(With apologies to Francis Pharcellus Church)
“DEAR EDITOR: I am a Domino Developer.
“Some of my little friends say I have to learn Java to do XPages.
“Papa says, ‘If you see it on XPAGETIPS.COM it’s so.’
“Please tell me the truth;
do I really have to learn Java to create XPages?
“DOMINO DEVELOPER.
“55 CAMBRIDGE PARKWAY.”
DEVELOPER, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they read on blogs. They think that nothing can be which is not achieved through liberal use of Java. All Java, Developer, written by you or known to you is 100% optional. In this great product of ours Java is merely a tool, another option to use if you wish, an addition to the boundless potential of @Functions, Server-Side JavaScript and Client-side JavaScript.
Yes, DEVELOPER, you can create XPage applications without learning any Java. XPages built without Java knowledge exist as certainly as Data Table Controls and View Controls and Panel Controls exist, and you know that they abound and give to your applications their highest performance and functionality. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were only Java. It would be as dreary as if there were no DEVELOPERs. There would be no @If() then, no @TextToTime(), no @UserName() to make tolerable this existence. We should have no deployed applications, except with casting and extending. The eternal light with which Domino fills the world would be extinguished.
Have to use Java to build an XPage application! You might as well not believe in IBM Lotus Domino! You might get your manager to hire people to watch all the Domino servers to see if anyone made an XPsge application without learning Java, but what would that prove? It all becomes Java, but that is no sign there is Developer-written Java used. The most real things in our world are applications that can be run in a Notes client or a web browser. Neither users nor managers can see. Did you ever see the Java behind the Repeat Control? You may have, but that’s no proof that you have to use or know Java yourself. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable behind XPage controls.
You may tear apart the Discussion Template and see what makes it work, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the smartest developer, nor even the united strength of all the smartest developers that ever lived, could tear apart. Only rapid application development, security, reusability, cross-browser compatibility, low TCO, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory of improved productivity and complete social network integration. Is it all real? Ah, DEVELOPER, in this economy there is nothing else real and abiding.
No XPages without writing Java! Thank God! Domino lives, and Domino lives forever. A thousand applications from now, Developer, nay, ten times ten thousand applications from now, XPages will continue to make glad the heart of developerhood without a single line of Java from you.
I would agree that you absolutely do NOT need to know Java to create XPages applications.
However, I am JUST BEGINNING to look at learning Java for XPages and I can humbly suggest that you might WANT to use Java for CERTAIN things. At the very least you should NOT be afraid of Java as I have been for a very long time.
Java has a syntax that isn't as scary as you might think. It's close to JavaScript in some regards.
But just because it's Java does NOT mean you're giving up RAD.
I'm interested in using Java for business logic. Where I might have used either a LOT of lotus script or even created a lotus script custom class. It seems like it might be better to do that type of coding in Java rather then SSJS. Not 100% sure yet though.
The two main points though are: You do NOT need to use Java… but if you're not looking at java just because you're afraid of learning it, then you're making a mistake.
just my 1 cent…
Good point Russ, some many developers are scared off on XPages because they alway hear about Java and XPages.
You can do much with JavaScript (yes, you do need to learn that to some extent)!
Howard
You don't need to use Java to make XPages apps. You just need it to make GOOD XPages apps. 😉
Here we see the dichotomy being played out which this post was meant to gently bridge.
Howard clearly understands the issue.
I agree with David that, if it is fear that is holding you back from learning Java, then that is a mistake. However, fear does not appear to be the most significant driving factor. Time, or lack of it, is.
Regarding the apparent opinion that you can only make a "good" XPage application if you use Java…that is 100% wrong. What makes an application "good" is different for different situations.
To all: Please, please, please understand that you can make excellent XPage applications without knowing Java. Are you better off knowing Java? Yes. Is it required? Absolutely 100% not required.
Russ,
Point well-made. And well-written.
Wouldn't usage of developer be much more gentleman-like than DEVELOPER. Why r u shouting at developer?
Best regards
Axel
Axel,
🙂 Please refer to the original. Of course I was trying to maintain the historical tone. There is a link to the original at the top of the post.
informative read… I'm enrolled in a JAVA Programming course @ http://www.wiziq.com/course/1617-core-java-for-beginners-icse-students and was looking online for some material that may boost my preparations.. thanks 🙂