[1897] in java-interest
Re: mo betta questions
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Arthur van Hoff)
Tue Sep 19 18:02:45 1995
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 1995 11:52:36 -0800 (PDT)
From: Arthur van Hoff <Arthur.Vanhoff@Eng.Sun.COM>
Reply-To: Arthur van Hoff <Arthur.Vanhoff@Eng.Sun.COM>
To: Frank Greco <fgreco@lehman.com>
Cc: java-interest@java.Eng.Sun.COM
Hi Frank,
> This stuff is so cool...
Thanks.
> But, as usual, I have more questions:
>
> 1. Where can I find the language spec? Am I the only one that
> is wishing for an old-fashioned documentation set (ie, a *decent*
> PS book-like version)?
Guy Steele is writing it as we speak (I hope). For now you can find
the old language spec and a set of diffs on our home page
http://java.sun.com/JDK-prebeta1/
> 2. The on-line tutorial shows "System.out.println()" and explains that
> "System" is the class. There was no import statement, so where
> did this class come from?
Each java program automatically imports java.lang.*
> And what exactly is "out"? Is it
> a subobject of System?
It is an instance variable of class java.lang.System
> Where are the docs on System? I cannot seem to find any.
http://java.sun.com/JDK-prebeta1/api/java.lang.System.html
> 3. If "java.util" is a package, what is the "java" prefix telling me?
That it is a java package? It is a naming convention.
> 4. I'm assuming every object has a fully qualified name:
>
> pkg.class.object[.method|.variable]
>
> Can someone correct me if I'm wrong? The docs say "package
> names are period-separated words"... this is ambiguous.
We considered using :: to disambiguate class and package names from field names
but we found is so ugly that we decided to live with the ambiguity.
> 5. I don't see parameterized types? Does Java have this feature?
No. Maybe in a few years.
> 6. How can one embed the java interpreter into a C/C++ pgm a la tcl?
> If this is possible, can you have multiple instances of the interpreter?
It is possible (Netscape did it), but it is very hard because the interpreter
is preemptively multi-threaded. Java is not an embeddable language like tcl.
> 7. How is an applet auto-started (ie, started after it is downloaded)?
The start() method is called.
> 8. How can an applet-writer *selectively* allow users to use their applets?
In alpha3 we have a feature called "delay applet loading".
> 9. I noticed the disassembler "javap" is mentioned. How can I prevent
> users from reverse-compiling my applications and applets?
You can't, but it is still pretty hard to do.
Have fun,
Arthur van Hoff
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