Rich Internet Applications (RIA)

At Canoo, we strongly believe in the benefits of a Java-based approach to build richer business web applications. In various service projects, our customers have greatly benefited from this strategy.

We would like to convince more companies to try out UltraLightClient for their web app projects. Within this context, I would like to start a new UltraLightClient blog post series discussing reasons how the Canoo RIA library will benefit your upcoming web project.

Obviously I will be listing the reasons for UltraLightClient. Please feel free to list your comments. In fact, I would like to encourage you to list your doubts and questions. After all, this is a blog. And between you and me, we are a company that likes a good discussion.

One of the first reasons we like to list is:

UltraLightClient is a “Single Technology” approach to building better interfaces for business web applications.

It is a lean Java library that can be easily integrated into your current web app infrastructure. It relies on the Java platform and delegates functions to Java EE and Java SE wherever possible.

What does this mean for your project?

1. Faster and simpler development, because your development team does not need to switch between various programming languages, development tools, or technology concepts.
2. The only language used to build rich user interfaces is Java. UltraLightClient follows standard Swing concepts and its API.
3. It is easier to find developers with the right skill set. Java is a well-established, proven language and you will be able to hire from a wider pool of developers. By selecting Java, you have access to a vast array of open source and commercial libraries and tools (e.g. excellent IDEs).
4. Debugging, testing and maintenance tasks are easier than within an AJAX-based project. Software defects within a single technology space can be tracked much more easily.
5. ULC’s single technology approach is more than skin-deep. With AJAX you might have a nice high-level JavaScript-only API. But as soon as you try to extend an AJAX library, you are exposed to all the ugly details of DOM, XML, CSS, etc.
6. The single technology approach substantially reduces configuration problems when trying to find the right combination of libraries and tools. In a multi-technology environment this is much more time-consuming.

And at the end of the day, these points will save you “real” time and money and reduce the overall risk that your business web application will fail.

Next post in this series: Server-side Architecture

About Canoo and its RIA Technology

Canoo is a solution provider for Rich Internet Applications (RIA) based in Basel, Switzerland. It offers consulting services and end-to-end development of Enterprise Web applications.

Canoo develops and maintains UltraLightClient, a library to create enterprise-class Rich Internet Applications. UltraLightClient bridges the gap between Java Swing user interface components and a Web architecture, providing a cost-efficient, single technology and mature alternative to AJAX.

See also:
“Top reasons to use ULC”
Stefan Ried’s Forrester Report

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 5th, 2008 at 12:15 pm by admin and is filed under General, Java, Java RIA, UltraLightClient, Why ULC?. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.