One Hundred Years of Java
By Bob Kaehms
My father was German. An inventor for the railroads and fluent in five languages, he worked as a technical translator when he retired in the mid 1960s. I, on the other hand, was born and raised in the inner city of Oakland, California, and my native tongue--being anything but pure--had its roots in preEbonic jive. Lacking the social structures to grow and nurture any predisposition or love for language, I instead chose to pattern my expository style, and, hence, early modes of thought, on the vague abstractions of Bob Dylan lyrics. My ability to explain anything clearly and precisely suffered for years. I still stumble when looking for a natural flow of words in many social contexts.
To frame this issue on Java frameworks, I chose not to concentrate on any new offerings from Sun--such as the formal release of Java 1.2, or the ongoing battle between Sun and Microsoft over whether Java is a language or a platform, or even to consider the implications of Sun's purchase of NetDynamics and the effects that may have on the middle-tier market. I chose instead to simply reflect on language itself.
Two images came to mind. First, I thought of Larry Wall's sermon on the mount at last year's Perl conference. Then, I thought of Lewis Thomas' joyful insights cast against a backdrop of despair in his book of essays, Late Night Thoughts on Listening to Mahler's Ninth Symphony (LNT).
Most readers who follow Perl know of its history and culture. To think of Perl is to think of Larry's roots in linguistics and religion.
