Flex Leads To Clash Between Java and Flash Communities

I will go out on a limb here, and say something totally general about two developer communities, and how they view each other. We define ourselves against others (those who do not are the true innovators), and now, I will go define myself against others :-) So what do I mean? Flex have spawned a lot of interest in the Java community, and it seems to bring hords of Java enterprise developers to the flex and flash world. A world, that we, as Java enterprise developers, have shied for many years. On the other hand, flash developers have suddenly got a framework and toolchain, to build “real” applications in flash.

This brings the flash and the Java enterprise developer communities closer, which, in my opinion, seems to result in culturel clashes. And actually, these clashes are a great thing for both communities.

Java Enterprise Developers Views of a Flash Developer

Here is how I think the general Java enterprise developer think of flash developers:

  • They are not “real” programmers
  • They only do nifty little graphics and animation stuff, to create adds or stuff like it
  • They have no real detail to programming as a field of study, hence no good understanding of good developer skills
  • If left alone with a programming environment, they will eventually create a mess
  • On the other hand: They are far superior in arts and crafts, which, to a Java developer, makes them kind of a guru/wizard in that area

Flash Developers View of a Java Enterprise Developer

Here is how I think the general flash developer think of Java enterprise developers:

  • They have no real attention to detail in the view, but only hacks it to “work”, but looks like shit
  • Can, most of the time, implement a design made by real designers, but, if left alone with it for too long with own additions, they will mess it up and make it look ugly

The Good Thing

While I do think there is some truth in the above statements, I also think the important message here is, that the two communities can learn from each other.

June 3, 2008  Tags: ,   Posted in: Programming, Rich Internet Applications

4 Responses

  1. Joel - June 4, 2008

    I think that these sorts of stereotypes probably held true up until this last year with the release of AS3 and all of the open-source coming out of Adobe on the Java/enterprise side of things.

    With AS3 being the language that it is, there will be immense cross-over in the near future. Good times.

  2. MrSteel - June 4, 2008

    how things now stand real flash / flex programmer is much more programmer, knowing what java guys usually do. java enterprise scene is about lot of programmers working on a huge program, where everyone means a little, and there is no real challange. when you work on same thing flash top project, you work more on solving problems, and making some new experiences. that’s whats going on in java scene also, with concurrent programming and better graphics functionality but ratio in java and flash programming between people who are doing that kind of stuff is much better in flash. mediocre programming in any language is nothing special.

  3. lavnish - June 5, 2008

    analogy … philosophical point of view …. the work of sword (java) cant be done by needle(flex) … and when you want to go take care of detailing use needle (flex) .. make it look beautiful by doing fine embroidery …
    ;o)

  4. Tech Per » Blog Archive » What Is The Big Deal With Flex? - June 8, 2008

    [...] my recent post Flex Leads to Clash Between Java and Flex Communities, I wrote that many Java enterprise developers are looking into and actually taking flex into their [...]

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