Java Security BS, Can I Get Around It?

Riven · January 3, 2014, 8:43pm

Jetbrains/WebStorm is a fancy JS/HTML IDE. It even supports javascript breakpoints which you set in the IDE, which affect the running code in the browser (!) with variables showing in your IDE – you either watch the stack-frame, or hover the variables in your code, where their current values show in the tooltips. Mind is blown. It’s not free, but has a 30 day trial.

anon951759 · January 3, 2014, 8:50pm

@CommanderKeith:

The link is fixed. I’m pretty sure I’ve signed them correctly using these two .bat files:

Generate the keystore:

"C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.7.0_25\bin\keytool.exe" -genkey -keystore myKeystore -alias Valkryst

Sign the Jar:

"C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.7.0_25\bin\jarsigner.exe" -keystore myKeystore SpaceGame.jar Valkryst
pause

As far as I can see the applet seems to be working, but I haven’t had anyone test it in the last few days so I can’t say for sure.

@matheus23

JavaScript would be an alright option for some things, but I don’t see myself rewriting everything just to use it.

@kpars

XD Good idea. I’ve already started learning C++ since Java seems to be kind of eh for certain projects I’m working on.

I’ve found Sublime to be a good replacement for Notepad++ which I’ve been using for a few years. After you get it cough without all those trial popups and that it’s quick and not annoying in any way so-far. I would never use it for Java, but for HTML, CSS, etc… it’s perfectly fine for me.

Mac70 · January 3, 2014, 9:13pm

You can do the same thing (breakpoints, variables showing in IDE) using free GWT - while writing and debugging code in Java, from the Eclipse (sadly no NetBeans).

CommanderKeith · January 3, 2014, 9:36pm

Well it works for me in Chrome browser on windows, but requires clicking through 2 menus, one by chrome which isn’t too scary and one by oracle which is quite off-putting.

I read recently that Google is shutting down the old netscape plugin API which affects java:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/applications/chrome-will-block-npapi-plug-ins-over-stability-security-concerns-227428

While click-to-play has been available in Chrome for several years, the feature has not been enabled by default, except for a number of plug-ins that Google considered to present a higher security risk, like Java, RealPlayer, QuickTime, Shockwave, Windows Media Player and Adobe Reader prior to Adobe Reader X. That policy will soon change.

“Starting in January 2014, Chrome will block webpage-instantiated NPAPI plug-ins by default on the Stable channel,” Schuh said. A temporary exception will be made for the most popular NPAPI plug-ins that are not already being blocked for security reasons in order to avoid disruption to users, he said.

The plug-ins that will be temporarily whitelisted will be Silverlight, Unity, Google Earth, Google Talk and Facebook Video, as they were used by more than 5 percent of users during the past month. Java was used by almost 9 percent of users, but it’s already on the list of blocked plug-ins.

“In the short term, end users and enterprise administrators will be able to whitelist specific plug-ins,” Schuh said. “Eventually, however, NPAPI support will be completely removed from Chrome.”

anon951759 · January 4, 2014, 12:09am

=_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________=

That is the only thing that has ever made me hate Google…

StumpyStrust · January 4, 2014, 11:43am

I don’t get it. If you properly separated logic from rendering and were not doing anything too fancy with the rendering you could switch to libgdx in a day or 2. You do NOT have to use any special libgdx stuff. As a matter of fact I ported of my SystemX particle system in 2 hours because I only needed to change a few methods.

particle.render();
SystemX.render();

If you keep things nice and separate like this, then porting to another framework (not language) is quite easy.