Gluon vs JavaFX: What are the differences?

Introduction

Gluon and JavaFX are both frameworks that are used for developing cross-platform applications. However, there are key differences between the two.

1. Technology Stack: Gluon is built on top of JavaFX and provides additional features and functionality, making it a higher-level framework. JavaFX, on the other hand, is a lower-level framework that provides core functionalities for building user interfaces.

2. Platform Compatibility: Gluon is designed to work with a wide range of platforms, including desktop, mobile, and embedded devices. This makes it suitable for developing applications that can run on multiple platforms. JavaFX, on the other hand, is primarily designed for desktop applications and has limited support for mobile and embedded platforms.

3. Development Approach: Gluon follows a declarative programming approach, where the UI components and their properties are defined using a markup language like FXML or CSS. This allows for a separation of the UI and application logic. JavaFX, on the other hand, follows an imperative programming approach, where the UI components and their properties are defined using Java code.

4. Tooling Support: Gluon provides additional tooling support, such as the Gluon Scene Builder, which is a visual layout tool for designing UIs. It also provides plugins for IDEs like Eclipse and IntelliJ IDEA, which make it easier to develop and debug Gluon applications. JavaFX, on the other hand, has limited tooling support, with the primary development tool being the JavaFX Scene Builder.

5. Community and Ecosystem: Gluon has a relatively smaller community and ecosystem compared to JavaFX. This means that there may be limited resources, libraries, and third-party integrations available for Gluon. In contrast, JavaFX has a larger community and ecosystem, with a wide range of resources, libraries, and integrations readily available.

6. Deployment and Distribution: Gluon provides tools and services for easy deployment and distribution of applications, including the ability to package applications as native executables for different platforms. JavaFX, on the other hand, requires manual setup and configuration for deployment and distribution, and does not provide native packaging options out of the box.

In summary, Gluon is a higher-level framework with additional features and support for multiple platforms, while JavaFX is a lower-level framework primarily designed for desktop applications. Gluon follows a declarative programming approach and provides additional tooling support, but has a smaller community and ecosystem compared to JavaFX. Gluon also provides easier deployment and distribution options compared to JavaFX.