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I maintain a Microsoft SQL and Exchange server (not my choice, but management is stubborn about migrating), but I use Firefox and Jext, an open source text editor, to do my work.

If I were polled, what would I say? My employer doesn't allow code to be released open-source, but yet I use Open Source code to do my job.

Yep, and don't forget jext.

This is typical Microsoft FUD. It completly ignores the fact that by licensing the right to build a JVM Microsoft had agreed to essentially 2 things: "Implement all of the JVM spec", and "Don't implement anything more than the spec". The first rule insures that Java apps written on other OSs will run on Windows. The 2nd rule insures that Java apps written on Windows will run on other OSs.

But many say that just because Java did fall flat on its face, and just because Microsoft pushed it a little here and there, one can't conclude that Microsoft deserves all the blame. Java, people point out, had a slow graphical interface and generally poor performance

This has more to do with perpetuating an impression that was correct 4 years ago than actual truth today. Take, for example, the programming editor Jext. I use it every day. It's fast, it works great, and it looks and feels exactly the same on Windows as it does in Linux.

On a recent programming challenge on coderforums.net a java program that randomized one million numbers and then sorted them ran faster than the same implementation in C.

"There's a lot of people who say that Microsoft wanted to kill Java" because it was "write-once, run-anywhere," he says. "But really, people at Microsoft just thought that was a ridiculous notion, and they didn't pay any attention to it. They said, 'For technological reasons, we don't think write-once will work."

More likely the truth is that "Write Once Run Anywhere" makes the operating system irrelevant. Imagine if people were able to buy a product with one CD that would run on Windows, Linux, Mac OS, IBM's AIX and Sun Solaris. People would be able to make a decision on what operating system to use based on the merits of the OS, not the availability of software.That is what scares the hell out of Microsoft.

ANT, (Another Nice Tool) also runs anywhere Java runs. It replaces make files with an XML based build tool. I've written scripts that can check out code from cvs (or PVCS) compile, build jar files, build EJBs, deploy EJBs, stop and restart servers, and email me the results.

ANT can be found here It is also free and open source. Although each of these tools are written in Java they can be used to edit, compile and build programs written in other languages.

String foo = "Hello ";
String bar = "World.";
String foobar = foo + bar;
// fobar now equals "Hello World"

Then why shouldn't I be able to write a Matrix class that has addition, multiplication, and equals overloaded to be matrix addition and matrix multiplication? Which of these two examples looks like clearer code to you?

// assume a and b are already defined matrices
Matrix x = new Matrix(a.matrixMultiply(b));

or

Matrix x = a * b;

But let's not let this turn into a Java bashing forum. Even with it's limitations and frustrations I still love the fact that my favorite programming editor (Jext, written in Java) works exactly the same in Windows 2000 as it does on Linux. I love the fact that I can work on servlet and JSP ideas at home on Linux using Apache and Tomcat and then go to work and flesh out those ideas on Windows 2000 with WebSphere. Then, when we move that program to production it runs on an IBM mainframe running AIX. All without requiring a recompile.

No language is perfect. Any language can be improved. The 10 points in this article would make Java an even better language than it is now.

Issue: still only J2SDK 1.3 on OS X. Sun seems to like to support people that hate Java (MS) more than people who love it.

Note: the version of Swing for OS X is Aqua-fied, but still cross-platform, so you write your Swing components and they look OS X native on OS X and like any other Java Swing component anywhere else (try it with Jext to see what I'm talking about). This is because of Apple's great support of the Java platform. It's almost, but not quite, a native language. And did I mention fast?

Links: Java @ Apple with loads of other links. I find what I need 9 times out of 10. The tenth time, I go to the source.

have you ever tried to run a half a million line Desktop Java app on windows

yes actualy, I don't know the Lines of code but Jext is almost as robust as Emacs.

Jext

you have a vertual file hierarchy, an FTP client, a text editor with Hughlighting for almost every language and markup around, it has its own macro language, it has an embeded python interpreter, you can send e-mail, it divides your projects into seperate workspaces, and each workspace has its own Virtual file hierarchy. This is the text editor fo anyone who is in developing. what is realy nice is that it gets out of your way.

Jext
- Written in 100% Java
- Open Source (hosted on Sourceforge)
- Syntax Highlighting
- virtual workspaces/(switch between projects)
- Auto code macros
- Filemanager, so you can add your current files to be easily opened
- tabbed pages
- fast
- FREE

This breaks the 2 out of 3 rule:-
Fast, Cheap, Good (choose 2)

-Ope

Hehehe. My point exactly. But on a more serious note, keep in mind what M$ means by safe/unsafe. This means that all that stands in the way of your hard drive being wiped is a puny security certificate. Most users have no idea that it means that machine specific code is running on their machines completely unadulterated. This is not a good thing. (Trust me.) If you want to see a good security model, go check out Java Web Start. It is an excellent model for secure web applications and already has several good programs running for it. (Off the top of my head, go check out Jext)

Also, by addressing C/C++ I am attempting to address common misconceptions which is a great deal of what Mercury is basing their opinion on. Anyway, I'm done ranting. Chow.