src/content/community/articles/interviews/thinkingrock.html - netbeans-website-cleanup - Git at Google

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 <h1>NetBeans Platform Provides the Pre-invented Wheel <br>So You Can Get Things Done
 </h1>
 <h3>An Interview with Jeremy Moore, Software Developer of ThinkingRock</h3>
 <p class="lead">
 The time management book "Getting Things Done", by
 David Allen, promises to help readers handle work-life tasks more
 productively through a simple five-step plan: collect, process,
 organize, review, and do. The book's approach has become a popular
 model in the personal management and productivity industry, and has
 earned an eponymous&nbsp; acronym: GTD<sup>®</sup>. Now, a two-person
 development
 team in Australia has repurposed the GTD concept for the digital set,
 creating a software application to help the tech savvy but disorganised
 get things done. The application, <a href="http://www.trgtd.com.au/">ThinkingRock</a>,
 was built on the <a href="http://platform.netbeans.org/">NetBeans
 Platform</a> and has been getting rave reviews. We spoke to the lead
 developer of ThinkingRock, Jeremy Moore, to learn about his team's
 experience using the NetBeans Platform.
 </p>

 <div class="photobox">
 <img id="thinkingrock" src="../../../images_www/articles/interviews/thinkingrock.jpg"
     alt="ThinkingRock development team" title="ThinkingRock development team" />
 <p class="caption">The ThinkingRock development team out on a rock, er, thinking</p>
 </div>

 <p><b>What drew you to NetBeans?</b></p>
 <p> I first started using NetBeans back around 2000 when I was learning
 Java. I think it was NetBeans 3.0 or something. The
 non-commercial and open-source nature of it was a big draw for me
 and there were no problems getting at any of the code. The
 documentation back then was lacking a bit, but there was always a good
 vibe with the NetBeans community. There was always help via the email
 lists.
 </p>
 <p> <b>As a long time NetBeans user, what changes have been the most
 striking or useful for you
 over the years?</b>
 </p>
 <p> NetBeans has come a long way and now has good documentation. I
 can't remember exactly what functionality was or was not there when I
 first started using it, but I do remember having all sorts of problems
 building an application on the Netbeans Platform, just trying to get
 the things that were supposed to work to actually work.
 </p>
 <p> Now it is very easy to build a Rich Client Platform application
 (although the platform is not quite as separate from the IDE as I would
 like). There was not a lot of documentation back in those days and you
 really had to get your hands dirty. Now it's much better and there are
 blogs and lots of info on the Web as well as the NetBeans web site.
 </p>

 <div class="callout">
 <q> We first just built ThinkingRock without using any platform at all,
 but soon realized that we were re-inventing the wheel in many aspects.
 </q></div>

 <p><b>Did you evaluate other platforms?</b></p>
 <p> Yes. We first just built ThinkingRock without using any platform at
 all, but soon realized that we were re-inventing the wheel in many
 aspects. For example, there was no need for us to implement our own
 drag-and-drop when that problem had been solved already. We then looked
 at various platforms, with the main contenders at the time (just over
 two years ago) being Eclipse and NetBeans.
 </p>

 <p> We first looked at using Eclipse, but found it lacking. Our main
 reason for discarding it was their poor implementation of the Standard
 Widget Toolkit. Basically, it worked great on Windows, but not so great
 on the Mac. And, support for SWT was either buggy or non-existent on
 some platforms. (In fairness, the situation is probably a bit better
 today).
 </p>
 <p> We wanted our application to work on as many platforms as possible,
 therefore we felt we needed a 100% Java solution. We also evaluated
 other platforms, but most were just getting started. They either lacked
 some functionality we really wanted, such as a plug-in architecture.
 Either that, or they were not mature enough.
 </p>
 <p><b>What did you like about the NetBeans Platform?</b></p>
 <p> It's 100% Java, and has the plug-in architecture that we needed,
 for starters. Also, it's now a mature IDE. I like the fact that it's
 open source and it's continually improving. Also, the NetBeans
 community spirit is a real plus.
 </p>

