Java Needs a CRUD Framework

Filed in archive Application Development on December 2, 2005

I've tried Ruby on Rails (RoR) and I think it is pretty cool. I don't want what I'm going to say next diminish it. With that said I'm trying to step back and understand why so many people are attacking Java. I get the strong verses dynamic typed language stuff so please don't send me any nasty emails about that aspect of things. Where I'm coming from is that RoR has simply hit a sweet spot. It is the right thing at the right time. It is great for CRUD operations on a database that is newly created. If you are not able to control the database schema or you need to do more then CRUD operations than the developer using the framework starts to lose all the whiz-bang benefits of it.

Including a keyword "scaffold" in a controller and having that automatically generate a framework is great. Entering another command and having that framework saved to disk and based on your controller and model allow a developer to customize the generated framework is a powerful feature as well. However, I find it hard to believe that the ability to do this means "Java is Dead." Give me a break and think about how big Java is right now and how much people are doing with it. Where are all the IDEs for RoR? Does ROR have the large number of libraries that Java has to address the number of issues that it does? I don't think so and I think it will take a long time for Ruby to catch up on those fronts. Much longer then it would for the Java community to create its own CRUD framework or have an IDE come along with a wizard of some sort to accomplish such things.

What prompts me to write about this is Rick Hightower's latest article titled JSF CRUD Framework. It is easy for me to say that it would be no problem to create such a framework because as the saying goes "anything it possible if your not going to do it" but there are a lot of smart and hard working people in the Java community. After reading Rick Hightower's article and playing with Sun's Java Studio Creator that allows WYSIWYG creation of Java based web applications I think RoR is cool but not a threat to Java. IMHO RoR is not the "next big thing" it only looks that way since we are all looking so hard for what that is and hoping it will get here soon. Those people who have a vested interest in seeing Java continue to be a major player in the industry are not going to rollover and die. When people tell me RoR means the end of Java my care factor is low and yours should be as well.