Java vs Python

There some things that made me conclude that Java is easier than python

1) Good documentation. Yes python has a very simple syntax , while java is more verbose but nothing can make thing any easier than good documentation, especially with third party libraries. Many of them actually require their users to read C++ documentation that defeats the purpose of using python in the first place.

2) Speed. Python is very slow, and even this does not show very often only for CPU intense tasks , that does not mean that python does not consume too much CPU. Again this might not be the problem for non intense CPU stuff, but because I working with midi and audio it makes my life harder.

3) Lack of a good IDE, IDEs is an essential part of RAD and none of the IDEs that support python works in a way that is hassle free. Especially in the GUI design department these IDEs leave alot to be desired.

I love the python syntax, it is surely the best of the best, that is why I have jython close at hand , but overall, at least for me what killed python is bad documentation and fragmented cross platform availability of libraries ( I have even experienced severe problems into making python work on macos).

I dont see python conquering the universe, the best language is yet to be invented. Its a great language however and alot of fun to use.

I do understand that the 3 above may not apply in all cases. Some people do not use IDEs, their python libraries have very good documentation, and do not real need speed.

My issue with python are quite old, but it was now that I decided to make an app that via MIDI protocol will control external hardware synthesizers ( I make music as well -> www.soundclick.com/kilon ) . Problem one , finding the right GUI. Qt is not free, GTK need X11 to work in mac, and Wxpython has non existent official documentation. Problem two, finding the right MIDI library, again the documentation is non existent.

Also I did not like the pure python ides or the IDEs that support python via plugin. I ended up that I would had to use several programm to do what I want and that is not good.

Java already solved the above problems.

Another motivation is jython. Java developers hate it beacause it inherits the slowness of python. Python developers hate it because it does nto allow of the use of cpython libraries unless they are already implemented in jython and thus is tied to java library and thus is not really pythonic. And other people love it ,like me, because it unites easy python syntac with the power and popularity of java libraries.

Jython Speed vs Java

I have created a small benchmark , to test the speed of Jython when calling swing components and JAVA2D methods. I was aiming to 5x times slower speed in JYTHON but JYTHON proved me very wrong. IT was only 3 times slower than JAVA.

The benchmark was not only for speed reasons but also a way to learn Jython .

I share with you the code of both JAVA and Jython. You may run the test in your computer and share results.

The app is building a window and draws 1 point lines and then displays a very large button with the amount of nanoseconds it took to execute the program.

I run the test in a ACER ASPIRE ONE with 1.GHz Pentium Atom Processor, 500 MB RAM, 8 GB SDD HD and WINXP.

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JAVA CODE

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/*
 * To change this template, choose Tools | Templates
 * and open the template in the editor.
 */
package speed;

import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import java.awt.color.*;
import java.awt.geom.Line2D;
import java.awt.*;
import java.util.Observable;
import javax.swing.JComponent;
import java.util.Observer;

public class Central {

   

    public static void main(String[] args) {
//Toolkit theKit = aWindow.getToolkit();
//Dimension wndSize = theKit.getScreenSize();
        long StartTime = System.nanoTime();
        JFrame aWindow = new JFrame("This is my window");
        CentralView view;
        view = new CentralView();

        aWindow.getContentPane().add(view, BorderLayout.CENTER);

        aWindow.setBounds(0, 0, 800, 500);
        aWindow.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        aWindow.setCursor(Cursor.getPredefinedCursor(Cursor.CROSSHAIR_CURSOR));
        aWindow.getContentPane().setBackground(Color.PINK);
        aWindow.setVisible(true);
        long EndTime = System.nanoTime();
        long TimeExec = EndTime - StartTime;

        aWindow.getContentPane().add(new JButton("Time of Excution in nano seconds:" + TimeExec));


    }
}

class CentralView extends JComponent implements Observer {

    /**
     *
     */
    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

    public void paint(Graphics g) {
        Graphics2D g2D = (Graphics2D) g;

        for (double x = 0; x < 801; x++) {
            for (double y = 0; y < 501; y++) {
                Line2D.Double l1 = new Line2D.Double(x, y, x, y);
                g2D.setPaint(Color.BLUE);
                g2D.draw(l1);
            }
        }

        g2D.setPaint(Color.RED);
        g2D.draw3DRect(50, 50, 100, 100, true);

        g2D.drawString("A Speed Test ", 60, 100);


    }

    @Override
    public void update(Observable arg0, Object arg1) {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
    }
}

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JYTHON CODE

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# This line will import the appropriate swing library for your system (jdk 1.1 or 1.2)
from java import awt
from java import lang
from java import util
from javax import swing

class CentralView(swing.JComponent, util.Observer):
    def paint(self, g):
        for x in range(0, 800):
            for y in range(0, 500):
                l1 = awt.geom.Line2D.Double(x, y, x, y)
                g.draw(l1)

        g.setPaint(awt.Color.RED)
        g.draw3DRect(50, 50, 100, 100, 1)
        g.drawString("a nice square", 60, 100)

StartTime = lang.System.nanoTime()
view = CentralView()


aWindow = swing.JFrame('This is my window ')
aWindow.getContentPane().add(view, awt.BorderLayout.CENTER)
aWindow.setBounds(0, 0, 800, 500)
aWindow.setDefaultCloseOperation(swing.JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE)
aWindow.setCursor(awt.Cursor.getPredefinedCursor(awt.Cursor.CROSSHAIR_CURSOR))
aWindow.getContentPane().add(view)
aWindow.setVisible(1)
EndTime = lang.System.nanoTime()
TimeExec = EndTime - StartTime
aWindow.getContentPane().add(swing.JButton("Time of Execution in nano seconds:" + str(TimeExec)))

Blofeld Editor VST with JAVA

I have already started making a blofeld editor using the VST framerwork from JAVA with the help of the jVSTwRapper . The editor will probably implement the basic functionality of Waldorf Blofeld synth and will exclude any sysex related features like the arpeggiator and utility parameters which can be unstable in some hosts. Building a very good looking GUI is the purpose as well. But for now a non GUI version is the highest priority which will control alla CC controllable parameters of the Waldorf Blofeld synthesiszer.

I have already made a first version which can control the cutoff of the first filter but I experience problems with making midi pass thru the editor. As soon as I solve this problem , then the non gui editor will be just a matter of time ;)

Watch this space for all updates.