 <div class="callout">
 <q> NetBeans is now a mature IDE. I like the fact that it's open source
 and it's continually improving.
 </q></div>

 <p><b>Earlier you said you found the NetBeans documentation particularly valuable to you?</b></p>

 <p> The documentation has gotten much better and the tutorials help a
 lot. For example, the
 Selection Management tutorial was a great help when we were working on
 that functionality.<br>
 </p>
 <p>Also, the e-mail lists, especially openide-dev, proved very
 useful. I would have to also say that the <a
  href="http://www.amazon.com/Rich-Client-Programming-Plugging-NetBeans/dp/0132354802/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1227622445&amp;sr=1-2">Rich
 Client Programming book</a>
 has been really helpful in understanding the NetBeans architecture. </p>
 <p><b>What about NetBeans' plug-in architecture? How was it valuable to
 you?</b></p>
 <p>Our rich client application consists of many modules which we can
 easily update and deliver via our update center—without making the
 user download the whole application. We are also adding new
 functionality which, because of the platform, we can deliver as plug-in
 modules. It's also nice that users have the flexibility to choose to
 add or remove functionality and modules. </p>
 <p>Because NetBeans is open source, a main benefit is the fact that
 anyone can get the source, see what it actually does, and change it if
 they need to. So the developer is not totally reliant on some company
 to provide a solution that might be missing—usually for a fee and on
 their time schedule.</p>

 <div class="infobox">
 <p><b>What is ThinkingRock?</b></p>
 <ul>
 <li>ThinkingRock, a time-management&nbsp; application based on the principles laid out in David Allen's book "Getting Things Done"</li>
 </ul>
 <p><b>How do I get it?</b></p>
 <ul>
 <li>Download ThinkingRock <a href="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=194713">here</a>.</li>
 </ul>
 <p><b>Operating systems?</b></p>
 <ul>
 <li>Windows, MacOS X, Linux</li>
 </ul>
 </div>

 <p><b>What APIs did you like?</b></p>
 <p>The Lookup mechanism is probably one of the most useful. One of the
 things we use it for is with the service provider scenario. We can
 define a service API and then we, or anyone else for that matter, can
 provide service implementations and deliver them as plugin modules.
 </p>

 <p>For example, we have a text component which allows the user to enter
 notes. They can also enter URL-type links to web pages and other
 things.
 We want this to be extensible so that we can easily handle new types of
 links or protocols so that, when the link is selected, the appropriate
 application will be fired up and take the user to the linked resource.
 We accomplished this by having a Service Provider API. Then we can look
 up all the provider instances to see if any can handle the selected
 URL,
 and if so, we call the provider application to handle it.</p>
 <p>But there are other APIs I like, too, such as the windowing system,
 the explorer, the module system. ...</p>
 <p style="font-weight: bold;">How many people are developing
 ThinkingRock? Does NetBeans offer you
 any advantages in working collaboratively with other programmers?</p>
 <p>There are mainly two of us developing ThinkingRock, although we have
 had various contributions from our users. We haven't really needed
 collaboration tools apart from having our source in a subversion
 repository on SourceForge. For that, we use the NetBeans plugin for
 subversion, which works very well. </p>
 <p><b>Any closing words about the NetBeans community?</b></p>
 <p>You are always treated with respect when you ask questions on
 the email lists. I've seen that people go to a lot of trouble to help
 you. People have put a lot of effort into Netbeans over the years and
 not for financial reward (even though some are Sun employees). I think
 that the members of the NetBeans community really believe in what they
 are doing—and it shows.</p>
 <h2>Additional Resources<br>
 </h2>
 <ul>
   <li>Learn more about <a href="http://www.trgtd.com.au/">ThinkingRock<br>
     </a></li>
   <li><a
  href="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=194713">Download
 ThinkingRock</a> at SourceForge</li>
   <li>Learn more about <a href="http://platform.netbeans.org/">NetBeans
 Platform</a><br>
   </li>
 </ul>
 </body>
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	<h1>NetBeans Platform Provides the Pre-invented Wheel <br>So You Can Get Things Done
	</h1>
	<h3>An Interview with Jeremy Moore, Software Developer of ThinkingRock</h3>
	<p class="lead">
	The time management book "Getting Things Done", by
	David Allen, promises to help readers handle work-life tasks more
	productively through a simple five-step plan: collect, process,
	organize, review, and do. The book's approach has become a popular
	model in the personal management and productivity industry, and has
	earned an eponymous  acronym: GTD<sup>®</sup>. Now, a two-person
	development
	team in Australia has repurposed the GTD concept for the digital set,
	creating a software application to help the tech savvy but disorganised
	get things done. The application, <a href="http://www.trgtd.com.au/">ThinkingRock</a>,
	was built on the <a href="http://platform.netbeans.org/">NetBeans
	Platform</a> and has been getting rave reviews. We spoke to the lead
	developer of ThinkingRock, Jeremy Moore, to learn about his team's
	experience using the NetBeans Platform.
	</p>

