I am currently building a desktop based C#/.NET product for a major software house. I also work quite close to and technically liaise with a Java team within the same company. If you are creating a predominantly desktop based application, Java may not be the correct choice. We are starting to use Java more for server based applications but for the desktop, never.
>We are rewriting a fairly large VFP application but not in VFP. We spent about 3 months fooling around with C# and finally came to the realization that C# and Java are so alike syntatically that it would be a better idea to do the new app in Java. After all, for Web based apps being about to host on any backend makes great sense and for other apps the ability to run on Macs, Linux, Windows and a host of other systems makes equally good sense.
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>We have gotten into Java to the point of discovering that there are significant differences between it and .Net. We are using NetBeans for GUI, Hibernate for Data to GUI, and Postgres for the Data backend (all are FREE). However, we are having trouble translating some hard learned VFP principles to Java. There are many materials available for people to move from VFP to .Net, but I have as yet been unable to find anything that offers a roadmap for a move for VFP to Java. If anyone has any experience with this and is willing to share we would be most appreciative.
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>Thanks!
-=Gary