Thread: Share those tiny little (or mighty big) programs you could not live without.

Originally Posted by Mes Tarrant

But it IS free for me! I'll get free software once I've used up the two times with these.

I was referring to free software, not freeware. Check the link if you want to learn the ideological distinction.

Originally Posted by Ynot

with that in mind, as far as I know java is no slower (in theory) than any other language

Correct, but not wholly for the reasons you state below. As I see it, it's more that Sun Microsystem's implementation (the Java Runtime Environment), being a virtual machine / JIT compiler, executes bytecode more slowly than an OS executing machine code. Third party ahead-of-time compilers like the GNU Compiler for Java (GCJ) yield precompiled binaries whose performance should be on par with languages like C++. However, Java's automatic garbage collection is part of the language specification rather than Sun's implementation, so even compiled Java software might still underperform C++.

Originally Posted by Ynot

I have it on good authority that the apparent "slowness" of frontend Java apps, is down to poor use of the GUI toolkits

In the GUI event handlers, you are supposed to fork off all business logic, so that the GUI is in one thread, and the core donkey work is done in another
but many java people lump any and all code directly into the event handlers
this means, when it's compiled (or JIT compiled (Jitted?), or whatever it is you call it) everything ends up being plonked into a single thread

Most graphical Java applications use Swing/AWT or SWT, which to my knowledge only work with Sun Microsystem's implementation of Java. Therefore, all the performance disadvantages of the VM/JIT system apply. Both toolkits tend to perform poorly and hog resources regardless of the code's design. That being said, there are a (very) few Java applications that manage to sport a responsive GUI. Art of Illusion comes to mind. According to a Google search, it uses the Buoy GUI toolkit. Maybe that's worth looking into.

Originally Posted by dsr

According to a Google search, it uses the Buoy GUI toolkit. Maybe that's worth looking into.

Indeed, it looks kind of cool.

I was trying out Boo last night, a Python-like language for CLI. Seemed very nice indeed.

Python = awesome
Microsoft = not so awesome

Python and .NET don't mix in my book.

But actually, any Python derivative is probably good. Groovy is another one to look at if you like the Java standard class library.

Originally Posted by dsr

Python = awesome
Microsoft = not so awesome

Python and .NET don't mix in my book.

But actually, any Python derivative is probably good. Groovy is another one to look at if you like the Java standard class library.

I actually really like the .NET platform. It's very convenient and I feel comfortable using it, especially in conjunction with such a thoughtful language as C#. As long as Microsoft don't start injecting us all with Super AIDS, I can't really say I have any reason to muster enough effort to dislike them for anything. It's not as if a lot of their software costs anything at the end of the day; chances are Windows came with your computer, Media Player is either included or is a free download, and VS Express is more than enough for the average solitary programmer. There are less visible reasons to dislike them, but as I said, that would require personal effort.

Originally Posted by Identity X

I actually really like the .NET platform. It's very convenient and I feel comfortable using it, especially in conjunction with such a thoughtful language as C#.

It sounds like you use C# where I would just use Python. What advantages do C# and .NET have over Python? Python obviously has the edge in portability/platform-independence and productivity (at least in terms of LOC). Boo sounds more comparable to Python, however. How would you say the two weigh up?

Originally Posted by Identity X

As long as Microsoft don't start injecting us all with Super AIDS, I can't really say I have any reason to muster enough effort to dislike them for anything.

Some would argue that Microsoft's defiance toward the free software movement (e.g. creating a proprietary XML format for Office 2007 and then advocating that it be standardized in lieu of OpenDocument -- browse gnu.org and fsf.org for many other examples) is reason enough to avoid their products.

Originally Posted by Identity X

It uses self over this though. Horrible choice. It annoyed me in Python, it annoys me in Boo.

Assuming it's like Python, self is just the conventional name for the parameter. If your code will only be seen by you, feel free to name it this. Besides, even if others will see your code, they're likely to be C# programmers who will understand your use of this immediately.

Originally Posted by dsr

It sounds like you use C# where I would just use Python. What advantages do C# and .NET have over Python? Python obviously has the edge in portability/platform-independence and productivity (at least in terms of LOC). Boo sounds more comparable to Python, however. How would you say the two weigh up?

They are more or less very similar, but Boo in my opinion is better. You're not forced into using dynamic typing (some would argue that static typing is unnecessary, but I think it makes sense in many instances) but you may use it if you wish to. You're not forced into public scope (in fact, you're forced into using private. Sounds a bit weird, but the uneasiness subsides). The language is syntactically richer, too, and can be thought of as a superset of Python in some ways. I was enlightened when I discovered Python, it's great, but I think Boo may just be Python "and then some".

It also has "proper" OO methods. self is no longer a necessary parameter. That the one thing I've never understood with Python (and it's ugly too).

FYI it runs on Mono.

Originally Posted by dsr

Assuming it's like Python, self is just the conventional name for the parameter. If your code will only be seen by you, feel free to name it this. Besides, even if others will see your code, they're likely to be C# programmers who will understand your use of this immediately.

It's an issue with nomenclature. self forces you into writing code in first person, which, given it's not something "real", is just plain weird. this is much clearer.

And you are right. But the line
this = self
Is... strange.

Also, something I just remembered, Taskbar Shuffle. It lets you move arouns minimized windows on the taskbar.

Originally Posted by Identity X

I was trying out Boo last night, a Python-like language for CLI. Seemed very nice indeed.

One word: AWESOME.

• Access to .NET library
• Compiles to a newbie-friendly exe - no more jar or pyc
• Statically typed with a duck-typed primitive (as good a compromise as you can get). And automatic determination of type on declaration (a = 9 binds a to a (statically typed) int)
• Terse and readable syntax ("i = 9 unless doNotDoIt")
• List comprehensions and slicing
• Inline Getters/Setters (and since theres a seperation between properties and fields you can use setters internally without a horrible this.setX(7) type statement.
• Regular expression literals (and a ~= operator)
• Generators
• First-order functions (as they should be - and something Java (and I believe C++?) lacks.)
• It's just cool

It uses self over this though. Horrible choice. It annoyed me in Python, it annoys me in Boo.