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Questions and Answers with Pro J2ME Polish: Open-Source
Wireless Java Tools Suite Author Robert Virkus
Date: July 12, 2005
By Robert Virkus
Article is provided courtesy of Apress.
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Q: What is J2ME Polish and what can I use it for?
J2ME Polish (http://www.j2mepolish.org) is a collection of open-source
tools for creating wireless Java applications. The most important
components are the build tools that allow you to build your applications
for multiple target devices and locales, the user interface that
lets you design your application outside of the source code with
simple CSS text files, and the game engine that allows you to use
the MIDP 2.0 game API on MIDP 1.0 devices as well.
Q: A friend of mine is just learning J2ME programming—can
he use your book?
In the book, I assume that you’re already familiar with J2ME programming.
So beginners should read this book in conjunction with an introductory
text such as Beginning J2ME, by Jonathan Knudsen and Sing
Li. My book will certainly help beginners adapt to the requirements
of wireless reality sooner, as it not only discusses the J2ME Polish
framework, but it also explains how you can overcome the quirks and
issues of real-world devices.
Q: I’m earning my money with wireless Java applications, and so far I’m doing fine. Can you tell me what benefits your book will have for me?
We both know that the complexity of wireless Java programming is
increasing with each new device generation. Customers are constantly
demanding more, and they want stable applications that are fun to
work or play with. J2ME Polish is simply the best tool for this task,
and this book will help you get the most out of this framework.
Q: The fragmentation of J2ME devices is a bit heavy for
me—can your book help me with this?
In theory, there’s no difference between practice and theory—but
in practice there is. This pretty much sums up the reality of J2ME
programming. The J2ME standard itself is quite easy to understand,
but in the real world, there are many differences between devices
that you need to be aware of. This book helps you to cope with the
fragmented wireless Java world in a number of important ways. It
discusses the differences between popular devices, as well as the
common quirks and issues that arise when using them. It explains
several ways of dealing with such challenges, including the use of
defensive programming, preprocessing, and device-specific source
folders. It shows how to implement these strategies with the help
of J2ME Polish.
Q: What’s in it for developers that already deploy J2ME
Polish?
This book is a practical guide to all aspects of J2ME Polish, so
you’ll learn how to solve common challenges with it. The book also
explains in detail how you can adjust and extend this framework to
your advantage. Additionally, the book shows you how to optimize
your applications for speed, memory consumption, and JAR size.
Q: What do J2ME and Poland have in common, anyway?
While there are many great wireless Java programmers in Poland, the name "J2ME
Polish" actually derives from the idea of "polishing" your applications.
Q: Where do you see wireless applications in five years?
J2ME is currently the standard for building wireless applications,
and I don’t think this will change much. Sure, there are many gripes
about device fragmentation and inconsistent implementations, but
the wireless Java standard is still relatively young and will mature.
While trying to predict the future is always difficult, I think we’ll
develop some exciting new ways to communicate and interact with each
other, as well as with mobile services. In contrast to the personal
computer, the mobile phone is a very personal and mobile-by-nature
device. Location-based services (such as friend finders, navigation-
and location-based advertising), will become quite common. Mobile
services will be much more user-centric than computer-based applications—for
example, consider an email service that forwards only important mail
when you’re in a meeting.
J2ME technology will be the melting pot for most mobile services,
simply because it provides a solid base for creating applications
for many target devices at once.
Q: What future improvements do you plan for the J2ME Polish
framework?
The Scalable 2D Vector Graphics API (JSR 226) and the Mobile 3D Graphics
API (JSR 184) introduce exciting possibilities, so we plan to provide
different implementations of the user interface. You’ll be
able to continue using the high-level MIDP UI API in you applications
and choose the actual GUI implementation in the build phase. Depending
on the implementation, you’ll be able to have different interaction
modes with the user elements—such as a button that starts to spin
when the user moves to the next element, for example. Another possibility
is to use the native Blackberry GUI elements for Blackberry devices
while using the J2ME Polish GUI for other devices.
On a more down-to-earth level, we’ll continue to improve the Eclipse
plug-in. With auto-completion of preprocessing statements, a debugger,
and the automatic invocation of the correct emulator, the development
of wireless Java applications will be eased considerably.
Another interesting possibility is to circumvent device-specific
issues automatically. Right now, we’re discussing various ways of
achieving this. It currently looks like as if we’ll have to create
a solution similar to aspect-oriented development.
Last but not least, the utilities will also be improved so that you’ll
be able to do things such as let devices vibrate, play sounds, and
carry out network operations much more easily than you can now.
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Return to top of page.
 Robert
Virkus, author of Pro J2ME Polish, is
the architect and lead programmer for the open source project J2ME Polish.
He is an internationally recognized J2ME expert and is a member of Mobile
Solutions Group, Bremen, Germany. After studying law and computer science
in Bremen, Germany, and Sheffield, England, Robert began working in the
mobile industry in 1999. He followed WAP and J2ME from their very beginnings
and developed large-scale mobile betting applications. In 2003, he founded
Enough Software, the company behind J2ME Polish.
See the complete list of available articles.
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