[318] in java-interest
Logical Subroutine that interprets Java byte-stream?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Robert Ayers)
Wed Jun 14 18:02:06 1995
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 1995 14:38:31 -0700
From: ayers@mv.us.adobe.com (Robert Ayers)
To: java-interest@java.sun.com
Cc: ayers@mv.us.adobe.com
I wrote this list back on 2 June, but the only reply was from
lord@gygnus.com, who pointed out related work at GNU.
I believe this request represents an opportunity for Sun. If the Sun
people reading this message feel it's not an opportunity, I would be
interested in hearing their views on how the commercialization of Java
will occur. (I am writing this list, as opposed to sending mail to
someone@sun.com, because a Sun employee told me to.)
The Acrobat product from Adobe Systems allows VARs and other third
parties to write "plugin" extensions to Acrobat. These extensions can
add value in many ways. Some are already for sale in the marketplace;
others are available as freeware from Adobe and others.
Currently, these plugins are written in C and incorporated into
Acrobat via DLLs and the equivalents.
Now Acrobat is touted as a cross-platform product, so the VAR is
encouraged to create plugins for all (or as least several) platforms.
This adds to his labor and complicates his packaging and delivery.
If plugins could be written in a platform-independent language, and
delivered as such, then interpreted by a kernel within Acrobat (or a
kernel itself an extension to Acrobat) then these problems would be
ameliorated.
I would like to investigate Java in the role of this
platform-independent code-delivery vehicle.
If I had code that would allow me to pass a Java byte stream + java
environment for interpretive execution, I _would be_ investigating this
role for Java.
But such code does not exist in the Java distribution, and the
source-license prevents me from modifying the Sun sources to create such
code. Designing and writing a full Java interpreter would be a major
start-up cost for this speculative project; I have many other fish that
I can fry instead.
Comments?
Bob
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