RedMonk’s Michael Cote talks with WaveMaker CEO Chris Keene.

“I often talk about the concept of developing “apps” versus full-blown “applications.” The idea is that the current mobile space has shown the efficiency of having smaller applications that narrow down to just one feature, or workflow. That doesn’t apply across the board, but it does contrast with more traditional application development that tends to want to do more rather than less.

While I was visiting with RedMonk client WaveMaker last week, their CEO, Chris Keene, and I discussed this concept and how WaveMaker is seeing it play out in their user-base.

As you may recall, we talked with Chris back in 2008 in RIA Weekly episode #11.” – Cote

Original link: http://www.redmonk.com/cote/2010/08/19/wavemaker/

The plain fact is that the JS engine in IE is, well, not the fastest JS engine out there. IE6, the extreme case, is just plain slow and old (and leaky, non-standard, etc). Take a look at the ‘All Library tests, to scale’ results at taskspeed for example.

Chrome Frame enables pages to be rendered in IE using the V8 Engine instead of the IE engine. This can yield significant performance improvement in IE and for 6.1, we’ve made it easy to use install and use GCF in your app.

A friend of the community forwarded me this graphical representation of putting the V8 into IE that was just too good not to share.

WaveMaker recently conducted a survey of WaveMaker Community members.  The survey focused on how and why developers are migrating from proprietary development platforms to standards-based Java.

Here are some findings:

What Platforms Are Being Modernized?

Almost half of the developers in the survey are migrating from proprietary Microsoft platforms like MS Access (25% of responses) and MS .NET (24% of responses). Other common platforms include Oracle Forms (8%), PowerBuilder (8%) and Lotus Notes (4%).

What Are the Drivers for Migrating from Microsoft Tools to Java?

Over half of all survey respondents are moving from proprietary development platforms to Java to get better support for web development and take advantage of less expensive, open source software. One third of respondents are choosing a new development platform to get better support for cloud development.

• - Better support for web development 69%
• - Moving to open source 58%
• - Moving to Java 42%
• - Better support for cloud development 33%

Flattening the Learning Curve for Java

According to stackoverflow.com, the average time to learn the Java core is about 10 weeks for an experienced developer – that is just for the language and not for frameworks like Java EE, Spring, Hibernate and Ajax. Survey developers reported that their average time to learn Java using a visual development framework like WaveMaker was 4.4 weeks, less than half the time required to just learn the Java core.

Benefits of Visual Development Platform for Java

A visual development platform for Java such as WaveMaker can dramatically lower development costs. On average, developers reported writing 60% less code with WaveMaker than with a proprietary development platform like Visual Studio. In large part this is because WaveMaker includes a visual IDE that eliminates the need to write code to create basic, form-driven Java applications.

Developers also reported an average 50% improvement in productivity using WaveMaker and a 60% reduction in application maintenance costs. Again, this can be attributed to WaveMaker’s drag and drop IDE. Because WaveMaker generates standard Java applications, developers can switch back and forth between the WYSIWYG WaveMaker studio and a Java coding IDE like Eclipse or NetBeans.

Community Feedback Shows Benefits of Shift to Java

Survey respondents also provided detailed examples of the benefits they have gotten from using WaveMaker to migrate from proprietary platforms like MS Access and MS .NET to standards-based Java. Community member quotes include:

“WaveMaker flat out saved my job! Using WaveMaker, I built an inventory tracking application using 80% less code than I would have needed in MS Access, making me much more valuable to my employer!” – Robert Manshack, New Development, IT, Texas Department of Criminal Justice

“WaveMaker allowed me to quickly build a web-based insurance claims application that was faster and provided more functionality than the original tool – MS Access. Best of all, I did it in only 20% of the time that it took to build the original MS Access application!” – Rob Geib, Partner, MarKur Networks, LLC

“WaveMaker is awesome because it simplifies everything, and for a cheaper price than all of the expensive, hard-to-use programs like Microsoft .NET. I love it!” – Cameron Winget, Cameron Inc.

Original link: http://www.prweb.com/releases/survey-shows-continued/developer-shift-to-java/prweb4322114.htm

Original link: http://www.displacedguy.com/?p=305

About WaveMaker Rapid Application Development for Business-Critical Web 2.0 Applications

WaveMaker is an easy-to-use WYSIWYG development tool for the cloud platform.  It has a visual drag-and-drop interface that makes Web 2.0 and cloud application development easy and fun, like what PowerBuilder did for client-server.  If I had to describe WaveMaker in one sentence, I’d say it is an open, development IDE, that will help you build impressive looking RIA (Rich Internet Applications) without needing to know how to use CSS, HTML or Java.  The finished product is a real Java application deployed as a .war or .ear file.

The interface has similarities to PowerBuilder in the sense that much of the development is drag-and-drop and WYSIWYG.   Like PowerBuilder you can create database update applications with no code, or very little code.   WaveMaker even has a feature mildly resembling the datawindow in PowerBuilder called enterprise data widgets.  You can import your data-model into WaveMaker and the data widgets are created for each of the tables in your database while taking into consideration the relationships between tables.  When you drag-and-drop the data widgets onto your application window, WaveMaker automatically creates “datawindow like” update forms.  In the application I created, a grid style list on the top and free-form detail view on the bottom.  To do that in PowerBuilder you’d actually need to create two datawindows, and write code to share them, sync them and call update functions.

