Thread: Moving legacy application to JAVA, programming learning curve

<font face="Default Sans Serif,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" size="2"><div>I have a legacy DOS application that I
amrewriting with Postgresql as the back-end. The system was written in Foxpro2.6 for DOS and uses xBase tables. The new
databaseis set up and running on an Ubuntu server. The programs have been completed that migrate the data to the
Postgresqldatabase. Now it's time to write the interfaces. I would like to move the system to Java as a server side
projectinstead of using the latest version of Foxpro and being tied to Microsoft Terminal server. Even moving between
theDOS software and the Windows Foxpro the system will require a complete rewrite of all programs because of the move
topostgresql as the data source.<br /><br />My question is how bad is the learning curve on Java? I've had Java
programmingclasses and didn't have a problem with the language but I didn't use Java prior to this year so I don't know
anythingabout Java frameworks. I've written in many languages but have not built a modern server side application. What
Iwork on now are fat client applications and that is the thing we are trying to move away from.<br /><br />My goal is
todecide if I need to stick with Foxpro so that I can get the data into a real database or if there's a chance the Java
wouldn'ttake too much longer than rewriting into Visual Foxpro. The application is a production tracking system with 20
editscreens and 150 reports. The screens used on the production floor are touch driven. It will reside on a local LAN
whichis also accessed by VPN from another facility. This application will not be on the Internet, it is Intranet or
Terminalserver only.<br /><br />Any opinions and comments would be appreciated.<br /><div><br
/>*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***<br/>Margaret Gillon <br
/>Senior Programmer-Analyst<br/></div></div></font>