Slashdot Mirror

Matt Fotter was one of the first to write with the news that Sun has decided to re-nege on their original promise to port Netscape Application Server to Linux, and will be re-leasing the new version next month, sans a Linux port.

killbill writes "3Com and Sun have agreed to put a Sun Java virtual machine inside the Palm Pilot. Attenders of the JavaOne Developer Conference can purchase a Palm V with the Java VM already installed as of today, and I assume it will be available to the general public as soon as you can tap your "beam" button. "

Anonymous writes "Sun just announced that they are open sourcing their high-performance clustering software." The announcement is on Yahoo. Sun will be releasing it under their Sun Community Source Licensing, which is different then XFS, which was truly Open Sourced.

Anonymous writes "Sun just announced that they are open sourcing their high-performance clustering software." The announcement is on Yahoo. Sun will be releasing it under their Sun Community Source Licensing, which is different then XFS, which was truly Open Sourced.

netstat sent us the story about the big networking companies and Linux. Much the same story as elsewhere, they already support NT and Solaris, and don't see the user base for Linux there yet. Much of the comments are candids taken from Networld Interop. As you would expect, most of them want to see more users before rolling out support.

Quite a number of people wrote in to address the latest announcement and news from Sun Microsystems. Using a program they are calling lxrun, Solaris will be able to run "unmodified Linux binaries".

ChrisRijk writes "See the HotSpot main-page for starters. HotSpot is basically a fast JVM, initially aimed at server-side Java - beta testers say it's 2x or more faster in real world applications - see this good article (not by Sun). See also the press release, FAQ, and white paper. Freely downloadable binaries available later this week. Linux port? Well, Sun are liscencing the code (for a fee), and claim to have designed it to be easily portable. Sun also announced their i-Planet software today - see this news.com article. "

ChrisRijk writes "See the HotSpot main-page for starters. HotSpot is basically a fast JVM, initially aimed at server-side Java - beta testers say it's 2x or more faster in real world applications - see this good article (not by Sun). See also the press release, FAQ, and white paper. Freely downloadable binaries available later this week. Linux port? Well, Sun are liscencing the code (for a fee), and claim to have designed it to be easily portable. Sun also announced their i-Planet software today - see this news.com article. "

ChrisRijk writes "See the HotSpot main-page for starters. HotSpot is basically a fast JVM, initially aimed at server-side Java - beta testers say it's 2x or more faster in real world applications - see this good article (not by Sun). See also the press release, FAQ, and white paper. Freely downloadable binaries available later this week. Linux port? Well, Sun are liscencing the code (for a fee), and claim to have designed it to be easily portable. Sun also announced their i-Planet software today - see this news.com article. "

ChrisRijk writes "See the HotSpot main-page for starters. HotSpot is basically a fast JVM, initially aimed at server-side Java - beta testers say it's 2x or more faster in real world applications - see this good article (not by Sun). See also the press release, FAQ, and white paper. Freely downloadable binaries available later this week. Linux port? Well, Sun are liscencing the code (for a fee), and claim to have designed it to be easily portable. Sun also announced their i-Planet software today - see this news.com article. "

ChrisRijk writes "See the HotSpot main-page for starters. HotSpot is basically a fast JVM, initially aimed at server-side Java - beta testers say it's 2x or more faster in real world applications - see this good article (not by Sun). See also the press release, FAQ, and white paper. Freely downloadable binaries available later this week. Linux port? Well, Sun are liscencing the code (for a fee), and claim to have designed it to be easily portable. Sun also announced their i-Planet software today - see this news.com article. "

ChrisRijk writes "See the HotSpot main-page for starters. HotSpot is basically a fast JVM, initially aimed at server-side Java - beta testers say it's 2x or more faster in real world applications - see this good article (not by Sun). See also the press release, FAQ, and white paper. Freely downloadable binaries available later this week. Linux port? Well, Sun are liscencing the code (for a fee), and claim to have designed it to be easily portable. Sun also announced their i-Planet software today - see this news.com article. "

There is a story on the AP Wire this morning describing a new partnership between Sun Microsystems and Oracle. They are attempting to create a new type of "business computers that won't require the use of operating system programs such as those sold by rival Microsoft Corp" according to the article.

