Mozilla as a Development Platform: An Interview with Axel Hecht (O'ReillyNet) [LWN.net]

Mozilla as a Development Platform: An Interview with Axel Hecht (O'ReillyNet)

Posted Sep 5, 2005 17:45 UTC (Mon) by patipati (guest, #28059)
Parent article: Mozilla as a Development Platform: An Interview with Axel Hecht (O'ReillyNet)

Mozilla is useless as a development platform.
No, I'm not a disgruntled Windows user.
I use Linux mostly, and off the top of my head,
don't remember if this was a Linux or Windows problem..
it may be both.
Attention-getting statement aside, heres the prob:

Almost 2 years ago, I tried using Mozilla as my
browser of choice to develop basic JAVA code linked
on a web page. This was (is?) absolutely impossible.
The cache refused to update the screen when I did
a reload. It kept seeing the first java it loaded.

I have received sporatic bugzilla emails from others
who've noticed the problem in various forms.
( and as recently as a month or 2 ago ).
I have not received notice of a bug fix.

And without such notice, I'm not inclined to
spend more of my time. I'll use another browser
as a development tool.

I do use Mozilla to browser news and information,
and like it as such a tool (with java off).

///////

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Mozilla as a Development Platform: An Interview with Axel Hecht (O'ReillyNet)

Posted Sep 5, 2005 18:35 UTC (Mon) by khim (subscriber, #9252) [Link]

Mozilla is useless as a development platform.

Ehm, why ?

Almost 2 years ago, I tried using Mozilla as my browser of choice to develop basic JAVA code linked on a web page. This was (is?) absolutely impossible. The cache refused to update the screen when I did a reload. It kept seeing the first java it loaded.

In outher words you've
1. Never even tried to use Mozilla as platform (i.e. with XUL, XPATH, XPCOM and so on). Java is not part of Mozilla's platform (since Sun does not wish for it to happen).
2. Mozilla correctly worked with your Java application but you wanted something different.

So... your rant is relevant... how exactly ? It looks to me like refusal to use GCC since GTK+ compiled with GCC does not suit you and you like FCL better... Choice is yours, of course, but how the GCC is related to your GTK+ frustration ?

Mozilla as a Java Platform

Posted Sep 6, 2005 9:11 UTC (Tue) by man_ls (subscriber, #15091) [Link]

You are completely right. The original poster is not even using Firefox code, since Java runs in a separate, Sun-provided plugin.

For the record, I usually disable Java, since it provides little of interest and just pollutes my browsing. Even worse with Flash, but there are some lame sites which require it. I hope XUL does not become the next major annoyance.

Mozilla as a Java Platform

Posted Sep 6, 2005 15:42 UTC (Tue) by dlang (✭ supporter ✭, #313) [Link]

my understanding is that XUL is not something to be downloaded from random servers and run locally (like Java, Javascript, Flash, etc), but instead is a platform to use to write cross-platform client-side apps (more like Perl, etc)

Mozilla as a XUL Platform

Posted Sep 6, 2005 15:55 UTC (Tue) by man_ls (subscriber, #15091) [Link]

After seeing things like this: http://robin.sourceforge.net/, I'm not so sure.

Mozilla as a Development Platform: An Interview with Axel Hecht (O'ReillyNet)

Posted Sep 6, 2005 11:46 UTC (Tue) by gallir (guest, #5735) [Link]

So, mutatis mutandi, if your selected Java platform does not allow you to
develop .Net/C# application, itis not a development platform neither.

I can't help but say you have no idea of what is a "Development
Platform". You have no idea of what is free/libre/open source software
and what isn't, neither.