🚀 go-pugleaf

You mentioned the MS version of the java platform (.NET). It would seem that
there are many alternatives to java, and I am seeing java less and less.
maybe i'm just not looking hard enough.


"Fr�d�ric Lachasse" <flachasse@qwest.net> wrote in message
news:ePa27.310$VW2.575049@news.uswest.net...
> "Sam Becker" <sb@beckerpages.com> wrote in message
> news:vs827.119572$mG4.59068544@news1.mntp1.il.home.com...
> > Hello,
> >
> > I have some open-ended java questions, and I would really appreciate an
> > answer to any or all of them.
> >
> > First of all, why is everyone excited about using JDK 1.3, in applets.
It
> > would appear that no web browser supports it or has any plans on
> supporting
> > it. Also, I am seeing less and less java applets on web pages. The trend
> is
> > XML, javascript, ASP, server-sided programming. I'm 600 pages into my
java
> > book (Beginning Java 2 JDK 1.3 Edition), and I am wondering what I'm
> doing.
> > I am very hard pressed to find a good application for a java applet
these
> > days.
> >
> > Don't get me wrong, I love the language. I think java's foundation on
> > object-oriented programming is awesome. I'm having much more fun with
java
> > then I did with C++. But I cannot seem find its usefulness. It seems
that
> I
> > can't use anything I'm learning towards applets, and I still have no
idea
> > what the point would be in developing a Java application. No one has the
> > hardware to run them efficiently, and pretty much everything done in
java
> > can be made into native code for the actual program.
> >
> > Can someone please persuade me that Java is a great thing to be learning
> and
> > that I should finish my 1200 page book. Thanks for reading this far.
>
> The trend is, as you mentionned, in server-sided programming. So what
> language do you use for this? Some of the choices are:
>
>     - COBOL, RPG, proprietary L4G... The old generation is not always up
to
> the web revolution and show limitations for XML/HTML generation.
>     - Script languages ASP, PHP, perl... Good, especially for fast
> development. But interpreted, so may be slow for heavy-duty complex jobs.
>     - Java: JSP/servlet for HTML/XML generation, J2EE/JavaBeans for
complex
> transactions. Good and inexpensive developement tools exist.
>
> See also some of the problems faced by huge companies: For example, IBM
> struggles since ages with 4 mostly incompatible family of OS's (OS/2, AIX,
> OS/400, OS/390) and supports 2 others (NT, Linux). Why do you think IBM
> spend all that money on Java development? If you think IBM is special,
just
> imagine what you find in some IT departements after several merges and
> acquisitions...
>
> And if you do not think that replacing COBOL is not a big enough market,
> think about those:
>
>     - J2ME platform for embedded applications. May be you think you do not
> need intelligent phones or hand held computers, but I do not think you
will
> go without credit cards, and in less than two years, most credit cards
will
> be Smart Cards, some of them (most of them?) with JavaCard technology to
run
> Java applications.
>
>     - One of the next trend in Web application is P2P (peer to peer),
where
> (among other things) applications would want to execute agents/programs
into
> another system. For security reason, the other server will not want to
> execute blindly such programs. The JVM sandbox is a good way to provide
> security for the execution of unknown applications and is faster that
> scripts. And it is platform independant.
>
> If you have any doubt, look at the Microsoft .NET platform. Looks a lot to
> me like a MS version of the Java platform.
>
> --
> Fr�d�ric Lachasse (ECP 86)
> flachasse@qwest.net
>
>