ASC Java Information

PRODUCTS

PowerLender
Information
PowerDocs
Other Info

PowerSeller
Information
Reports
Contact the Team

Support

Training

This site uses Adobe
PDF technology.

SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS

The Future-Proof LOS™

Secondary Marketing & Pipeline Risk Management System

Java and Java Platform Information

Java is a computing platform and programming language first released by Sun Microsystems in 1995. A Java application can run on many different types of computers (e.g. PCs, mainframes, etc.), devices (e.g. computers, mobile phones, PDAs, cable TV set-top boxes, etc.), operating systems (e.g., Windows, Macintosh, Linux, UNIX, etc.), and application environments (e.g., Web browsers) without requiring any changes to its code. Today, Java has become the world's most popular strategic programming language. Microsoft developed the C# programming language as a competitive response to the popularity of Java. However C# has not attained nearly the popularity of Java.

Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) is a Java-based runtime platform created by Sun Microsystems for developing, deploying, and managing server-centric applications on an enterprise-wide scale. Java EE builds on the features of Java Platform, Standard Edition (Java SE). Microsoft's .NET framework was developed as a competitive response to the popularity of Java EE. However, .NET is not yet as widespread as Java EE, and the .NET framework limits you to computers that run the Windows operating system.

The Java platform gives IT managers a great degree of flexibility when deploying Java applications (e.g. PowerLender), and can help greatly reduce your computing costs, now and in the future. Below are several recent articles regarding Java and Java EE.

Below are several recent articles regarding Java. Included in these links:

Sun Pours Out Java Cup (2006-11-13 eWeek.com)
"Sun on Nov. 13 released at www.sun.com/java all versions of Java—Standard, Enterprise and Micro Edition—under GNU GPL (General Public License) Version 2.0. ... 'This undoubtedly is the largest single open-source contribution in the history of IT,' Rich Green, executive vice president of software for Sun, said in an interview here. 'It's the mental final step for Sun and Java.'"

New to Java technology (IBM developerWorks)
" The Java language and platform are impressively scalable. At the low end, existing applications can easily be adapted for devices with limited-memory resources. Scaling up, the language is an ideal framework for server-side Web programming. Because it was designed to run in a secure manner over networks, it affords this level of security when operating over the Internet. In essence, Java technology extends a user's computing power from the desktop to the resources of the Web."

SWING: Its past, present, and future (2006-09-29 Java Developer's Journal)
" New software fashions tend to have a half-life of about 18 months. After that the books start to move to the discount bin, the conferences go quiet, and developers move on to the next big thing. Swing has not suffered that fate. As the software has stabilized and improved over the years, it has attracted a loyal and growing community of developers who've built tens of thousands of applications deployed to millions of users. No less of an authority that Evan's Data Corporation has reported that "Java Swing with 47% use, has surpassed WinForms as the dominant GUI development toolkit." Not bad for a (nearly) 10 year old."

What is Java? (2006-05-26 Informit.com)
"Sun Microsystems (Sun), the company that created Java in the early 1990s and released the first public version of that technology in 1995, defines Java as a simple, object-oriented, network-savvy, interpreted, robust, secure, architecture-neutral, portable, high-performance, multithreaded, dynamic computer language."

What is Java (2006-06-08 O'Reilly ONJava.com)
"Java used to mean:
* Applets
* Bytecode interpretation
* Slow performance
* A "cargo cult" awaiting drops from Sun

Today, it means:
* Web applications, web services, SOAs, etc.
* Hotspot dynamic compilation
* High-performance
* An open source community, increasingly independent of Sun"

Desktop Java in Action (2005-12 Sun Microsystems)
"Desktop Java Swing presentation by Romain Guy in Paris in December 2005." Note that the English presentation starts on slide number 8."

Official: Swing is the Dominant GUI Toolkit (2005-10-18 Hans Muller's Blog)
Java Swing with 47% use, has surpassed WinForms as the dominant GUI development toolkit, an increase of 27% since fall 2004.

Sun Microsystems Talks With Li Moore of Google (2005-09-27 Sun Developer Network)
"Google makes extensive use of the Java platform. Large parts of popular Google products are written in Java. We also use Java in many internal systems and products under development."

