Your manager has given you an easy choice if you want to see your upgraded applications within your lifetime. Stick to VFP8.0 With VFP (especially when you add third-party libraries such as CodeMine) you are working with a fourth generation language that has the ability to work at the code level. With Java, you are working primarily a 3rd generation language that has the ability to bolt on some pre-built libraries for the interface components.

>>>>>>
My manager wants us to rewrite an old Fox 2.6 application using either Java or VFP8. Another programmer has written some Javascript to quiry data and move data sets across the network. We do not want the new application to be browser based.
>>>>>>

Java does not have a native database engine like FoxPro. It is therefor more comparable to Visual Basic; it is a general purpose, object-oriented language that can be used for a variety of applications, but it is by no means optimized for database work.

As Craig mentions.... Java and Javascript are not the same at all. The learning curve for Java is comparable to other 3rd gen languages such as C, and C++, and C#. (months and years. Javascript is a scripting language, in which you can be productive in an afternoon, at least at an elementary level.

>>>>>>
I'm not very familiar with Java development. Isn't it primarily designed for browser-based applications rather than stand-alone applications? Seems to me it would take considerable more time to develop in Java and would run slower on the client machine.
>>>>>>

When Java was first out, it was used for "applets", relatively small programs that were hosted within a browser. At the time this seemed like a great idea, however the browser market evolved...(Microsoft killed it..)

For my money, when you look at the speed of development, ease of deployment, ease of maintenance, and speed of the final application there is no comparison...VFP wins hands down.

But...this *is* the Visual FoxPro forum ...:-)