The upcoming Java release 8u60 is set to finally fix the JavaFX DPI scaling issues on Windows that I described back in August 2013. To recap, JavaFX would scale the default application font to the current Windows DPI setting and the built-in controls would generally scale themselves around that font size. However, explicitly specified pixel … Continue reading “JavaFX DPI Scaling: Fixed!”
Category: Development
General software development
Programming Languages in 2014
With some delay, here’s my annual roundup of programming language rankings. One sad change from previous years (2012 edition, 2013 edition) is the absence of Andrew Binstock’s usual column, “Rise and Fall of Languages.” That had been published by Dr. Dobb’s Journal which has shut down last year. (Binstock is now EIC of Oracle’s Java … Continue reading “Programming Languages in 2014”
Java SE 8 Update 40 Released
Java Standard Edition 8 Update 40 is now upon us, and despite the “Update” designation this was a fairly massive feature release. You can find overviews at Java Source and Java Tutorials, and of course the detailed release notes. The changes I’m most interested in concern JavaFX, including accessibility support, new controls – more on … Continue reading “Java SE 8 Update 40 Released”
Core Java 8 for the Impatient
Core Java for the Impatient — Cay S. Horstmann, Addison-Wesley 2015 (for Java SE 8), ISBN 978-0-321-99632-9 This 480-page book is a compromise between Horstmann’s brief introduction Java SE 8 for the Really Impatient (215 pages) and the traditional monumental Core Java tomes (2092 pages for Java SE 7). Rather than covering virtually the entire … Continue reading “Core Java 8 for the Impatient”
.NET Core: Hype vs Reality
Attention: This is an old post, originally written in late 2014 when .NET Core was first announced. There were some later updates but nevertheless, some content may be out of date now. The great excitement over Microsoft’s announcement to open-source a cross-platform .NET Server Core (explanation by Tim Anderson) is frankly rather puzzling. As Mike … Continue reading “.NET Core: Hype vs Reality”
Compact Horrors of JavaScript
JavaScript is notorious for the nasty surprises it springs on the unwary programmer, especially since it looks like many perfectly sensible languages (and is deceptively named after one). Two compact books present its mind-melting horrors in concentrated form, so as to quickly bring the unfortunate JavaScript neophyte up to speed. Douglas Crockford’s 2008 classic long … Continue reading “Compact Horrors of JavaScript”
Overviews for HTML5 & Java SE 8
Two new entries in the Developer Books review archive. MacDonald’s HTML5 intro is well-suited for people who already know HTML 4, and Horstmann’s Java SE 8 overview should remain useful even after Core Java has been updated. I recommend both books. HTML5: The Missing Manual — Matthew MacDonald, O’Reilly 2013 (2nd ed.) This is not … Continue reading “Overviews for HTML5 & Java SE 8”
Programming Languages in 2013
Andrew Binstock’s annual Rise And Fall of Languages analyzes Google Trends, the TIOBE index, and Ohloh’s coverage of 600,000 open-source projects to discover… that there wasn’t much to discover. Java and C++ continue their slow long-term decline, but as Daniel Lemire notes that decline is so slow that any year-over-year movement might as well be … Continue reading “Programming Languages in 2013”
WebView, the other JavaFX UI
Aside from its native UI facilities, JavaFX provides a WebView that’s a fully-featured embedded HTML5 browser. The underlying WebEngine is a modified Webkit engine which comes as part of the freely available JavaFX source code. For JavaFX 2.2.4 (part of Java SE 7), Oracle offered a separate download. This code was based on Webkit 535.21, … Continue reading “WebView, the other JavaFX UI”
JavaFX on iOS & Android?
JavaFX does not currently support iOS or Android, but the possibility has been subject to much hopeful speculation. One recent example is Felix Bembrick’s manifesto Six Degrees of Separation. What strikes me as odd is that people still seem to expect Oracle to deliver such ports. True, there was an announcement regarding open-sourcing “JavaFX on … Continue reading “JavaFX on iOS & Android?”