Java systems target China market (2005-09-13 People's Daily Online)
"Java is witnessing a sharp up-take in China, largely due to the "fascinating" growth of the Java community in the country. McNealy said there are now 800,000 Java developers in China, making it one of the fastest-growing developer communities in the world. Globally the Java community has 4.5 million developers."

C#: Is the Party Over? (2005-08-15 Java Developers' Journal)
"The first reason I can attribute to C#'s struggle is that the Java platform did not stand still. Many of the benefits that the Java platform delivered were not solved by moving to C#, the most significant difference being OS independence. While C# was in rapid release mode, the Java platform was able to fine-tune the language and at the same time invest heavily in stability and scalability. At an application level, the differences are even more marked. Deploying a .NET service leaves a company a small choice of application servers and OS versions. The reverse is true of Java and J2EE, where there were almost too many J2EE application servers to choose from."

Java Developers Nearly Twice As Likely To Use Open Source Software (2005-06-29 Evans Data)
"'Microsoft's .NET has established a slight lead in the overall development space over Java but we have found that the situation reverses in the enterprise space with more development taking place in Java than in .NET, 60% to 56% respectively,' said Albion Butters, Evans Data’s senior analyst."

Java Turns 10 (2005-05-23 internetnews.com)
"Mark Herring, director of Java brand marketing at Sun, said emergence of Java has given IT two major competing platforms, Java and .NET. Herring characterized .NET as being offered by a single vendor (Microsoft) while in contrast the Java platform is offered by Sun, IBM, BEA, JBoss and others who all compete for their share of implementations. 'Java Community Process (JCP) meetings are all about working on creating the standard, but then we go and ferociously compete against other on the implementation.,' Herring said."

Of Strategic Languages, Java's Adoption Is Highest (2005-07-12 Forrester Research)
"According to Forrester survey data and analysis, Java's 66% penetration is the highest among strategic programming languages for enterprise applications. Visual Basic 6 (VB6) and C/C++ have nearly as much penetration as Java, but VB6 is past mainstream support and C/C++ has a comparatively limited ecosystem. The two most strategic .NET languages, Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET) and C#, have 34% and 15% penetration, respectively."

A BIG web started deployment of a BIG banking app (2005-06-29 Hans Muller's Blog)

"FIDUCIA is the largest IT-Fullservice provider for the German cooperative Banks. They provide comprehensive software solutions to 920 banks. The service includes both desktop and server side applications and they run data centers for the latter. Managing about 38 million accounts (2.3 billion transactions/year!) requires lots of big iron. They've got nearly 1000 server machines and 138 terabytes of (SAN) storage. The desktop software is deployed on 106,500 PC desktops. And it's all Java. Desktop and server. All Java."

From Here to Ubiquity (2005-06-19 Java Developers Journal)
"Ten years after we officially launched Java in May 1995, our dream of a ubiquitous software platform to power a networked world has actually come true. Today, some form of Java runs on 1.4 billion devices, and there are more than 4.5 million Java developers worldwide. Mobile applications like Java-based digital wallets generated more than $1.4 billion for the almost 100 mobile carriers who use Java worldwide in 2003. Java was, quite simply, the right technology at the right time."

Getting to Know the OpenCable Application Platform (2005-06 Sun Developer Network)
"With worldwide adoption of open-standard digital television platforms based on Java technology finally becoming a reality, developers can add TVs to the list of devices needing creative software applications. Here's why: A national middleware platform for cable set-top boxes and digital cable-ready televisions is finally edging into the mainstream. It's called OCAP, for OpenCable Applications Platform. It's based on the Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME), and specifically on the Connected Device Configuration (CDC) and two related profiles, the Foundation Profile and the Personal Basis Profile. OCAP is steadily rising in strategic importance among cable providers. In the U.S., that rise matters because of potential reach: Cable providers serve 70 million television households in the U.S. Roughly half of those households subscribe to services that require a set-top box." Also see "Interactive Java middleware coming soon to a TV set near you". JSR 242 (OnRamp to OCAP) passed its Public Review ballot May 23, 2005

At 10, Java's wild success, missed chances (2005-05-23 JavaWorld)
"Java began life as a programming language that let developers create animated images on their Websites, but it eventually grew into a wide-ranging collection of software and specifications that can be used to write programs on everything from mobile phones to mainframe computers."

