[1155] in java-interest
The future of Java
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Glen C. Perkins)
Fri Aug 25 03:41:56 1995
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 95 18:09 WET DST
To: java-interest@java.sun.com
From: Glen.Perkins@NativeGuide.com (Glen C. Perkins)
Fellow Javanese,
If Java doesn't survive, our debates on operator overloading will look a
lot like fighting over deck chair arrangements on the Titanic to future
historians of dead computer languages.
I was a big fan of C++ until I discovered Java. Now, I find C++ nearly
intolerable. I can't stomach the thought of spending the next few years
being forced to use C++ anyway, despite the existence of the vastly
superior Java, because "nobody uses Java." If we (the Java community) don't
succeed in popularizing it, if it becomes yet another clever "science
project" that never makes a dent in the market, we'll be the biggest
losers.
I've watched Xerox develop magnificent technologies and let them die on the
vine for lack of marketing drive. I've watched Microsoft turn often
mediocre technologies into standards through relentless marketing activity.
I'm hoping that Sun's marketing of Java will resemble Microsoft's more than
Xerox's.
I find it worrying that the world's premier "internet company" is having
such a hard time creating a usenet newsgroup for its new language. How many
people at Sun know how to create a newsgroup? How much could Java matter to
Sun's top management if the original request for discussion (RFD) timed out
before anyone even tried a call for votes (CFV) and the process had to be
restarted? (Has it been restarted? I still haven't seen it, but I could
have missed it.)
I'd really like to hear more noise coming out of Sun and Netscape about the
wonders of Java-based "web applications" and an announced time for their
appearance. One press release is not enough. If Java makes it, it won't be
because it was just "better than C++", it will be because it became a
standard in a small niche and that niche exploded in popularity, carrying
Java with it. People tend to adopt what "everybody is using" in a niche. In
the "niche" of application development, people use C because "everybody
uses C" (C++ is just the latest version of C.) I don't see any way to take
over the application development niche directly just by being "better." If
that worked, the Mac would have killed DOS before Windows was even born. I
CAN imagine the newborn "web application" niche standardizing on Java,
though, if Sun pushes hard enough and Java "works," and that "niche"
growing so large that legions of web programmers demand to use their
favorite language for their "regular" apps as well. Please, Sun, take
advantage of all the hoopla over Netscape to put a spotlight on Java.
I'd like to see a lot of effort being made to turn people into Java
programmers. We were told that there would be free Java classes in Mt. View
and the schedule would be announced "by the end of the week." That was
about a month or a month and a half ago. The holdup is that they can't find
a room available that is large enough for the classes. Please, Sun, take
advantage of the enthusiasm of the early adopters. MAKE room for the
classes, train us in Java and send us out to convert the rest of the world.
Create a library of annotated code samples for us to learn from and use.
Make it easy to find the answer to "how do I do..." in the code library.
Show us how to use Java to do CGI scripts instead of using Perl. Build a
powerful Perl-style regular expression class to convince us that any web
programming can be done better with Java. Show us how to USE features
instead of just documenting them. Get a few people started on Java books
for all different levels. Run your classes non-stop.
I'd like to hear nearly weekly announcements of new Java development
systems from the likes of Borland, Symantec and Metrowerks. I've spoken
with people in the language products groups at all three companies lately
about Java, and the reaction I got from everyone from programmers to a Sr.
VP for Language Products was that they had "heard of" Java, but didn't know
what it was. I preached at them a bit and every one wanted to know how he
could find out more about Java! I wanted to tell them that Scott McNealy
would be on their doorstep first thing the following morning to talk
turkey, but the best I could do as a complete outsider was to give them the
URL at java.sun.com. Sun is developing fabulous technology with the Java
language itself, but it's hard for me to imagine anyone preparing to start
a new mainstream windows or mac product going to Sun for the development
system. I'd like to see Sun working closely with Apple, IBM, Novell and
others as well. (Maybe some coordination of Java and OpenDoc, since both
intended to be completely cross-platform.) In any case, Sun needs
partnerships with companies like these if Java is to become a credible
challenge to C++. Maybe even a deal with Microsoft if Microsoft will go for
it. They don't tend to like standards that they don't own, though, so I
wouldn't hold my breath.
I guess one thing that makes me nervous is that I don't understand how Sun
intends to make money from Java. If they don't know either, then it's
unlikely that they will go to a lot of effort to push it which will
handicap it in the market. I can imagine that Microsoft could well be
planning a combo of a netscape-killer browser built right into every copy
of Windows along with a special java-killer version of Visual Basic for web
applets. The perfect integration of Windows, Microsoft Office, and the web.
If Sun is thinking of Java as a "science project", I'm afraid Microsoft
will clean their clock with a version of VB that is both vastly inferior to
Java and vastly better marketed.
In any case, I'd feel more comfortable debating operator overloading if I
were a bit more confident that Java would survive at all, and I don't
believe its survival hinges on op-ov. I wouldn't mind spending a little
more time brainstorming over what we can all do to help Java flourish.
__Glen__
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