2;
	private static final int WEST = 3;
	...
	int directionMask = 0x1 << NORTH;

... and the stoopid IDE gets its knickers in a twist about the
"useless bitwise operation" that is "almost certainly an error."
Pfui!  Or, there's

	Vector<String> names = new Vector<>();
	names.add("Eric");
	names.add("Martin");
	...
	JList<String> nameList = new JList<>(names);

Here, the IDE gets all schoolmarmish and tells me I should drop Vector
and use ArrayList instead -- but does it offer to write a new JList
constructor for me?  No-o-o-o!  Again, pfui!

     All in all, though, I find an IDE more helpful than hindering,
and am (usually) glad to have it.  If you haven't tried one recently,
you may find their "capabilities, if any" have improved since last you
looked.

-- 
esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid
"Don't be afraid of work. Make work afraid of you." -- TLM

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Recommendation for a good Android programming book? Knute Johnson <nospam@rabbitbrush.frazmtn.com> - 2015-05-20 15:16 -0700
  Re: Recommendation for a good Android programming book? Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2015-05-21 20:30 -0400
  Re: Recommendation for a good Android programming book? e.d.programmer@gmail.com - 2015-05-22 08:16 -0700
    Re: Recommendation for a good Android programming book? Knute Johnson <nospam@rabbitbrush.frazmtn.com> - 2015-05-25 20:40 -0700
      Re: Recommendation for a good Android programming book? Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> - 2015-05-26 10:15 +0000
        Re: Recommendation for a good Android programming book? Joerg Meier <joergmmeier@arcor.de> - 2015-05-26 13:27 +0200
          Re: Recommendation for a good Android programming book? Knute Johnson <nospam@rabbitbrush.frazmtn.com> - 2015-05-26 07:33 -0700
          Re: Recommendation for a good Android programming book? Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> - 2015-05-26 19:52 +0000
            Re: Recommendation for a good Android programming book? Eric Sosman <esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid> - 2015-05-26 17:21 -0400
              Re: Recommendation for a good Android programming book? Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> - 2015-05-26 22:36 +0000
                Re: Recommendation for a good Android programming book? Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2015-06-03 21:26 -0400
                Re: Recommendation for a good Android programming book? Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> - 2015-06-04 21:00 +0000
                Re: Recommendation for a good Android programming book? Eric Sosman <esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid> - 2015-06-05 08:06 -0400
                Re: Recommendation for a good Android programming book? Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> - 2015-06-05 17:30 +0000
                Re: Recommendation for a good Android programming book? Eric Sosman <esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid> - 2015-06-05 13:59 -0400
                Re: Recommendation for a good Android programming book? e.d.programmer@gmail.com - 2015-06-05 05:50 -0700
                Re: Recommendation for a good Android programming book? Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> - 2015-06-05 17:35 +0000
                Re: Recommendation for a good Android programming book? Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2015-06-06 23:50 -0400
                Re: Recommendation for a good Android programming book? e.d.programmer@gmail.com - 2015-06-08 07:39 -0700
                Re: Recommendation for a good Android programming book? Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2015-06-28 21:42 -0400
                Re: Recommendation for a good Android programming book? Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> - 2015-06-29 08:20 +0000
                Re: Recommendation for a good Android programming book? Jeff Higgins <jeff@invalid.invalid> - 2015-06-29 05:49 -0400
                Re: Recommendation for a good Android programming book? Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2015-06-29 07:37 -0400
                Re: Recommendation for a good Android programming book? Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2015-06-29 07:35 -0400
                Re: Recommendation for a good Android programming book? Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> - 2015-06-29 15:01 +0000
                Re: Recommendation for a good Android programming book? Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2015-06-29 14:08 -0400
                Re: Recommendation for a good Android programming book? Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2015-06-29 14:18 -0400
                Re: Recommendation for a good Android programming book? Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> - 2015-06-29 21:00 +0000
                Re: Recommendation for a good Android programming book? Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2015-07-27 22:22 -0400
                Re: Recommendation for a good Android programming book? Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2015-06-06 23:48 -0400

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