What do you think of this idea? Seems like the OS as we know it might be headed for a few changes in this case.

Eric Wayte writes "Sun announces UltraPenguin available for download." You can read the Press Release or cut straight to the chase and go Download it.

Eric Wayte writes "Sun announces UltraPenguin available for download." You can read the Press Release or cut straight to the chase and go Download it.

shanelenagh wrote in with good news at Yahoo: Sun will be supporting Linux on their machines soon. I hope this means more Linux ports! On a similar note, the JDK 1.2 was recently released. Update: Chris Gori sent us a link to the actual article. Seems as thugh it won't be too end-usery. A funny quote at the end, as well.

Paul Jones writes "MetaLab.unc.edu is the new name for the Site Formerly Known As SunSITE.unc.edu beginning today. As most slashdotters know, this site has been the home of Major Linux projects and distributions from the earliest days as well as one of the original WWW servers. The name "SunSITE" is a trademark of Sun Microsystems. "Our name change more accurately reflects the diverse collection of sponsors of the projects in that it is owned by no one but UNC," said Paul Jones Director of MetaLab. "

AbsurdSnore writes "Javasoft is carrying a new feature about the Virtual FishTank installed at The Computer Museum in Boston which is powered by Java. Is this the best looking Java application yet? "

segfault writes "Sun has posted their take on the deal, and guess what? The next version of AOL will be 100% Java. So linux could see a bit of marketshare if they make the dialer idiot proof. The story can be found at this page. "

cbj writes "Oracle has posted its challenge to Microsoft. To summarize, there is no way SQL Server 7.0 can beat the iron Oracle can run against. I'm sure someone is going to laugh all the way to bank with this one! " They've got the actual query that they want tested (Its part of one of those standard database performance test suites) and they want it done on a huge amount of data. So ya think someone will get it?

Veteran reviewer SEGV has sent in his latest literary exploit, a review of Doug Lea's book Concurrent Programming in Java: Design Principles and Patterns. Not exactly a book for the beginning, this is design for those of you who know their way around Java, and are looking to firm up your theory base. Given the recent lawsuit end, it appears that a lot more attention is being focused on Java again. Let's trya nd get some real programming done for it. Concurrent Programming in Java: Design Principles and Patterns author Doug Lea pages publisher Addison-Wesley rating 8/10 reviewer SEGV ISBN 0-201-69581-2 summary Not for beginners, this advanced book is perhaps somewhat hard to follow in places but rewarding to those who persevere

Concurrent Programming in Java: Design Principles and Patterns,
by Doug Lea
[Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-201-69581-2]

reviewed by SEGV[home]

Nutshell
Review:

Not for beginners, this advanced book is perhaps somewhat hard to follow in places but rewarding to those who persevere.

Rating: 8/10

A Book on Concurrent Programming

Concurrent Programming in Java is not just a book on Java threads. Rather, this 339 page book from JavaSoft's Java Series delves into the unique problems and solutions of concurrent programming. It just happens to use Java as its example language. Sure, you'll learn how to use Java constructs such as synchronized, volatile, wait, notify, and notifyAll. But you'll also learn how to put them together properly in an architecture that works.

The book has an online site with an excellent overview and supplement (containing errata, code, applets, and more).

Impressions

This was the first book dedicated to concurrent programming that I read. I absorbed it over the course of a month while dealing with serious threading issues in a major shipping product. Since then I've read half of Butenhof's Programming with POSIX Threads (which cites Lea's book), so I have a bit of perspective.

This is definitely not a book for the casual reader. If that's what you need or want, check out the aforementioned Butenhof book. They each deal with concurrent programming in general, but Butenhof's is easier to read (even has cartoons), explains things more accessibly, and overall is a better introduction.

However, if you want a book with no holds barred content, without frivolous diagrams and overblown examples, then this is it. It's a tough read. You have to work to understand how the examples illustrate the text. But we are better off that Lea does not spoon feed us. I came away from this book with a greater understanding of concurrent programming, and to that end it succeeded.

