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Hmm, I thought that JavaFX is effectively dead, after it was removed from JDK. Haven’t seen any app made with it for ages. But maybe now, that we have GraalVM

Hmm, I thought that JavaFX is effectively dead, after it was removed from JDK. Haven’t seen any app made with it for ages. But maybe now, that we have GraalVM Java will make a comeback to desktop?

suyash 2y ago
It has a very active community, nothing is dead when there are active users. It has been living as independent package for a long time https://openjfx.io https://openjfx.io
- synergy20 2y ago
  I wish Oracle did a better job for Java GUI, sigh. Java could be more lightweight than electronjs as a cross platform desktop GUI stack. Swing is the only one officially supported, but, it does not look that great on the screen.
  - Longhanks 2y ago
    I don't remember Java being any more lightweight than Electron. Both are super heavy, easily recognizable (because of there non-native nature and general subpar performance), have giant binaries/payloads. Especially Swing. Noone has ever complimented IntelliJ on its responsiveness... (IntelliJ is great nonetheless)
    - winrid 2y ago
      I have a JavaFX app in production that ships 40mb binaries, which includes the JRE, and can run with a 50mb heap, and I haven't optimized it yet.
riku_iki 2y ago
> I thought that JavaFX is effectively dead what would be replacement?..
- szastamasta 2y ago
  I just thought that people moved to Electron for cross-platform and to native otherwise. Java was not particularly fast nor native-looking on desktop. I’ve spent quite a few years in Swing, and am not sure it’s much better than Electron. But with GraalVM, maybe…
  - itronitron 2y ago
    It really depends on the developers writing the application, but in my humble opinion Java and Swing are far better than Electron in terms of responsiveness to user interactions.
  - riku_iki 2y ago
    Java is unbeatable for "enterprise logic" though..
  - compsciphd 2y ago
    the primary java app I use is InteliJ suite and it seems as responsive/fast as any other app I use. Are they doing anything particularly unique?
    - riku_iki 2y ago
      IntelliJ is 20yo old app, with lots of resources invested, they likely have many non-trivial optimizations implemented and do not represent vanilla java experience.
adra 2y ago
I made a somewhat trivial app in javafx, bellsoft JVM with native graalvm/javafx included and it was an ok experience. It definitely shows the community is small, but a lot of the key issues were solvable which makes me think a few larger communities putting love j to it could reply turn things around. Kinda like redhat dumping a ton of effort into python and is kits for redhat, etc.. the love really seemed to help that community in the times it was needed.
severino 2y ago
> Hmm, I thought that JavaFX is effectively dead, after it was removed from JDK I remember reading that they were removing it from the JDK so it wasn't tied to Java release schedules, enabling them to have more frequent updates. Don't know how it worked though, but where I live I know, by reading job offers, that at least a couple of companies use it.
dlemmermann 2y ago
You can try out the desktop version of JFXCentral via this installer https://downloads.hydraulic.dev/jfxcentral2/download.html https://downloads.hydraulic.dev/jfxcentral2/download.html

Hmm, I thought that JavaFX is effectively dead, after it was removed from JDK. Haven’t seen any app made with it for ages. But maybe now, that we have GraalVM Java will make a comeback to desktop?

suyash 2y ago

It has a very active community, nothing is dead when there are active users. It has been living as independent package for a long time https://openjfx.io https://openjfx.io

synergy20 2y ago
I wish Oracle did a better job for Java GUI, sigh. Java could be more lightweight than electronjs as a cross platform desktop GUI stack. Swing is the only one officially supported, but, it does not look that great on the screen.
- Longhanks 2y ago
  I don't remember Java being any more lightweight than Electron. Both are super heavy, easily recognizable (because of there non-native nature and general subpar performance), have giant binaries/payloads. Especially Swing. Noone has ever complimented IntelliJ on its responsiveness... (IntelliJ is great nonetheless)
  - winrid 2y ago
    I have a JavaFX app in production that ships 40mb binaries, which includes the JRE, and can run with a 50mb heap, and I haven't optimized it yet.

riku_iki 2y ago

> I thought that JavaFX is effectively dead what would be replacement?..

szastamasta 2y ago
I just thought that people moved to Electron for cross-platform and to native otherwise. Java was not particularly fast nor native-looking on desktop. I’ve spent quite a few years in Swing, and am not sure it’s much better than Electron. But with GraalVM, maybe…
- itronitron 2y ago
  It really depends on the developers writing the application, but in my humble opinion Java and Swing are far better than Electron in terms of responsiveness to user interactions.
- riku_iki 2y ago
  Java is unbeatable for "enterprise logic" though..
- compsciphd 2y ago
  the primary java app I use is InteliJ suite and it seems as responsive/fast as any other app I use. Are they doing anything particularly unique?
  - riku_iki 2y ago
    IntelliJ is 20yo old app, with lots of resources invested, they likely have many non-trivial optimizations implemented and do not represent vanilla java experience.

adra 2y ago

I made a somewhat trivial app in javafx, bellsoft JVM with native graalvm/javafx included and it was an ok experience. It definitely shows the community is small, but a lot of the key issues were solvable which makes me think a few larger communities putting love j to it could reply turn things around. Kinda like redhat dumping a ton of effort into python and is kits for redhat, etc.. the love really seemed to help that community in the times it was needed.

severino 2y ago

> Hmm, I thought that JavaFX is effectively dead, after it was removed from JDK I remember reading that they were removing it from the JDK so it wasn't tied to Java release schedules, enabling them to have more frequent updates. Don't know how it worked though, but where I live I know, by reading job offers, that at least a couple of companies use it.

dlemmermann 2y ago

You can try out the desktop version of JFXCentral via this installer https://downloads.hydraulic.dev/jfxcentral2/download.html https://downloads.hydraulic.dev/jfxcentral2/download.html