	<div class="photobox">
	<img id="thinkingrock" src="../../../images_www/articles/interviews/thinkingrock.jpg"
	alt="ThinkingRock development team" title="ThinkingRock development team" />
	<p class="caption">The ThinkingRock development team out on a rock, er, thinking</p>
	</div>

	<p><b>What drew you to NetBeans?</b></p>
	<p> I first started using NetBeans back around 2000 when I was learning
	Java. I think it was NetBeans 3.0 or something. The
	non-commercial and open-source nature of it was a big draw for me
	and there were no problems getting at any of the code. The
	documentation back then was lacking a bit, but there was always a good
	vibe with the NetBeans community. There was always help via the email
	lists.
	</p>
	<p> <b>As a long time NetBeans user, what changes have been the most
	striking or useful for you
	over the years?</b>
	</p>
	<p> NetBeans has come a long way and now has good documentation. I
	can't remember exactly what functionality was or was not there when I
	first started using it, but I do remember having all sorts of problems
	building an application on the Netbeans Platform, just trying to get
	the things that were supposed to work to actually work.
	</p>
	<p> Now it is very easy to build a Rich Client Platform application
	(although the platform is not quite as separate from the IDE as I would
	like). There was not a lot of documentation back in those days and you
	really had to get your hands dirty. Now it's much better and there are
	blogs and lots of info on the Web as well as the NetBeans web site.
	</p>

	<div class="callout">
	<q> We first just built ThinkingRock without using any platform at all,
	but soon realized that we were re-inventing the wheel in many aspects.
	</q></div>

	<p><b>Did you evaluate other platforms?</b></p>
	<p> Yes. We first just built ThinkingRock without using any platform at
	all, but soon realized that we were re-inventing the wheel in many
	aspects. For example, there was no need for us to implement our own
	drag-and-drop when that problem had been solved already. We then looked
	at various platforms, with the main contenders at the time (just over
	two years ago) being Eclipse and NetBeans.
	</p>

	<p> We first looked at using Eclipse, but found it lacking. Our main
	reason for discarding it was their poor implementation of the Standard
	Widget Toolkit. Basically, it worked great on Windows, but not so great
	on the Mac. And, support for SWT was either buggy or non-existent on
	some platforms. (In fairness, the situation is probably a bit better
	today).
	</p>
	<p> We wanted our application to work on as many platforms as possible,
	therefore we felt we needed a 100% Java solution. We also evaluated
	other platforms, but most were just getting started. They either lacked
	some functionality we really wanted, such as a plug-in architecture.
	Either that, or they were not mature enough.
	</p>
	<p><b>What did you like about the NetBeans Platform?</b></p>
	<p> It's 100% Java, and has the plug-in architecture that we needed,
	for starters. Also, it's now a mature IDE. I like the fact that it's
	open source and it's continually improving. Also, the NetBeans
	community spirit is a real plus.
	</p>