Rise of the Java superplatform: Overkill or overdue? (2005-01-19 SearchWebServices.com)
"Due to a combination of user demand and a competitive market among the likes of mega vendors like IBM, Oracle and SAP, the application platform -- specifically those written in Java -- has grown into a platform built on multiple features and is becoming increasingly popular among certain groups of users."

J2EE or .NET: Pick one and stick to it (2004-10-04 SearchWebServices.com)
"Respondents who are in the application delivery field, along with senior IT and IT strategists, are in the J2EE camp, while general IT management and staff were up to 25% more likely to favor .NET. … Heffner also pointed out that companies in a weak business climate generally named .NET as their primary development platform, while J2EE was the favorite among those in thriving industries. … Java is the choice platform in industries where investments have been made in diverse Unix environments with high reliability and throughput requirements like financial services and telecommunications."

J2ME For Wireless Development Surges 33% In Six Months (2004-09-13 Evans Data Corporation)
"The number of developers currently using the J2ME platform for wireless development has risen to a new high, according to the Fall 2004 Wireless Development Survey by Evans Data Corporation. Forty percent currently use the standard with another 24% evaluating J2ME for future use."

Betfair claims J2EE a better bet than .Net (2004-09-09 ZDNet UK)
"He claimed that the company evaluated building the site around .Net and J2EE and carried out an exhaustive comparison at the beginning of the project. 'Ultimately, we chose J2EE due to its proven enterprise track record, security, and maintainability. .Net offered faster development and performance, but for a mission-critical, 24x7 site such as Betfair.com, we chose the proven, secure technology.'"

Tiger Stripes: Get Ready to Purr Over J2SE 5.0 (2004-08-24 DevX.com)
"Java has been much maligned as a platform for building desktop applications. With the JVM wars of the past behind us and with new initiatives such as SWT giving developers better methodologies for success, Java on the desktop is making a comeback. The emergence of Linux as a contender to Windows for the corporate desktop has helped to fuel this trend. It should come as no surprise then that the Java SDK is evolving, and its native look and feel themes are getting closer and closer to their Windows-native counterparts."

Web Services Performance: Comparing J2EE and .NET Framework (2004-06 Sun Microsystems)
"In all the tested cases,the J2EE platform outperformed .NET.We took care to ensure that the application code used on both platforms are as similar as possible in order to make an apples-to-apples performance comparison.We highlight the results in the sections to follow and also provide the reader with the information necessary to conduct the test independently and confirm the superior web services performance of J2EE technology."

Performance of Java versus C++ (2004-07 J.P.Lewis and Ulrich Neumann, University of Southern California)
"This article surveys a number of benchmarks and finds that Java performance on numerical code is comparable to that of C++, with hints that Java's relative performance is continuing to improve. We then describe clear theoretical reasons why these benchmark results should be expected."

Interactive Java middleware coming soon to a TV set near you (NewsForge 2004-05-06)
"Then the Internet happened, and some folks at Sun Microsystems thought Java might work better there. It did; applets started popping up on the Web, JVMs began permeating desktop clients, Java moved to the enterprise, and the rest is IT history. Today J2EE is the de facto standard enterprise server platform."

Java on Linux: State of the Union (LinuxWorld.com 2004-05-01)
"Linux is making huge gains as the platform of choice for developing and deploying enterprise Java applications. Sun has seen more than 1 million downloads of the Linux version of its latest application server release, and all application server vendors uniformly agree that Linux is a fast growing platform."

Microsoft Java Virtual Machine Support (Microsoft 2004-04-23)
"The MSJVM will reach its end of life on December 31, 2007. Customers are encouraged to take proactive measures to stay informed about obsolete software and move away from the MSJVM in a timely fashion. The MSJVM is no longer available for distribution from Microsoft and there will be no enhancements to the MSJVM."

Java to dominate consumer electronics? (The Register 2004-04-22)
"As Sun chief Scott McNealy put it: 'It's so 'last millennium' to write to the operating system. You must write to the Java web services layer.'"

