Flash or Java?

[august]

Does it make sense to substitute Java applets for Flash if you already know Java and don't have the time to learn Flash? Just since Flash requires a plugin while Java can be switched off, but you can have user interaction & animation with both, it appears that both are good for the same purposes . I've heard some say that applets are becoming more and more rarely used for the web, but if you already know Java, and don't know Flash, would it make sense to use it instead of Flash? Or is there any reason not to?

[Oak]

Flash and Applets are too different to compare.

Flash is more about design and animation even though it does have a scripting facility.

An applet is more programming based and allows a java application to run in a browser. Applets werent created with animation and design as the primary goal so they are not set up to do those things very easily but flash makes those things much easier.

If you already know java then learning action script for flash will be easy but it really does depend on the kind of website you are working on.

So in summary, No I dont believe that java applets can substitute Flash.

[august]

Don't know where to ask this question, so I give it a shot here:

What do you think takes longer to learn and is the bigger challenge, a programming language itself or the logic and habit of translating solutions into that language?

I'd say you may know the syntax of a language inside & out, but to actually do real useful things with it takes years of working and developing, isn't that so?

it's a great brain challenge :)

[Oak]

The logic and translating logic into a solution is what takes longer. Each language is merely an implimentation of logic although now that things have become object oriented there is more to the actual languages themselves conceptually.

Once a person has become very proficient in one language they usually find it very easy to learn a new one. This is because all the languages do the same thing with albeit slightly different syntax.

As for the doing usefull things bit, it really depends on what you mean. Useful for you could mean a javascript that performs an image rollover in which case you could be up and running in a matter of minutes. Sure if you mean creating complex applications such as an enterprise level accounting package or something like that then yes it is bound to take years to get to the level where you can achieve such things.

It all depends on the user's version of "usefull".

[august]

Yeah, that's what I meant. To create a big application software is a far cry for someone who's just gotten comfortable with a language itself. Then there are all those concepts you need to learn about error handling, exceptions, well, just what comes first and in what order, and how hundreds of components and ideas interact with eachother, it just seems impossible, still for me somehow. I'm not sure what the people who created for example photoshop went through to get to that point, I mean it must have taken 20 years or so, to learn a million concepts and remember them.