Thursday, April 24, 2014

"Lazy Development" - Java, .NET, and PHP

Microsoft started the process of making developers click around to get things done with their superb IDE. An idea which was frowned upon by coding junkies because they think software development should always be rocket surgery. Java IDEs had no option than follow the trend with NetBeans and JDeveloper Studio (the ones I have been using). The multipurpose Dreamweaver is also good but have been overshadowed by the other specialized IDEs. In the PHP arena Drupal is the only software I have seen and used which comes close to letting PHP developers develop with ease the way .NET and Java developers develop do with their IDEs.
Drupal is a monstrous sort of software. It is more developer friendlier than non-developer friendly. It treats every content as an organized entity so that specific parts of the content can be displayed when the need arises. Unlike other CMSes which let users just dump content here and there once they have it. If someone has used the non-developer friendly Wordpress and Joomla CMSes before and they come to Drupal, they find themselves in a maze.
Whenever I am building complex web apps, my go to software is Drupal. If is it not complex enough then Joomla all the way. It is all about using the right tool for the right job.
I will go through a lot of hell if I were to use Joomla or Wordpress to build APIs for multiple devices consumption.  I mean native apps consuming content, not just device browsers consuming content or responsive web. Using Drupal for such a task is super easy since version 5 and the next version of Drupal, 8, comes with this functionality in core. One doesn't have to install module before they can expose content as a service for multiple devices to consume.
.NET and Java developers can easily build APIs fast by clicking around again in the IDE's specified above.

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