Speed
By Bruce Eckel
As interesting as Java is, the popularity of the language has befuddled even Java creator Jim Gosling. While a lot has been written about Java, much of it is introductory in nature. As I take on this column, I write from the standpoint that there is enough hype and plenty of introductory Java information available in book form and on the Internet (my own book, for example, is freely available; see "
Online").
This column, then, will not be about either of those things, but instead will add perspective to the language and where it's going. I'll also attempt to perform reality checks so you can avoid surprises, and review tools and books. At the end of this month's column, I'll look at The Java Programming Language (Addison-Wesley, 1996) by Gosling and Ken Arnold. But first, I'll discuss what Java can really be used for, explore its uses on the Web, and examine the main limiting factor—speed.
Where does Java Fit?
The original structure of Web documents made sense: The server hands you text containing benign HTML that describes page formatting. Since any calculations were performed on the server, this scheme was completely safe; no viruses could be executed on the client machine. However, the Web rapidly evolved from this document—delivery model into a client/server system, where the need for client-side programming becomes quite pressing to increase responsiveness, eliminate latency, and just to keep from bogging down the server and the Net.
