SUN DESCRIBES REAL-TIME JAVA INTENT.

Sun Microsystems Inc says "real-time Java" is the wrong way to talk about Java and real-time. Instead, it insists on "real-time extensions to the Java platform." It claims that this isn't mere semantic hair-splitting and says: "That the end product be purely an extension is seen by us as fundamental." To that end Sun says the real-time extension it is working on will provide a set of low-level primitives out of which real-time systems can be built. It plans to come up with a set of very general primitives or building blocks upon which Sun or others might build higher-level abstractions. By real-time it means a system where timeliness is a part of the system's behavioral requirements. It says a first version of the spec will be targeted at uniprocessor systems. It has divided the work into two parts. One deals with tightening the specification of the behavior of the underlying virtual machine. The second details new real-time APIs. It's not clear whether these goals dovetail or overlay with the work of the Sun - IBM led real-time expert group created under Sun's new community development process to extend the Java platform.