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ARPSTOCK --- Carl Sayres has used OS/2 since version 2.0.  He's got a Masters in Physics from Columbia University.  And he's written the best Java development starter kit I've ever seen.

           It's called Simplicity For Java, and it's very easy to use and very fast to work with.  Forget VisualAge For Java and the JDK -- write your Java apps with this great tool.

           "I have a Unix background on Sun Sparc Solaris," said Carl.  "When my brother needed a search engine for his library customers I picked Java because it could run as an applet anywhere on the web.  I initially looked at several Java tools -- Microsoft J++, Symantec Cafe, Borland JBuilder -- but they were all for a Windows environment."

           Carl intended to write just a small GUI builder while he was working on his Doctorate in Computational Physics.  The Doctorate is now on hold while Carl runs his new software company.

           "First I just wanted to drop GUI widgets wherever I wanted them.  Then I decided to add listener events for each component.  After that, I figured I needed my own Java Virtual Machine, so I wrote one --- entirely in Java."  Carl, I must admit, is one up on most of us.  Who else do you know of that's written a JVM?

           "And I added Code Sourcer, which interviews you in plain English and then writes the code for you."  Carl is merrily clicking away on the screen as I watch dumbfounded.  A Java app with labeled buttons, windows and menus takes him about three minutes.  "And once images or sounds are brought in, you just select them.  No path or filenames required.  And there's even auto-correction of your entries."

           Simplicity For Java has all the standard Java layouts plus some new ones created by Carl.  It has all of AWT plus SWING.  AWT is normally missing some critical things such as tabbed card layouts, progress bars, group boxes and image boxes, so Carl kindly went ahead and added them for you.  "There's a large assortment of extended parts which I've created," said Carl.

           The editor includes color syntax highlighting, unlimited undo and redo, search and replace using PERL 5 regular expressions, full JavaBean support, debugging capabilities from within the composer engine (Carl's Java Virtual Machine executes the code as you create it, making the entire development process truly interactive), and even some animation capabilities.

           Once your screen is designed, you can play with it and move sections around until it looks just the way you want it.  I was very impressed as I started to change the label on a button and the button changed with every character I typed.  Now that's interactive.  VisualAge For Java, in comparison, doesn't execute the code as you write it so you can't see what's happening while you're developing the app.

           "The title is our goal," said Carl.  My impression is that Simplicity For Java is perfect for small and medium size projects, and great for creating individual components for very large projects.

           Simplicity For Java 1.0 is the current release, and the 1.1 beta is on his web site.  Carl figures 1.1 will be released around December 1.

           Version 1.1 will be $149; version 1.0 is $89 and you'll get a free upgrade to 1.1.  The 1.0 version is 1.1 megabytes, while the 1.1 version will be three to four megabytes.

           The manual is online in both PDF (for printing) and HTML (for viewing) formats.  There are two full tutorials.

           For other Warpstock '98 articles see the Warpstock '98 Article Index.

Simplicity For Java from Data Representations, http://www.datarepresentations.com/