J2EE Application Servers Will Remain Core Investments, Says META Group (2004-03-23 Linux World)
"This market is simultaneously growing and consolidating, with growth increasingly concentrated around three main players and a relatively stable number of additional niche players."

Getting on the open road: Migrate to the Java platform (2004-02-20 IBM DeveloperWorks)
"Did we say choices?: J2EE implementations are available on a variety of platforms, from mainframes to Wintel, UNIX, and Linux. You can write your application once and deploy it on a variety of platforms."

Java Technology is Everywhere, Surpasses 1.5 Billion Devices Worldwide (Sun press release 2004-02-19)
"Java technology is everywhere - over 1.5 billion worldwide footprints and growing 25% since June of 2002. In the mobile data services market, compelling new content has brought 2.5 and 3G networks to life worldwide, operators have standardized on Java technologies in handsets to power mobile data services and GSM SIM Cards to authenticate network access and SIM-based applications. Java technology-based smart cards are also being adopted by many corporations and governments for identity solutions. In the traditional computing market, the growth of alternative desktops and the user requirements for Java technology have led to many new desktop licensing agreements, while the expansion of Java Web services is driving the adoption of the Java platform from server infrastructure to the edge of the network."

IT Investor's Journal: A close look at Sun Microsystems (2004-01-27)
"The breadth and appeal of Java is how Sun will make the next wave of revenue. They will need to find how to continually find ways to lock developers and customers into Java. This is particularly more important, now that C# and .Net are being marketed seriously. While Microsoft is stumbling with its first attempt with these two technologies, their first failure is not going to be their last attempt."

Internet language runs remote-controlled Mars rover (2004-01-17)
"Java, the software developed by Sun Microsystems Inc. in the mid-1990s as a universal platform for Internet applications, gave NASA a low-cost and easy-to-use option for running Spirit, the robotic rover that rolled onto the planet's surface on Thursday in search of signs of water and life."

101 Reasons Why Java is Better than .NET (Reloaded) (2004-01-13)
"Well ever since this list was constructed, nobody from the .NET community has had the wherewithal to construct an anti-list. Well so the 101st reason why Java is better is the mere fact that one can construct a list of such magnitude."

Nine Language Performance Round-up (2004-01-08)
"I was astonished to see how well Java 1.4.2 (performed). It seems clear that performance is no longer a compelling reason to choose C over Java, or perhaps even over Visual J#, Visual C#, or Visual Basic, especially given the extreme advantages in readability, maintainability, and speed of development that (Java has) over C. (And) I would even argue that that for very complex systems that are designed to be in use for many years, maintainability ought to trump all other considerations."

eBay Creates Technology Architecture for the Future (2003 Patricia Seybold Group)
"eBay evaluated two architectural platforms: Microsoft's .NET initiative and the industry-standard Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) platform. According to Chuck Geiger, Vice President of Architecture and Technology Strategy at eBay, eBay decided that Java technology had finally matured with J2EE technology to the point to which large-scale velocity could be considered. (Sun played a key role in assuring eBay, including demonstrations of successful deployments of J2EE technology-based platforms for high-volume destinations such as J.Crew, Ford Credit, and Charles Schwab.)"

How to Misunderstand Sun's Linux Desktop Strategy (2003-12-18)
".NET ... borrows heavily from Java. I find it crippled by technical design faults and a design centered on a single operating system. Perhaps by the time Longhorn makes it to market, Microsoft will have fixed everything. During that same time period, the unified Java development effort will have lapped Microsoft's technology."

J2EE 1.4 Eases Web Service Development (2003-06)
"The new Web service-related J2EE 1.4 specifications usher in a unified model for Java Web service development and deployment. As that model becomes prevalent in next-generation J2EE products, Java-based Web service implementations will be portable across application servers and, hence, across deployment platforms."

.Net: Look Before You Leap: (2003-06-04)
"Should developers with years invested in writing Windows-based code blindly commit to .Net? Definitely not, because .Net is inferior to Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) for Web application development."

7251 Engle Road (Suite 300), Middleburg Heights, Ohio 44130 - TEL: 440-826-1010 - FAX: 440-826-1140 - info@asconline.com