AJAX vs. Java

This seemed like a pretty useful discussion, but the presentation and content was fairly tortured. They tried to make it all entertaining, but I wanted to see some of the functional work done to deliver useful data to users.

So, here’s the take away- Java is much faster these days. Well, we knew that- remember 1.0? 2.0? Complete pigs and made up the popular phrase “Java- write once, run slow everywhere” or “debug everywhere”.

FUN FACT: Ajax and graphic rendering, even in 3D is still faster than Java, once you have the images to the user- especially in chrome (in IE, not so much).

The biggest wins for client side java these days seems to be its thread less nature (a very important, but singular issue) and it’s use in smaller devices (which is a much bigger issue as this is where the world is going). And by smaller devices, I should throw in giant TVs that are now including MIPS chips like LGs new LCDs. Why? Movies, games, anything on demand.

REALLY FUN FACT: Blackberry is head to toe java. You can’t do that with AJAX (duh) and it is the largest user base hands down. Blackberry doesn’t do anything crazy like working with only one carrier (ahem, iPhone) but with 400 of them. Dayum.

So, yeah, Java is great, but doing rich UIs like google wave, inotes R8.5 and other things with AJAX is still the best choice. Marry it up with a push method, like comet, and then you have everything you need.