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Is Java as we know it doomed?
InfoWorld ^ | 4.21.09 | Paul Krill

Posted on 04/25/2009 10:47:16 PM PDT by libh8er

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1 posted on 04/25/2009 10:47:16 PM PDT by libh8er
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To: libh8er

Java better not be doomed. Without my morning cup I get mighty cranky :)


2 posted on 04/25/2009 10:54:59 PM PDT by Shaun_MD (Velius In Evidens Visum)
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To: Shaun_MD

So where are the Krakatoa jokes?


3 posted on 04/25/2009 10:57:52 PM PDT by ozzymandus
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To: libh8er
Frankly, I can not say at the moment what the changes will be (also, presently I don't have much concern for the coming changes).

I would expect that Oracle is having here a good chance at making Weblogic THE Java Application Server and therefore at increasing its market share. Oracle Database could benefit, too, from being first in introduction of new Java features.

I'd also expect that not all Java will be open source - Oracle will likely maintain such status for the core packages and certain others, but will close the packages where they can get a competitive advantage.

4 posted on 04/25/2009 10:59:14 PM PDT by alecqss
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To: libh8er

I think under Oracle Java EE will see a major push to hurt .Net. I still don’t see how they can make money off it however.


5 posted on 04/25/2009 11:00:41 PM PDT by libh8er
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To: ozzymandus

If you Kraka your Toa it will be quite painful. So says the Oracle.


6 posted on 04/25/2009 11:00:42 PM PDT by Shaun_MD (Velius In Evidens Visum)
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To: libh8er

no


7 posted on 04/25/2009 11:01:51 PM PDT by smokingfrog (Chief Bottle Washer - No one likes my cooking.)
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To: ozzymandus; martin_fierro
So where are the Krakatoa jokes?

East of Java.

8 posted on 04/25/2009 11:04:44 PM PDT by Ezekiel (The Obama-nation began with the Inauguration of Desolation.)
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To: libh8er

This doesn’t even go into the risks for MySQL, under Oracle.

Java doesn’t threaten Oracle’s primary revenue stream, MySQL does.


9 posted on 04/25/2009 11:08:29 PM PDT by MediaMole
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To: alecqss

Weblogic was THE Application Server even before Oracle’s acquisition of Sun. Oracle owned it since it purchased BEA. I don’t see what additional advantage Oracle gets by acquiring open source technology. I can imagine Oracle crippling MySQL to the point it isn’t a viable alternative any more. But I don’t see Oracle gaining a whole lot from Java.. As one oracle spokesperson said, they are acquiring Sun mostly for their hardware,which could be true after all.


10 posted on 04/25/2009 11:09:43 PM PDT by libh8er
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To: MediaMole
Java doesn’t threaten Oracle’s primary revenue stream, MySQL does.

Right. Oracle kills MySQL and acquires a hardware/server division. Java is incidental.

11 posted on 04/25/2009 11:11:31 PM PDT by libh8er
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As long as they NEVER charge for Java updates, then I’m OK with it.


12 posted on 04/25/2009 11:14:48 PM PDT by NoRedTape
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To: libh8er
I've tolerated having to write code in Java since 1996. It was a moving target early on. Having to download multiple JDK/runtime packages to handle the different variants that may arrive over the network is a real pain in the butt. The "write once, debug everywhere" complaint is valid. The changes to the security model broke lots of code. It was no picnic trying to portably satisfy the Sun and Microsoft JVM/runtimes that were operating side by side in 1998/1999.

Aside from some maintenance of work from other programmers, I've avoided any new work of my own in Java since early 2000. My code is largely ANSI C or C++. It is portable and rarely takes a hit when the next round of GNU C/g++ arrives. As such, I'm sort of ambivalent about what Oracle does with Java. I've written a fair bit of code in C#. In my estimation, it has all the goodness of C++ and Java rolled together while fixing many of the defects in those languages. The "mono" project is doing a fairly decent job of bringing C#/.Net frameworks to Linux. To date, I only run C#/.Net projects as dedicated applications or server side special applications. The coding goes quickly and is debugged rapidly. The performance is satisfactory as well. As for Java, I'll just get some popcorn and watch. I don't have any eggs in that basket.

