Portal:Technology
From ZenWiki
Rich Client Platform
ZEN Client, a standalone desktop GUI application, has been identified as possessing many important quality attributes, such as usability, security, availability and performance (refer to Minutes of Meeting 09-22-06 for more detail). To efficiently build the GUI application, a readily available framework is preferred. Rich Client Platform (RCP) is the realization of such framework for building desktop GUI application. There are two notable RCPs in the market: NetBeans Platform and Eclipse RCP.
In deciding which one to adopt, an evaluation based on quality attributes is conducted with the following outcome.
| RCP | Usability | Security | Availability | Performance |
| Eclipse | Both are able to support creating usable UI. | Both have no build-in features for security. (Supported by underlying JDK/JRE.) | Both are proven and stable solutions in the market. | Good with it's native SWT approach. |
| NetBeans | Not as good; depending on the implementation of JRE. |
Additionally, the following factors are considered:
- Eclipse has a lager market share than NetBeans. (We use Eclipse in two of our core courses.)
- Eclipse has a larger amount of sample projects that we can study and refer to.
In conclusion, Eclipse RCP seems to be more favorable than NetBeans Platform.
More information about Eclipse RCP:
