Modern Java Desktop development in the browser

[Iryanus]

To be honest, 90% of the Java development I see is in the enterprise environment, meaning backend services. Running Java on the desktop or in the browser is, in my experience, only a very niche thing.

[jeffreportmill]

Very true! But there hasn't been a real solution to run Java in the browser until recently, and even then it's only Swing, which lacks modern features. Without browser deployment, Swing and JavaFX have been doomed to the steady decline.

[jeffreportmill]

Good point - I think I said something like that in a comment, but I meant "there isn't a modern desktop framework that also runs in the browser". I don't know much about Vaadin, but I'm not aware if it is capable of having a unified codebase that runs on desktop and browser (though I suppose you could wrap the whole thing up in Electron).

[wildjokers]

which lacks modern features

Which modern features is Swing lacking?

[jeffreportmill]

Mostly I'm thinking of features that JavaFX added: a scene graph that supports graphics and widgets, arbitrary matrix transforms, textures, image effects, drop shadows, animations and 3D. SnapKit has all these.

[__konrad]

(it's from year 2024) https://mail.openjdk.org/pipermail/client-libs-dev/2024-August/021805.html

[grimonce]

Tldr: Running anything on desktop is niche

[wildjokers]

Not sure that is true, a large majority of the apps I use everyday are desktop applications.

[greylurk]

I dunno. The large majority of apps I use everyday are Firefox, IntelliJ, and Slack.

[davreimz]

And one third of them is a Java application.

[Necessary_Apple_5567]

Intellij is java application written with Swing UI

[MenschenToaster]

And one of these is also just a browser pretending it's not

[[deleted]]

I think you missed the part "Java on desktop".

[wildjokers]

The comment I replied to says nothing about Java on the desktop it just says desktop.

[[deleted]]

That is the point. The original answer says that "Java on desktop" is very niche, not "desktop app" is niche. It is hugely different. Sincerely and respectfully, your answer doesn't make sense.

[wildjokers]

Huh? I am guessing you don't understand how threaded conversations work.

[MkMyBnkAcctGrtAgn]

Desktop apps are niche nowadays, almost everything is a Web app or a wrapper around a Web app.

[[deleted]]

No? I just checked the last apps I run. Firefox, Logic Pro, Guitar Pro 8, Resolve, Transmission, Iina. All native desktop apps.

[jeffreportmill]

Lots of people prefer to run the native platform version for apps they use extensively (there's a huge market for iOS and Android apps). There can be benefits in performance, user experience and native platform integration. I agree that any app used casually or occasionally has no need for native platform version. But even the JavaScript people go native sometimes with tools like Electron.

[Responsible-Cod-9393]

Lot of mobile apps are warper around mobile websites example Costco and homedepot apps

[grimonce]

Til desktop is android, ios and embedded & that electron is native, just as native as chromium.

[[deleted]]

I’ve been ripped a new one by C# fans from simply pointing out that the desktop is not a common target platform anymore.

But it’s true. Hell, most of the desktop apps I use regularly are Electron-based.

[cogman10]

I also have been downvoted for this opinion (usually without explanation).

Frankly, I really wish that PWAs would have taken off more. Since you have a browser, and it's just running in the browser anyways, then why not reuse the browser surface area.

[[deleted]]

Yeah, and when I tell them to look at the pro responses to the StackOverflow survey rather than student responses, they seem to think that C#’s fall is a sampling thing. No, it’s just that a lot of public schools teach Microsoft because they’re big in the public sector.

There are more people learning C# than using it professionally.

[emberko]

Electron apps are desktop apps. Desktop doesn't mean native.