Re: Java programmer lured back by .Net (Questions)

Hmmm, and this helps me HOW ?

clintonG wrote:

MSDN [1] has quite a few documents for those playing ping pong and the ASP.NET Forums [2] are also very good for peer support. Lots of victims around ;-)

<%= Clinton Gallagher
         METROmilwaukee (sm) "A Regional Information Service"
         NET csgallagher AT metromilwaukee.com
         URL http://metromilwaukee.com/
         URL http://clintongallagher.metromilwaukee.com/

[1] http://msdn.microsoft.com/
[2] http://asp.net/




"Beatrice Rutger" <brutger@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:d81fpu$s1t$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi,

I am a previous Micro$oft desertee (moved from VB/VC++ to Java before this whole DOTNET thing) because I had several issues with Micro$oft. I am not completely in love with Windoze, but I have to say that Java SWING sucks BIG TIME for developing and deploying desktop applications (especially on Windoze).

Unfortunately, I have been dragged kicking and screaming back to my old haunts - but the landscape has changed somewhat and I would appreciate some feedback from people with real world experience of what I'm trying to achieve. Basically, I'm torn between two worlds (Java programmers hate me for deserting, and are trying to convince me to use the slow clunky SWING GUI because it's a better fit - yeah tha'll happen!), and in the past, I have been bombarded by .NET zealots who want me to re-write my whole backend to use the flaky IISP etc - and I'm like yeah right!).

My backend is pure Java (J2EE) running on Unix - but because SWING is so shitty, I basically am forced to use .NET which, with its (Forms?) is really cool, looks good and allows you to write an application that really looks and feels at home on a Windoze box - and blows away crappy lokking SWING applications in sheer performance and looks.

The problems then are this:

1). Inter-operatability (communication between the front end and backend)
2). Code protection at the client side


INTER-OPEATABILITY
====================
I have a J2EE backend and a .NET frontend. I need to get them to communicate. I do NOT want to use SOAP/XML because it is far too heavy weight, and I get the performance hit caused by parsing on both sides. I would like to use something like base 64bit encoding and servlets to transfer data in binary format between the backend component - I will issue HTTPS request from the .NET client, receive the request on the Servlet at the backend, process it and hand the response back (in base 64 bit encoded form). Any ideas about how I can do this on the .NET side of things (is theer a library for issuing HTTPS requests and handling base 64 encoded daat?)


CODE SECURITY
==============
Admitedly, this is a problem that Java also has, but we do have class loaders, and that (along with code obfuscation) can lead to some pretty secure code. I would like to be able to place my executable on my remote server (probably as 64 bit encoded ASII strings - since it will be on a different platorm) and then "load" the executables on demand from accross the internet - so that there are no executables on the local machine for prying eyes to reverse engineer. Is there anyway, I can load binaries from a remote location and then run it on a local machine?. I will be very interested in knowing if and how this can be done.

I would not need to worry about code security if I was developing with VB or VC++ - however, the future of VB seems uncertain (is the plug going to get pulled on VB at some stage or what?), and also last time I checked (several years ago), VC++ was lousy at creating GUIs - the DOTNET framework has these nice forms which unfortunately, I cannot use in VB or VC++ without making the whole damn executable easy to reverse engineer - is there another way of getting the fantastic GUIs (which is the only reason I am back), along with the code security of ("non reverse engineerable") executables?. Is there a language or language combination that gives me the desired results ?


Lastly, but not the least, can I use MDD (model driven design in .NET) you know, UML nad design patterns etc to generate the underlying code?. I sthere a tool that allows me to create UML designs and then generate the appropriate code in .NET?

I look forward to your responses


Regards,

B.






.