13 posted on 04/25/2009 11:17:29 PM PDT by Myrddin
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To: MediaMole
This doesn’t even go into the risks for MySQL, under Oracle.

Moving mySQL does gore my ox. mySQL is all the database I need for most work. I've used Oracle for many commercial applications. There is one thing certain about installing Oracle on a server. If it was fast before Oracle arrived, it will run like a wounded dog once Oracle is installed. It's best to put Oracle on a dedicated server where it isn't destroying the performance of everything else on the server. As a database, it works fine. It's just more expensive than I can justify for research projects with zero revenue. I have very good results using python or C++ library packages to hook my applications to a mySQL database. Hopefully, I won't have to go shopping for an alternative.

14 posted on 04/25/2009 11:22:38 PM PDT by Myrddin
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To: Myrddin

Agreed. Java was never that great to start with.

IMO, more underperforming bloatware has been written using Java than all other languages put together.


15 posted on 04/25/2009 11:34:18 PM PDT by DarrellZero
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To: Myrddin

MySQL is open source as is VirtualBox OSE. Both are released under the GPL. They should be safe but commercial support of MySQL is in question as are binary releases of VirtualBox. Perhaps the open source community can pick up the slack if Oracle chooses to abandon it.

There was an article in WSJ last week discussing this very topic. Oracle is well aware of the vast number of webservers running MySQL. The article speculated that Oracle could bury it or abandon it. They can’t bury it because of the GPL. Either option would piss off a lot of people but as we know, Oracle doesn’t care about that.

Also questionable is OpenSolaris which is Sun’s open sourced version of the Solaris Unix OS.

As far as Java, there are other Java compilers. Blackdown JDK and Jikes come to mind. Kaffe is open source. There are lots of other JDK and JREs. If Oracle plays hardball and starts to charge for Sun Java, there are other alternatives.


16 posted on 04/25/2009 11:52:17 PM PDT by fretzer
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To: Myrddin

>Aside from some maintenance of work from other programmers, I’ve avoided any new work of my own in Java since early 2000. My code is largely ANSI C or C++.

I know what you mean. I’m not a fan of Java at all, a buddy of mine in the CS department and I joke about:
include java.sucks.*;
include java.sucks.bad.*;

The “moving target” is also something that I disliked, though I didn’t have to be bothered with that too much just being a student.

Regarding the imperative family of languages, I’d much prefer a Wirth-decedent language: Object-Pascal/Delphi, or [arguably] Ada (I haven’t used it much, but the more I learn about it the more I REALLY like some of Ada’s strengths).

On the other hand (meaning the Functional-Programming and Logic-Programming languages), I enjoyed messing with Scheme somewhat (kind of frustrating at times, but what language ISN’T when you’re just learning it>) and [VERY] little Prolog. But I digress, we’re talking about Java and such.

Microsoft has put a lot of effort into .NET lately, especially with the drawing of X-Box developers via XNA, so it is probably the leading competitor for Java right now. (That’s not saying much though, it’s really the only competitor with Java that I know of) which is kind-of sad.

One question that might change things a bit, I think, is if Oracle revived that project to make a CPU whose instruction-set was/is the Java bytecode.


17 posted on 04/26/2009 12:22:26 AM PDT by OneWingedShark (Q: Why am I here? A: To do Justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God.)
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To: Myrddin

Java has come a loooong way since 1996 ! JRE is pretty standardized now, and in terms of execution speed it’s comparable to C++ and in some cases even slightly better.

I think you were referring to applets earlier, where different versions came over the network and ran on the browser’s JVM. Applets are long gone. Good riddance. They were a real PITA to work with. Today Java exists mostly for server side computing, for which in terms of flexibility, architectural frameworks, integration with third party APIs and packages, available open source tools , it has no equal. Developers have an extremely rich environment to work in. The Java of 2009 is nothing like that of 1996, believe me.


18 posted on 04/26/2009 12:35:23 AM PDT by libh8er
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To: alecqss

ORACLE always closes everything they touch.


19 posted on 04/26/2009 12:46:55 AM PDT by Ingtar (Americans have truly let America down. A sad day.)
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To: libh8er

In what cases does java execute faster than C++?

Cuz I aint buying it. Not by a long shot.


20 posted on 04/26/2009 3:51:17 AM PDT by rudman
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