Summary of January 27, 1999, Web-Walkers meeting

What is Java and When Would You Use It?

Uncle Dave Moffat <uncle_dave@unc.edu>, Instructional Technology Development, ATN

Dave spoke from http://uncled.oit.unc.edu/JavaTalks/JavaWhatWhy.html. There is a clickable tab to the right of items you can link to.

Dave tried to link to the first item in his list (http://www.javasoft.com/nav/whatis/), but the connection was too slow.

Java is an object-oriented programming language. It followed C++, but is more modern and easier to use. Java Scripts aren't done in Java. With Java, you can define a data structure and operate on the structure. There is more protection for data than with other languages. Java crosses platforms. You can compile once and the program will run on a Mac, PC, etc. Java supports drop-in components, called Java Beans. You can drop in a button, a spread sheet, or whatever you like. Java is secure. You can download stuff to your machine but it can't get to anything on your machine. Network programming is very fast.

We looked at http://www.javasoft.com/products/jfc/tsc/what_is_swing/comp_gal/comp_gal.html. The Swing component set is part of a new class library called the Java Foundation Classes, or JFC. You can give users the chance to change the look and feel of a page. JDBC is between you and the database. You can, for example, pull out MYSQL and put in Oracle and it still works.

Java started in 1996. Java is international. It supports every character set, 6400 different characters. It uses a 2-byte code. IBM is using Java. Asp is replacing CGI. You don't have to download and install stuff. It does its thing and then evaporates and it does its thing securely.

http://www.javasoft.com/applets/ contains information about applets and a link to free applets you can use on your Web site.

Dave described different ways of writing Java code (writing basic code with an editor, using code generators, and using visual developers, like Visual Cafe) and how code is compiled.

Java Virtual Machine (JVM) is in the browser. That's one reason we need to upgrade browsers. New things are added to Java and so JVM needs to be updated.

Now people use Java Plug-in instead. "Java Plug-in software enables enterprise customers to direct Java applets or JavaBeans components on their intranet web pages to run using Sun's Java Runtime Environment (JRE) instead of the web browser's default virtual machine."

Features are being added to Java, bugs fixed, and libraries expanded.

Look at http://www.javasoft.com/applets/jdk/1.0/demo/GraphLayout/example2.html. View the source.

Java is more than 10 times faster than CGI and takes less space to run. When you use Java, you can use the entire Java language.

Java is being used as a front end to legacy data, for example data used with Cobol programs.

See http://www.ctan.com/ces/ and http://www.alcatel.com/internet_screenphone/.

If you have to program, make it easy and bug free. It's 2 to 10 time faster to program in Java than in C++. The language is simpler. Pointer errors and out-of-memory errors don't occur. If the code is wrong, it doesn't crash the machine. You get error messages instead. You can use drop-in components. Java is designed for graphics and networking and database programming and web delivery and it's cross platform.

For books, Dave recommends the Javaseries. Amazon has reviews.

Attendees

Danielle Borosky, danielle_borasky@unc.edu
Sarah Broome, sarah_broome@unc.edu
Hope Bryan, CSCC Dept. of Bios, hope_bryan@unc.edu
Lori Casile, ITS, lori_casile@unc.edu
Gail Darden, CIT, gdarden@email.unc.edu
Carol Edenton, PEP, cedenton@email.unc.edu
Elizabeth A. Evans, ATN IT Dev, evans@unc.edu
Jim Foster, Radiology, james_foster@med.unc.edu
Moly Gillespic, gillm@ils.unc.edu
Nancy Guadagno, NECTAS@FPG, n_guadagno@unc.edu
Judy Hallman, ATN, judy_hallman@unc.edu
Geneva Holliday, Davis Library, geneva_holliday@unc.edu
Terry Hudgins, Epidemiology, terry_hudgins@unc.edu
Jean Keller, Epidemiology, jkeller@unc.edu
Robert Kraus, Nectas/FPG, robert_kraus@unc.edu
Ruth Marinshaw, CPC, ruth@email.unc.edu
Larry Mason, larry_mason@unc.edu
Mark McCarthy, CIT, mccarthy@metalab.unc.edu
Courtney McGratt, SILS, mcgra@ils.unc.edu
Sean McKnight, Geography, mcknight@email.unc.edu
John Meeker, Pharmacy, john_meeker@unc.edu
Mike Padrick, ATN, padrick@email.unc.edu
Clarence Potter, GCRC, cpotter@med.unc.edu
Leslie Quattlebaum, DSA, romana@email.unc.edu
Tim Shearer, sheat@ils.unc.edu
Petrus van Staden, pvanstad@email.unc.edu
Cindy Stone, ATN Training, cindy_stone@unc.edu
Janet Tysinger, ATN Training, janet_tysinger@unc.edu
Cheryl Ward, CPC, cheryl_ward@unc.edu
Loren Watterson, CPC, loren_watterson@unc.edu
Jamie Welch-Doahue, Thrombosis Cty/Med Sch, jwelch@unc.edu
Kathy Wisser, Davis Library, wissk@ils.unc.edu

Judy Hallman (judy_hallman@unc.edu, http://www.unc.edu/~hallman/)
Campus Webmaster, UNC-Chapel Hill

Last modified: 1999 Mar 15