Content

From the table of contents you can see that Lea begins with an introduction. Not only does it frame subsequent chapters, it contains an 8 page further readings section containing references on everything from threads in particular to related topics in general. Subsequent chapters also have a further readings section, though not as overwhelming as the first.

Chapters two and three cover safety and liveness issues, the Scylla and Charybdes of concurrent programming. The former ensures that your program works correctly (eg, no race conditions or deadlocks), and the latter ensures that it does so effectively (ie, not reduced to a single thread). Lea doesn't just explain the pitfalls, but demonstrates the designs and techniques to get around them.

The next chapter covers controlling a thread's action based on its state. I found the discussion of policies of how to proceed when in the wrong state particularly useful. And of course guarded suspension is pivotal in concurrent programming.

The final four chapters take us from raw building blocks to higher level constructs. Lea introduces patterns which serve to control concurrency, allow for services, organize flow, and coordinate everything. Need to solve the readers and writers problem? Want to join a few threads? Perhaps you need to use an assembly line? Or maybe you're interested in transactions? These chapters have all that, and then some.

Summary

I find this book useful, even when I'm not doing Java. The only thing that stops me from purchasing my own copy is that another is readily accessible, and I hope that a second edition will come out that I can get instead!

It's a good book on concurrent programming. I just think it is only worth tackling if you have a strong backing in computer programming, and perhaps design patterns. Then, the text will make more sense and will serve as a good reference.

If you're more of a beginner or intermediate, I'd look elsewhere for a more appropriate book. You'll be better served than by struggling through this one. But certainly come back to it when you can!

Pick this book up at Amazon.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface
Introduction
Applications of Concurrency, Overview, Java Concurrency Support, Further Readings
Safety
Safe Objects, Immutable Objects, Fully Synchronized Objects, Contained Objects, Further Readings
Liveness
Liveness Failures, Instance Variable Analysis, Splitting Synchronization, Further Readings
State-Dependent Action
Policies, Representing State, Guarded Suspension, Balking, Further Readings
Concurrency Control
Subclassing, Adapters and Delegation, Acceptors, Models and Mappings, Further Readings
Services in Threads
Styles and Policies, Commands, Completion, Group Services, Coexistence, Further Readings
Flow
Applications, Flow Policies, Resource Management, Assembly Line, Further Readings
Coordinated Action
Transactions, Notification, Scheduling, Further Readings
Index

Constantine Vetoshev writes "Sun claims that their WorkShop C/C++ compiler family outperforms GNU tools (egcs) on the SPARC architecture. They cite a ~30% performance gain on certain benchmarks... Any /. readers out there that have experience with the SPARC architecture and have some real stories to tell about Sun development tools versus GNU software?" S: Some of the critique seems unjustified (personally, I prefer tools that do not require me to find my mouse) and does not acknowledge scripts, programmable editors, DDD, etc. However any new ways of improving performance are of interest. It appears Sun's technology relies on run-time profiling and enabling the compiler to use the profiling results -- just like the GNU Rope project improves memory organization using profiling data. It would not be surprising if Workshop had some lead since it is SPARC-specific while egcs isn't: for instance AFAIK egcs does not take cache-architecture into account, while Workshop should. But can anyone tell us the increases of performance they have observed when using profiling information.

Constantine Vetoshev writes "Sun claims that their WorkShop C/C++ compiler family outperforms GNU tools (egcs) on the SPARC architecture. They cite a ~30% performance gain on certain benchmarks... Any /. readers out there that have experience with the SPARC architecture and have some real stories to tell about Sun development tools versus GNU software?" S: Some of the critique seems unjustified (personally, I prefer tools that do not require me to find my mouse) and does not acknowledge scripts, programmable editors, DDD, etc. However any new ways of improving performance are of interest. It appears Sun's technology relies on run-time profiling and enabling the compiler to use the profiling results -- just like the GNU Rope project improves memory organization using profiling data. It would not be surprising if Workshop had some lead since it is SPARC-specific while egcs isn't: for instance AFAIK egcs does not take cache-architecture into account, while Workshop should. But can anyone tell us the increases of performance they have observed when using profiling information.

