IMP Java

This is just a quick collection of notes on using Java for IMP stuff

Why?

Because I know it :-)

More seriously, off hand it is a language with almost as much cross-platform support as POV. Well it is also the more hyped at the moment, and the tools are good and free :-) I like free.

Update Dec 19, 1998:

Since the end of July a lot has happened. Java JIT runtimes are running great, Java 2 (was JDK 1.2) has been released, JFC1.1 has been released, Linux has continued to explode, Sun has committed to officially supporting Java 2 on Linux, Java 3D has been released, an injunction was issued and Microsoft's Java VM now supports the standard interface to native code, and on and on.

More and more, Java looks great as a language for cross-platform utilities and such.

Among other things, I hit an interesting site the other day (see JQuake in my links) where some OpenQuake people were using Java for Quake games.

Where?

Where can you get it? Well, I won't bother linking the different commercial environments right now.

• Java at Sun
• Sun's JDK 1.1.x
• Sun's Java 2
• The Microsoft Java SDK home
• General Microsoft Java home
• Java for Linux

How?

Well, this is not attempting to be any kind of authoritative list of resources, etc. It is just a quick jumping of point for getting started.

• Jump to Java!
  
• Javasoft's Java Developer Connection (Free!)
• The Java Tutorial **** Start Here
• General documentation links

Portable - GCC vs. Java

Alain CULOS brought up some good points. Personally I am not a 'Java is the way' kinda guy. Just as I was not a Mac vs. Windows kinda guy. I'm mainly for whatever gets the job done. I've done a quick breakdown on some of the email Al sent, as it raises a lot of good points that I have also thought about, and that the tech team in general should be made aware of.

> On the other hand, I seriously think that getting our hands on GCC for
> all platforms would be more beneficial to the whole team. GCC is the
> GNU C compiler, it also does C++ and Objective C, it is available for
> free (no tricks). It is supposedly one of the best C/C++ compilers
> available, and it also is one of the most ported compilers. My
> understanding is that its portability is greater than that of Java.
> I konw Java has advantages GCC does not have, like speed of
> development. I understand it is easier and quicker to develop with
> Java. But I think it is worth investing a bit more time in developping
> C code that is more portable than any Java code. I may be wrong saying
> this, but all I read about Java lets me believe that its advertised
> portability is not as good as it claims to be.
> On the Graphic side of things C/C++ will not give you any portability
> but free tools like wxWindows, V GUI, MESA and GLUT can greatly help.
> Of course they all require some learning curve but I must admit that
> GCC and V GUI for a start are pretty fast to get a hang of.

I think that the main thing to consider is that Java gives you a platform whereas GCC only gives you a language. For instance, as far as I am aware, it is still difficult to create a Win32 executable with it.

Here are some of the factors I have for thinking that Java might be good for some of our needs.

• Java gives a standard GUI on all Java platforms.
• One compile gives a single 'executable' that runs on all platforms.
• On Windows, a JIT compiler gives comparable execution with C++/Win API.
• FREE! (well, GCC is too, but I like FREE!)
• With 1.1x we already get a Java .ZIP file tool (JAR). Check it out.
• Java gives us Unicode support and i18n.
• Writing portable Java code is not automatic, but should be less effort than portable C/C++ code.
• One word: Servlets.

Here are a few caveats to keep in mind.

• Beware of MS J++ subversion.
• Older browsers do 1.0.x, newer is 1.1.x, and latest is Java 2
• At the moment Java 2 is only out on Win32 and Solaris. (Linux is on the way)
• Platform specific issues (fewer than with GCC as far as needing #ifdef, OS specifics, etc.).
• Probably need to differentiate Java applications from applets.

I assume that lots of the programmers out there know C++,GCC already. It's Java that needs to be specifically checked for. I wouldn't want to try to write a renderer in it, but for some of our needs it could be very good.