b4j vs vb

[ilan]

i started 8 years ago learning vb. i used and am using vb-express (then 2005) today 2010

i really like it, its so simple and you have unlimited number of code examples in the web.

then i discovered b4a and bought it immediately, it was for me a dream that come true, develope in vb language and run it on my android phone... WOW, and then b4i came out . of course i was one of the first buyers (i wonder what was the real number...)

now we have b4j and at start i didnot liked it because i had to create layouts with a 3rd party soft so i did not used b4j until erel added an build in designer.

erel said somewhere here:

Try it for 3 hours. I assure you that you will find it quite simple.

and indeed it was for me like this after few hours i created 2 games in b4j "IN FEW HOURS!!!"

and the best thing is i can run them on my mac this is something i could not do with VB so 1-0 for b4j

 

[Erel]

Don't forget that B4J can also be used to create back-end solutions (server applications). This is a very strong feature of B4J.

As I wrote in the showcase page we are using several B4J servers to manage the hosted builders (which are of course B4J servers) as well as other tasks and their performance and stability are excellent.

You can see some examples here: http://b4x.com:51042/

 

[ilan]

Don't forget that B4J can also be used to create back-end solutions (server applications). This is a very strong feature of B4J.

As I wrote in the showcase page we are using several B4J servers to manage the hosted builders (which are of course B4J servers) as well as other tasks and their performance and stability are excellent.

You can see some examples here: http://b4x.com:51042/

2-0

 

[sorex]

indeed, Ilan.

the benefit is that the language and designer etc are still close to the others.

the only thing I don't like compared to a native VB6 exe is the additional install of java or making a 40+Mb file from a 500Kb JAR is kind of overkill.

but for personal tools it's not a problem ofcourse since it's already installed.

 

[ilan]

the additional install of java

thats true, but dont forget the only reason vb6 doesnot need any special configurations or installations is because you run it on a windows pc so microsoft already have done it on your windows installation...

so if we compare: windows installation about 2-3 h | Java installation about 10 min

 

[sorex]

there are also these wrappers that just add 35Kb to the JAR and point to a download location for Java.

Can this be added in the IDE somehow? (it's all opensource and on sourceforge)

 

[sorex]

and you only mentioned windows and ios, but you can expand to many more since most OS's have their java solution.

 

[ilan]

and you only mentioned windows and ios, but you can expand to many more since most OS's have their java solution.

3-0

 

[Erel]

there are also these wrappers that just add 35Kb to the JAR and point to a download location for Java.

You can use this tool to create a small native executable: Create Windows native executables (exe files)

It will show a meaningful error message if Java is not installed.

Though for a consumer app I think that it is better to create a standalone installer, even if it is larger.

 

[Roycefer]

we are using several B4J servers to manage the hosted builders (which are of course B4J servers) as well as other tasks

This is an excellent start on the path towards dogfooding: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_your_own_dog_food . I think this fact should be advertised on the site's front page. An organization using its own products to develop its products and run its organization is the sort of litmus test that will impress technically sophisticated potential customers. I look forward to the day when the B4X IDEs are written in B4J and run in the JVM.

 

[Beja]

and the best thing is i can run them on my mac this is something i could not do with VB so 1-0 for b4j

I have some problem here and just can't run the jar file on Mac.. the first time I got the message that the developer is not recognized or something like this,
but they gave an option to bypass this.. then tried to run it again, and this time told me to first install JAVA SDK..
I thought this is a compiled JAR file and didn't know why Apple asks this question.

 

[ilan]

Don't forget that B4J can also be used to create back-end solutions (server applications). This is a very strong feature of B4J.

As I wrote in the showcase page we are using several B4J servers to manage the hosted builders (which are of course B4J servers) as well as other tasks and their performance and stability are excellent.

You can see some examples here: http://b4x.com:51042/

can we also turn our pc to an ftp server with b4j?

 

[Troberg]

Also, VB6 really shows its age in some areas. For example, I have a program in VB6 where multithreading would be very useful, but I just can't get it to work (any guru on the subject who has advice?), even though it's a simple case (no communication between the threads, except for a simple "I'm done!"). B4J feels more "up to date".

 

[Erel]

can we also turn our pc to an ftp server with b4j?

It is better to post this question in a new thread (though the answer is that there is no library that implements a FTP server).

 

[wonder]

I'm getting started with B4J and I'm absolutely loving it!

 

[andymc]

multithreading would be very useful, but I just can't get it to work

AFAIK you can't do proper multi-threading in VB6, B4J would be much better as Java natively supports threading.

 

[Douglas Farias]

i m using so much the b4j and really its better then b4a and more easy.
the problem its the libs
if I had patience to create

 

[Troberg]

AFAIK you can't do proper multi-threading in VB6, B4J would be much better as Java natively supports threading.

You can through some API calls, but it's a minefield and you have to do everything exactly right or it will behave oddly. For example, my current solution works perfectly in debug mode, but fails in release mode, and I have no idea why.

What makes everything even worse is that there are a pile of tutorials on the subject on the internet, but most are written by people who don't really understand what they are doing, so their solutions are full of odd behaviours.