Though similarities exist, PowerBuilder is a fat client, Win32 style tool and WaveMaker is a pretty Web 2.0 IDE that runs in your browser.   I love that WaveMaker works in Google Chrome and I have yet to encounter any problems with it which is great, I can’t stand tools that require I use the painfully slow Internet Explorer.

What sets WaveMaker apart from the competition?

WaveMaker is the hottest development platform for RIA available with over 15,000 developers worldwide.  The last time we’ve seen a development tool with such a head start over the competition was with PowerBuilder and client-server development in the 1990′s.  PowerBuilder developers cashed in for nearly a decade while PB maintained technical superiority and another decade due to the sheer number of apps developed in PowerBuilder needing to be maintained or rewritten.   Any developer looking to ride the next wave,  owe it to themselves to take a hard look at WaveMaker.

WaveMaker Studio generates standard Java apps – extensible by experienced Java developers using any Java IDE

You can develop a robust, fully functional database web application with create, read, update and delete functionality without writing any Java code.

My first WaveMaker database web application. Created in less than an hour via a WaveMaker tutorial and has insert, update and delete functionality. Zero lines of Java code were written… by me.

This isn’t marketing hype, I’ve downloaded WaveMaker and created my very first RIA in a matter of hours following the tutorial on the WaveMaker website.  The beauty of WaveMaker is that it generates a standard Java application (WAR or EAR file) that can be deployed to just about any old application server.

Entirely open source, including the WaveMaker application itself

WaveMaker is based on Dojo 1.0 framework and automatically generates Java, Spring,  ACEGI (Spring Security),  Hibernate, messaging, user security (LDAP or DBMS) andmultitenancy code for you.  People like myself who want to learn all the latest technologies can use the generated code as a crutch in coming up to speed using Java and experienced Java developers can extend the WaveMaker applications as needed.  Last but not least, WaveMaker improves developer productivity after coding is completed by providing one-click deployment to various cloud-based servers!

WaveMaker applications have the benefits WPF without being forced to deploy on Microsoft servers

WaveMaker’s use of panels in the graphical designer is a strong feature that makes it easy to create attractive looking web 2.0 style apps that automatically scale, adjust and resize based on screen resolution or platform.  WaveMaker provides the same benefits as Microsoft’s new WPF technology without being forced to deploy on expensive Microsoft servers or software.  All other non WPF 4GL programming languages require that you manually code for resizing which can not only be time consuming but technically challenging if there are a lot of controls on the page.  So with WaveMaker you get the benefits of WPF but in an Open Source solution.

My first impressions after trying WaveMaker Coming from a PowerBuilder background I expected a lot and WaveMaker delivered I’ve spent most of my career doing PowerBuilder development against every major DBMS and I still believe it offers productivity beyond anything on the market for client-server applications.  But the writing is on the wall for client-server and rich internet applications and WaveMaker are the future.   I’ve been spoiled with visual inheritance and the datawindow in PowerBuilder. WaveMaker is the fastest, easiest way to develop RIA and soften the steep Java learning curve

WaveMaker is the first development tool to catch my attention and keep it.  WaveMakers’ claim of building a functional enterprise web application without needing to write Java code is for real.  In a single day, I’ve taken an existing PHP / MySQL web 1.0 application and re-created a good portion of the core functionality using WaveMaker.  I had initially planned on showing off my work in this article but I’m so impressed by the end result that I’m seriously considering finishing it up and making it a SaaS  (Software as a Service) offering.   The fact that a non-Java developer can take WaveMaker with minimal experience and training and develop a competitive SaaS should speak volumes about how powerful and easy to use WaveMaker really is.

WaveMaker is fun to use and I can use the generated code to better understand Java

From the day I downloaded WaveMaker and gave it a test run I knew that it was the next step for me as a former PowerBuilder developer.  I recently had the opportunity to attend one of WaveMakers three-day, extensive nine-hour training courses which is offered for under $200 and worth every penny. Not and not only am I still having a blast but I feel as confident as ever to tackle the challenge of developing enterprise web applications, or robust SaaS solutions.

You can try WaveMaker yourself by going to www.wavemaker.com/download!

Sincerely,

Rich (aka DisplacedGuy)

http://www.displacedguy.com/?p=305

WaveMaker is the only open and easy-to-use development platform for web and cloud applications. With WaveMaker’s visual, drag and drop tools, any one can start building enterprise Java applications that deploy directly to The Rackspace Cloud in minutes.

During this webinar, you will learn how you can:

- Build a great-looking cloud application in minutes
- Deploy to The Rackspace Cloud in just a few clicks
- Easily manage your new application

Join Rackspace and WaveMaker on July 22 at 1pm, CDT to learn about these and more.

To register, visit https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/schedule/display.do?udc=gwg9xqmsusb0.

Learn more about how to use WaveMaker during our next virtual training session – July 13-15, 9am-12pm Pacific time each day.

Attend it live and interact with Senior Architects and/or get the recording & course materials so you can go at your own pace.

A WaveMaker pro will guide you through the following:

• WaveMaker Architecture & Studio Overview
• New Features
• Working with Databases
• Working with Web Services
• Working with Java Services
• Pages & Layers/Navigation
• JavaScript/Events
• Authentication & Access Control
• Exporting & Deploying
• Troubleshooting

Learn more at http://www.wavemaker.com/training.