JAVA SOFTWARE LANGUAGE CREATES BUZZ - FOR NOW.Byline: Tom Abate San Francisco Examiner The San Francisco Examiner is a U.S. daily newspaper. It has been published continuously in San Francisco, California, since the late 19th Century. History 19th century The beginning of the Examiner is a topic of some controversy. Venture capitalist Venture Capitalist An investor who provides capital to either start-up ventures or support small companies who wish to expand but do not have access to public funding. Notes: Venture capitalists usually expect higher returns for the additional risks taken. John Doerr L. John Doerr (born June 29, 1951 in St. Louis, Missouri) is a successful venture capitalist at Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers in Menlo Park, California, in the Silicon Valley. was entertaining several hundred programmers at the Java conference last week when he jokingly offered this definition of the hot new software language invented by Sun Microsystems Inc. ``Over the next 90 days, Java is going to be like a drug that you rub on venture capitalists to get them excited,'' said Doerr, a legend for his successes - and failures - in picking Silicon Valley start-ups. In a technology industry addicted to hyperbole, the hoopla hoop·la n. Informal 1. a. Boisterous, jovial commotion or excitement. b. Extravagant publicity: The new sedan was introduced to the public with much hoopla. 2. over Java may seem like the latest passing fad. Until, that is, one talks to some of the 5,000-plus programmers who paid $1,200 each to learn more about a programming environment that just might revolutionize the way software is written and sold. Michael Kaplan is vice president of advanced technology for Rocket Science Games Rocket Science Games was a video game developer that created games for consoles and computers from 1993 to 1997. The company was responsible for games such as Obsidian, Rocket Jockey, and The Space Bar. Inc. in San Francisco. Roaming the Java exhibits at Moscone Center, dressed in blue jeans and Birkenstocks, Kaplan explained why his initial skepticism over Java has turned into serious consideration. ``At key points in the history of computing The history of computing is longer than the history of computing hardware and modern computing technology and includes the history of methods intended for pen and paper or for chalk and slate, with or without the aid of tables. there have been paradigm shifts,'' Kaplan said. ``From mainframe computers to mini-computers, from mini-computers to workstations, and from workstations to PCs.'' Trouble is, it's been a long time since the last paradigm shift. And although PC microprocessors and operating systems have grown far more powerful, they're still based on 15-year-old technology. Software writers like Kaplan, who want to pack '90s features into their programs, find themselves like carpenters trying to remodel re·mod·el tr.v. re·mod·eled also re·mod·elled, re·mod·el·ing also re·mod·el·ling, re·mod·els also re·mod·els To make over in structure or style; reconstruct. a house built on a rickety rick·et·y adj. rick·et·i·er, rick·et·i·est 1. Likely to break or fall apart; shaky. 2. Feeble with age; infirm. 3. Of, having, or resembling rickets. foundation. Even worse, programmers have more than one foundation to worry about. Each microprocessor, and each new version of each operating system, has its own quirks that threaten to make a piece of software crash. ``PCs today are carrying a lot of baggage because they have to be compatible with everything that was written before,'' Kaplan said. ``I've been looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a way to jettison jettison (jĕt`əsən, –zən) [O.Fr.,=throwing], in maritime law, casting all or part of a ship's cargo overboard to lighten the vessel or to meet some danger, such as fire. all that crap and start new.'' Enter Java, the programming language Sun unveiled at Moscone Center a year ago. Programmers like Kaplan flocked to last week's Java expo because they think the new Sun program just might fix their foundation problem in a unique way. In essence, Java contains its own foundation. Sun calls this the virtual machine technology. Think of the virtual machine as a simulated computer built into the Java software. Programming in Java means controlling the behavior of this virtual machine. Software authors love the idea that by writing Java programs, they'll only have to worry about one foundation, the virtual machine. Of course, Java's virtual machine would only spin its gears pointlessly in cyberspace unless someone made the virtual machine useful by ``plugging'' it into the operating system of a PC or workstation. Toward this end, Sun has spent the past year making a remarkable series of alliances that began when Netscape Communication Corp. agreed to build Java into its popular browser. That meant Java's virtual machine could at least count on being able to run on the 80 percent of computers that connect to the World Wide Web using the Netscape browser. In recent months, Sun has moved the virtual machine closer to reality by persuading Apple Computer Inc. and Microsoft Corp., among others, to plug Java into their operating systems so future Macs and PCs will run Java programs directly. |
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