Java Compilers

[Zap!]

Have any of you tried any other compilers for Java? I've only used the Sun compiler, but I've heard that Jikes works well too. I haven't looked for any information about it, but I was wondering if there is any major differences that I should look at between the Sun compiler and others.

[Dru Lee Parsec]

We use the IBM compiler that comes with WebSphere at work. Even when compiling over 400 files for a large project it's fast enough that I havn't found a need for a new/faster compiler.

Although a full build (clean all, compile 400+ files, build about 15 jar files, deploy 12 EJB's into WebSphere, deploy various jar files to different locations for different servers, deploy the web files to the proper doc-root directory, strip out the stub and skel files from the ejb's to build a "common EJB" jar and deploy that to yet another server) does take about 8 minutes. The vast majority of the time is taken up during the websphere EJB deployment.

I just play Hold-em poker on my palm pilot while I'm waiting.

BTW, this entire process is automated by using ANT (Another Nice Tool) from the Jakarta project of Apache.

[Zap!]

Well, I'm just a newbie to the Java community. I do programs for myself just for the fun of it and also I am doing my research project in Java. A friend of mine had been trying to push me to use Jikes, but I just think "If it ain't broken, don't fix it."

Also, what is the difference in using different compilers?

[Dru Lee Parsec]

Also, what is the difference in using different compilers?

See, that's the thing, I don't see a difference. I've never thought that the standard compiler was particularly slow.

A friend of mine had been trying to push me to use Jikes, but I just think "If it ain't broken, don't fix it."

I'm with you, just download the Java SDK and use the tools they give you. They work great.

[inkedmn]

i think i'd just use sun's compiler simply because they are the one's who wrote the language.

just my $.02 though...

[phubuh]

In the IDEA development environment (http://www.intellij.net), I use Jikes. Jikes ships with IDEA, and switching to it is trivial. It compiles faster and generates correct code, so I don't see any reason not to use it.