	<div class="callout">
	<q> NetBeans is now a mature IDE. I like the fact that it's open source
	and it's continually improving.
	</q></div>

	<p><b>Earlier you said you found the NetBeans documentation particularly valuable to you?</b></p>

	<p> The documentation has gotten much better and the tutorials help a
	lot. For example, the
	Selection Management tutorial was a great help when we were working on
	that functionality.<br>
	</p>
	<p>Also, the e-mail lists, especially openide-dev, proved very
	useful. I would have to also say that the <a
	href="http://www.amazon.com/Rich-Client-Programming-Plugging-NetBeans/dp/0132354802/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227622445&sr=1-2">Rich
	Client Programming book</a>
	has been really helpful in understanding the NetBeans architecture. </p>
	<p><b>What about NetBeans' plug-in architecture? How was it valuable to
	you?</b></p>
	<p>Our rich client application consists of many modules which we can
	easily update and deliver via our update center—without making the
	user download the whole application. We are also adding new
	functionality which, because of the platform, we can deliver as plug-in
	modules. It's also nice that users have the flexibility to choose to
	add or remove functionality and modules. </p>
	<p>Because NetBeans is open source, a main benefit is the fact that
	anyone can get the source, see what it actually does, and change it if
	they need to. So the developer is not totally reliant on some company
	to provide a solution that might be missing—usually for a fee and on
	their time schedule.</p>

	<div class="infobox">
	<p><b>What is ThinkingRock?</b></p>
	<ul>
	<li>ThinkingRock, a time-management  application based on the principles laid out in David Allen's book "Getting Things Done"</li>
	</ul>
	<p><b>How do I get it?</b></p>
	<ul>
	<li>Download ThinkingRock <a href="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=194713">here</a>.</li>
	</ul>
	<p><b>Operating systems?</b></p>
	<ul>
	<li>Windows, MacOS X, Linux</li>
	</ul>
	</div>

	<p><b>What APIs did you like?</b></p>
	<p>The Lookup mechanism is probably one of the most useful. One of the
	things we use it for is with the service provider scenario. We can
	define a service API and then we, or anyone else for that matter, can
	provide service implementations and deliver them as plugin modules.
	</p>

	<p>For example, we have a text component which allows the user to enter
	notes. They can also enter URL-type links to web pages and other
	things.
	We want this to be extensible so that we can easily handle new types of
	links or protocols so that, when the link is selected, the appropriate
	application will be fired up and take the user to the linked resource.
	We accomplished this by having a Service Provider API. Then we can look
	up all the provider instances to see if any can handle the selected
	URL,
	and if so, we call the provider application to handle it.</p>
	<p>But there are other APIs I like, too, such as the windowing system,
	the explorer, the module system. ...</p>
	<p style="font-weight: bold;">How many people are developing
	ThinkingRock? Does NetBeans offer you
	any advantages in working collaboratively with other programmers?</p>
	<p>There are mainly two of us developing ThinkingRock, although we have
	had various contributions from our users. We haven't really needed
	collaboration tools apart from having our source in a subversion
	repository on SourceForge. For that, we use the NetBeans plugin for
	subversion, which works very well. </p>
	<p><b>Any closing words about the NetBeans community?</b></p>
	<p>You are always treated with respect when you ask questions on
	the email lists. I've seen that people go to a lot of trouble to help
	you. People have put a lot of effort into Netbeans over the years and
	not for financial reward (even though some are Sun employees). I think
	that the members of the NetBeans community really believe in what they
	are doing—and it shows.</p>
	<h2>Additional Resources<br>
	</h2>
	<ul>
	<li>Learn more about <a href="http://www.trgtd.com.au/">ThinkingRock<br>
	</a></li>
	<li><a
	href="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=194713">Download
	ThinkingRock</a> at SourceForge</li>
	<li>Learn more about <a href="http://platform.netbeans.org/">NetBeans
	Platform</a><br>
	</li>
	</ul>
	</body>
	</html>