[nfbcs] Why Java? was: Software Developer position open

Tue Oct 2 19:45:26 UTC 2012

Thanks, Steve. This is all true. We are planning to use jeuclid to 
display math in standard visual form. It has a SWT module. SWT inself 
has an extensive set of graphics classes. There are several blind people 
on the BrailleBlaster list, including myself, of course. We have not had 
much trouble with the GUI, and we do not use the Java Access Bridge. 

John Boyer

On Tue, Oct 02, 2012 at 01:32:17PM -0500, Steve Jacobson wrote:
> John,
> 
> You may already know this, but it is fair to say that things have not changed all that much where JAVA is concerned.  Most JAVA programs that I encounter don't work well or at all with screen readers, although 
> there is at least some progress being made to make installation easier of the Windows Access Bridge.  What John Boyer is using, though, is a particular set of JAVA classes that use the operating system upon 
> which the program runs to generate output.  This has been an option for some time, and programs that use this approach generally work well with screen readers and they do not depend upon the Windows 
> Access Bridge at all.  What I understand from reading a little about this on the BlindMath list is that apparently this set of classes conflicts some with other common JAVA classes limiting the ability for one to use 
> the large numbers of libraries available to JAVA programmers.  If one is writing a program such as John is doing where it is built upon the notion that blind people are going to be using it and where other logic 
> does not require the use of a large number of other JAVA libraries, this approach is going to work very well, and will work under Windows, and some of the LINUX GUI's as well.  A gentleman on BlindMath 
> wrote a program that creates various graphical figures based upon comments, and he wrote that program using the same SWT classes.  I found the GUI interface of his program to be very compatible with 
> screen readers.  However, he ran into some trouble when he wanted to use these classes but also draw upon other libraries to display the figures drawn for the benefit of sighted users and such.
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Steve Jacobson
> 
> On Tue, 2 Oct 2012 09:17:10 -0500, John Heim wrote:
> 
> >Wow, that is really interesting. I am a systems programmer but its still 
> >interesting to me that today java might be the preferred language for a user 
> >interface for a program for the blind.  Obviously, things have really 
> >changed since the last time I heard anything about this.
> 
> >Good question, Aaron.
> 
> >----- Original Message ----- 
> >From: "John J. Boyer" <john.boyer at abilitiessoft.com>
> >To: "NFB in Computer Science Mailing List" <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
> >Sent: Monday, October 01, 2012 6:57 PM
> >Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Why Java? was: Software Developer position open
> 
> 
> >> Hi Aaron,
> >>
> >> Java was chosen primarily because of SWT (Standard Window Toolkit). This
> >> is a library for graphical intgerfaces that uses the native facilities
> >> of the operating system and so is well adapted to cross-platform
> >> applications like BrailleBlaster, which is intended to run on Linux, Mac
> >> and Windows. As a bonus, because it uses the native operating system
> >> features, it is easily accessible and does not require the Java Access
> >> Bridge.
> >>
> >> C is used for the underlying transcription engine, liblouis and
> >> liblouisutdml. Java is more suited to graphical interfaces.
> >>
> >> John
> >>
> >> On Mon, Oct 01, 2012 at 06:45:11PM -0500, Aaron Cannon wrote:
> >>> Hi John.
> >>>
> >>> I actually am curious why Java was chosen as the language for the
> >>> Braille Blaster project.  Is there any particular reason it was chosen
> >>> over some other cross-platform language such as Python or even C?  Was
> >>> it as simple as being the language you knew, or was there more to it
> >>> than that?
> >>>
> >>> Not criticizing the choice.  Just curious.  I think the language it's
> >>> written in is much less important than the fact that it simply exists,
> >>> and I'm thrilled to hear that the APH is sponsoring its development.
> >>>
> >>> Aaron
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On 10/1/12, John J. Boyer <john.boyer at abilitiessoft.com> wrote:
> >>> > That is one person's opinion. There are lots of organizations using
> >>> > Java, including the Daisy Consortiumj, Bookshare and Apache.
> >>> >
> >>> > If you wish to pursue this topic further, please change the subjectg
> >>> > line.
> >>> >
> >>> > John
> >>> >
> >>> > On Mon, Oct 01, 2012 at 02:17:08PM -0700, Ronald Smith wrote:
> >>> >> Steve,
> >>> >>
> >>> >> I think Leo LaPort stated that Java is dead!
> >>> >>
> >>> >> ----- Original Message -----
> >>> >> From: "Steve Jacobson" <steve.jacobson at visi.com>
> >>> >> To: "NFB in Computer Science Mailing List" <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
> >>> >> Sent: Monday, October 01, 2012 1:50 PM
> >>> >> Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Software Developer position open
> >>> >>
> >>> >>
> >>> >> >John,
> >>> >> >
> >>> >> >I am going to forward this to our "jobs" list as well.
> >>> >> >
> >>> >> >Best regards,
> >>> >> >
> >>> >> >Steve Jacobson
> >>> >> >
> >>> >> >
> >>> >> >On Mon, 1 Oct 2012 15:38:02 -0500, John J. Boyer wrote:
> >>> >> >
> >>> >> >>O
> >>> >> >>A software developer with extensive Java experience is needed to 
> >>> >> >>work
> >>> >> >>on
> >>> >> >>the BrailleBlaster project. This work will be done under contract 
> >>> >> >>with
> >>> >> >>the American Printing House for the Blind (APH), which is 
> >>> >> >>collaborating
> >>> >> >>on the project. Knowledge of Braille is desirable but not required,
> >>> >> >>since it can be learned. BrailleBlaster is an open source project 
> >>> >> >>which
> >>> >> >>aims to dramatically increase the availability of Braille and 
> >>> >> >>tactile
> >>> >> >>graphics. It covers both literary and technical material. It is 
> >>> >> >>freely
> >>> >> >>downloadable. Please send questions and resumes to
> >>> >> >>john.boyer at abilitiessoft.com
> >>> >> >
> >>> >> >>--
> >>> >> >>John J. Boyer; President, Chief Software Developer
> >>> >> >>Abilitiessoft, Inc.
> >>> >> >>http://www.abilitiessoft.com
> >>> >> >>Madison, Wisconsin USA
> >>> >> >>Developing software for people with disabilities
> >>> >> >
> >>> >> >
> >>> >> >>_______________________________________________
> >>> >> >>nfbcs mailing list
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> >>> >> >>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbcs_nfbnet.org
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> >>> >> >
> >>> >> >
> >>> >> >
> >>> >> >
> >>> >> >
> >>> >> >_______________________________________________
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> >>> >>
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> >>> >
> >>> > --
> >>> > John J. Boyer; President, Chief Software Developer
> >>> > Abilitiessoft, Inc.
> >>> > http://www.abilitiessoft.com
> >>> > Madison, Wisconsin USA
> >>> > Developing software for people with disabilities
> >>> >
> >>> >
> >>> > _______________________________________________
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> >>>
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> >>
> >> -- 
> >> John J. Boyer; President, Chief Software Developer
> >> Abilitiessoft, Inc.
> >> http://www.abilitiessoft.com
> >> Madison, Wisconsin USA
> >> Developing software for people with disabilities
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >>
> >> 
> 
> >_______________________________________________
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> 
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
John J. Boyer; President, Chief Software Developer
Abilitiessoft, Inc.
http://www.abilitiessoft.com
Madison, Wisconsin USA
Developing software for people with disabilities