Visual J++ 6.0: The Microsoft Java Environment
Microsoft's latest release of its Visual J++ Java development tool comes with all the fanfare we've come to expect from the Redmond software giant. When a software upgrade jumps from 1.1 to 6.0, you know you're in for some serious new features -- if not a complete rewrite.
The Hotspot Virtual Machine
According to Sun Microsystems, the Hotspot virtual machine, Sun's next-generation Java virtual machine (JVM), promises to make Java "as fast as C++." Specifically, Sun says that a platform-independent Java program delivered as bytecodes in class files will run on Hotspot at speeds on par with an equivalent C++ program compiled to a native executable. If Sun is able to make good on this claim, the current performance penalty of delivering or using a Java program will go away, at least as compared to C++.
Set-top Boxes: The Real Network Computer?
A couple of years ago, Larry Ellison of Oracle proposed the development and broad-scale adoption of network computers. Now Sun Microsystems, Oracle and IBM have already developed a number of NCs based on the Java platform.
Why Java?
It was during an early evening phone conversation several weeks ago that it hit me--Sun's Java development language is a lot more than just another new toy for the Internet.
Taking Off the Java-tinted Glasses
Things aren't always what they first appear to be. Take Java. After bursting on the scene more than two years ago, it quickly became the darling of the industry. People were swept up in the hype. And who could blame them? After all, Java did no less than promise the holy grail of IT--platform-independent computing, a utopian world where software is free from the dictates of hardware. And it didn't hurt that many people reading between the lines also saw Java as a way to break free of the Wintel hegemony. But let's talk soberly about what's really happening with Java. And let's talk as experienced IT managers, not naive staff programmers prone to the latest technological fads.
How Java Makes Network-Centric Computing Real
Java is likely to have a profound impact on the way businesses manage application developemet by bringing about an entirely new model--The Network-Centric Model--of C/S/ computing.
Write once, run anywhere?
One of the main benefits of using Java is that the language is cross-platform, meaning that you can run its bytecode on any machine that has the Java runtime environment, whether it be a browser or interpreter. Sun sums up this philosophy, as "Write once, run anywhere." Is this true? If not, can Java survive?
|
