The Ascendancy of Java Data Access
By Ken North
Recently when I taught a class in Rome, it was impossible not to see the juxtaposition of the ancient and the modern. Walk around the Capitoline Hill and you see the Forum and Coliseum, but turn down a side street and you see signs for Internet classes. The Keats-Shelley House at the Spanish Steps has a rich collection of 19th-century artifacts and books, but it also has a Web site selling the works of Byron, Shelley, and Keats (see "
Online"). My airline flights even presented an interesting contrast in old versus new technology. On one flight I used a spare battery for my laptop, but on another I saw why the Boeing 777 is a business traveler's dream. Each seat has a power outlet, telephone, and data port. With a laptop and a telephone credit card, you're ready for a serious session of authoring Web pages. You can connect to the Internet and upload a Web site while cruising at 37,000 feet!
During this trip, it was easy to compare ancient Rome and today's Internet. Both have introduced innovations that have been a civilizing influence. Rome gave us roads and aqueducts that were a major influence on urbanization and social integration. The Internet distributes information, not water, but it's also a major force for social integration. In their ascendancy, Rome and the Internet advanced communications and commerce. Some historians consider the Age of the Antonines, ending in 180 AD, as the happiest and most prosperous period in the history of the world.
