JIVE vs. Swing

Java Interactive Visualization Environment (or JIVE) is specific to Java Eclipse. It is an interactive execution environment (meaning an environment in which programs can be built and the code can be executed in the same space). It is mostly used to debug object oriented software by taking a visual and declarative approach.

Swing is a widget toolkit for Java (that is, a piece of software comprised of a set of widgets that are used to design applications with graphical user interfaces, or GUIs). Swing is a part of the Sun Microsystems platform, as a Java Foundation Class (also known as a JFC). The JFC is an API (or Application Programming Interface) used to provide a GUI for Java programs.

As well as providing a way in which programmers can debug object oriented software, JIVE also works as a teaching tool for those who want to learn object oriented programming. It also has a variety of features for the purpose of extending the Java debugging of Eclipse. These features include interactive visualization (which means that JIVE depicts the runtime state and the execution history of a program in a way the user is able to physically see them), query based debugging (which means that as opposed to the traditional procedural process of debugging a program, JIVE takes a declarative approach as a means to provide the programmer with an extensible set of queries over the execution history of the program), and reverse stepping (which means that the user will be able to step back to when an error has been made and fix the program, as opposed to traditional problem solving in which the user was only aware of the error after it occurred).

Swing was designed specifically to provide users with a more sophisticated set of GUI components, giving a look and feel that is more native, and imitates that of several different platforms. Swing also supports a pluggable environment (meaning, a look and feel that allows the user to change the environment of a GUI at runtime). Swing is also platform independent. It is a Model View Controller GUI that works specifically for Java. It processes a plethora of traits that make it function properly, including its extensibility, customization, its lightweight UI, and its relationships to both AWT and SWT. Swing’s debugging is a bit more difficult than JIVE’s, mainly because of the visual nature of the toolkit. As opposed to those applications that are non-visual, GUI applications are not easily debugged using the traditional step-by-step debuggers, because Swing first performs painting into off-screen buffers, and then it copies the entire result to the screen.

Summary:

1. JIVE is an interactive execution environment; Swing is a widget toolkit for Java.

2. JIVE depicts the runtime state and execution history of a program so that users can see them; Swing first paints into an off-screen buffer, and then copies the entire result to the screen.

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