Java at 20: Where do we go from here?
May 23, 1995 saw the fruits of a four-year project at Sun Microsystems
called Java. The new language with a C-like syntax promised the ability
to write once and run anywhere through the use of virtual machines that
compiled the code on the native platform at runtime.
The project began in 1991 when a small group of Sun engineers called the "Green Team," led by James Gosling, began working on a language and networking system for the next generation of digital consumer devices and computers.
In the 20 years since its launch, Java has exploded in use, been the subject of lengthy litigation with Microsoft, grew and died on the desktop, moved to the server, then jumped to feature phones, only to have its lunch eaten by smartphones, fallen into such disarray that the Department of Homeland Security said not to use it, and is now enjoying a renaissance under the stewardship of Oracle.
What other programming language can claim such drama?
When the project began, Sun saw a collision of the computer industry and non-computer industry technologies like cell phones to stereo systems to railroads to whatever. Sun noticed that they were all, in some form or another, reinventing computer science.
"The unifying theme was networking," said Gosling, now chief software architect for Liquid Robotics. "When we looked at these companies, they were designing their own networking and doing a really bad job of it. A lot of it was predictable. They were repeating a number of experiments we'd had in computer science 30 years ago."
The problem was the consumer electronics people didn't take networking into account, like common APIs across multiple platforms, or code reuse. "There was essentially no software reuse. Everybody was reinventing everything over and over again. We were trying to get to a place where we had models to help them get out of that," said Gosling.
"I really think Java's future is in IoT. I'd like to see Oracle and partners focused on a complete end-to-end storage solution for Java, from devices through gateways to enterprise back-ends. Building that story and making a success of it will help cement the next 20 years for Java. Not only is that a massive opportunity for the industry, but also one I think Java can do quite well." - Mike Milinkovich, executive director of the Eclipse Foundation
Read more here: http://www.javaworld.com/article/2912380/java-platform/the-long-strange-life-death-and-rebirth-of-java.html
The project began in 1991 when a small group of Sun engineers called the "Green Team," led by James Gosling, began working on a language and networking system for the next generation of digital consumer devices and computers.
In the 20 years since its launch, Java has exploded in use, been the subject of lengthy litigation with Microsoft, grew and died on the desktop, moved to the server, then jumped to feature phones, only to have its lunch eaten by smartphones, fallen into such disarray that the Department of Homeland Security said not to use it, and is now enjoying a renaissance under the stewardship of Oracle.
What other programming language can claim such drama?
When the project began, Sun saw a collision of the computer industry and non-computer industry technologies like cell phones to stereo systems to railroads to whatever. Sun noticed that they were all, in some form or another, reinventing computer science.
"The unifying theme was networking," said Gosling, now chief software architect for Liquid Robotics. "When we looked at these companies, they were designing their own networking and doing a really bad job of it. A lot of it was predictable. They were repeating a number of experiments we'd had in computer science 30 years ago."
The problem was the consumer electronics people didn't take networking into account, like common APIs across multiple platforms, or code reuse. "There was essentially no software reuse. Everybody was reinventing everything over and over again. We were trying to get to a place where we had models to help them get out of that," said Gosling.
"I really think Java's future is in IoT. I'd like to see Oracle and partners focused on a complete end-to-end storage solution for Java, from devices through gateways to enterprise back-ends. Building that story and making a success of it will help cement the next 20 years for Java. Not only is that a massive opportunity for the industry, but also one I think Java can do quite well." - Mike Milinkovich, executive director of the Eclipse Foundation
Read more here: http://www.javaworld.com/article/2912380/java-platform/the-long-strange-life-death-and-rebirth-of-java.html
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