A Veteran JFC/Swing Developer Makes the Leap to JavaFX Script

ver since the Internet emerged, developers and the user community have tried tirelessly to lend Internet application interfaces the same interactivity their desktop applications offered. As the Internet evolved, client-side scripting languages such as JavaScript allowed developers to add dynamic behavior to browser-based applications. However, because different browsers handle JavaScript differently, creating complicated JavaScript code that works across all browsers has been difficult.

Sun Microsystems recently offered Java developers a solution to this challenge with a new scripting language called JavaFX Script. Applications built in JavaFX Script can run on the Internet, the desktop, or even on mobile devices. Unlike predecessors such as applets that tried to accomplish the same cross-platform functionality, JavaFX Script is built from the ground up with performance in mind. Its GUI components and back-end application objects are implemented in Java, and JavaFX Script code is used only to create such components, configure them, and wire them together. Also, because it's built around the Java language, JavaFX Script inherits great Java features for building large-scale reusable code such as packaging and importing.