I\'m still a student, without much real life experience in programming. I\'ve ne
ID: 639539 • Letter: I
Question
I'm still a student, without much real life experience in programming. I've never written anything bigger than ~5k lines of code. I've written code in both Flash and Java, and I just can't understand why people are writing web applications like video players (YouTube etc.) in Flash, and not as Java applets. So I want to ask you, programmers with hands on experience, for some wise words on the subject.
I see no real benefit of Flash over applets, while on the other hand, at least to me, it seems buggy as hell. I understand it is faster to make something in Flash, and I can see why it would be a good thing for fast prototyping, but in general, is it worth it? Every time a YouTube goes berserk, i curse the developers for writing it in Flash. And if you are using Linux with Opera, this happens all the time.
So, basically, why are people using flash, and not applets?
Explanation / Answer
Flash provides a more seamless experience for the user. Java applets are pretty slow, since the Java VM needs to be fired up before they can run. As a website visitor, I hate it when things freeze for a few moments while the Java VM figures itself out. If I'm not mistaken, it also doesn't unload once I navigate away from the website that used it, leaving it hanging around when I didn't really want it to run in the first place.
My (admittedly limited) experience with Flash and applet development also tells me that developing an animation in Flash is easier.
And then there's history. Microsoft didn't do Java applets any favours by developing their own JVM and making it behave differently from Sun's. As a result, the same applet could work in one browser and not another, which made creating Java applets less viable.
Java does have free tools that can be used as opposed to proprietary Flash editors required to make Flash videos, but ultimately its heavy-handed approach makes it inferior.