Sun has announced the upcoming 450MHz UltraSPARC II chip, and the availability of the 400MHz version, just in time for the upcoming Solaris 7 release. Of course, the chip isn't cheap - over $10/Mhz, or US$4249 in quantities of 1000 for the 400MHz version. Not that I would mind having one donated...

Sun has announced the upcoming 450MHz UltraSPARC II chip, and the availability of the 400MHz version, just in time for the upcoming Solaris 7 release. Of course, the chip isn't cheap - over $10/Mhz, or US$4249 in quantities of 1000 for the 400MHz version. Not that I would mind having one donated...

Sun will be making Solaris 7 available for $10 for non-commercial use. Star Division will also make its office suite available at no charge on Solaris 7. This link was found on Linux Preview.

Holiday writes "Sun Microsystems has changed the name of Solaris 2.7 to Solaris 7. Apparently they wish to follow HP's lead into large version numbers." In related news Microsoft's NT 5.0 will be renamed Windows 2000. And since we're talking NT, here is a review of its latest features. I find it amusing that command line enhancements are among them. It's also interesting to see that while data may be imported from NDS, it can't be exported back again -- reducing the value of Novell's NDS... Thanks to Vertigo1 and Phantom of the Operating System.

Wesley Felter writes "Sun has released a draft of their Jini(TM) Technology Public License (JTPL). I'm not sure if it meets the Open Source(TM) Definition or not. Also, Sun's Alan Baratz says that even though Java is not Open Source, it is open enough, because any company with piles of money can suggest changes. RMS is qutoed as as saying that it's too late for Sun to fix their mistake." You know, I fear the whole NPL/MPL deal has brought about a new dillemma - a plethora of different but similar identical licenses that all meet the Debian Free Software Guidlines (DFSG) definition (also the Open Source guidlines).

smcd writes " Looks like Sun have accepted that in order to sell hardware, its gotta be part of a Windows network. They've addressed this by developing NT style naming, authentication, and resources for Sparc & Intel boxes running Solaris. Doesn't this sound like Samba bundled with a couple of other tools?! Meanwhile the press release from Sun is here."

Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's official. Sun and Microsoft will be facing in court over Java. It all ties back to the 1996 licensing change that Sun says MS violated. Details are sketchy right now, but this will be an interesting one to watch.

Matt writes "Sun has plotted out the roadmap for the UltraSPARC." The best teaser is the plans for a 1.5 Ghz processor. Mmmm...cut through RC5 blocks like butter.

hazzmatt sent this blurb my way: "Here's an announcement linking Sun and Quark together in their fights against Adobe and NT, respectively. Nice to see Unix making some inroads on the content side. But is Quark hooking up with the right Unix? Apparently this is a bid to gain marketshare momentum on Adobe, who are rumored to be readying a Quark-killer version of Pagemaker."

matt writes "From a Sun Press release at Dr. Joseph Reger, Director of Technology Marketing at Siemens Nixdorf, explains, "it is true that HP will not have to do an endian transition, but it is also true that HP's Unix, HP-UX, is probably going to be the only operating system on IA-64 that runs in big endian mode. To my knowledge all flavors of UNIX on IA-64: Solaris, Linux, Santa Cruz Operation's UNIX, Digital's UNIX... and you name it--all UNIX will run on IA-64 in little endian mode and NT certainly will run in little endian mode. "

R-2-RO writes " Sun has a neat little article called A Gallery of Games in Java Technology. Topics in the article include Luring Consumers with Games, Why Java Technology Suits Games, Dodging Barriers in Multiplayer Games, New Dimensions: 2D and 3D, Building Interactive Communities, Going Beyond C++, and What Java Technology Brings to Gaming "

R-2-RO writes " Sun has a neat little article called A Gallery of Games in Java Technology. Topics in the article include Luring Consumers with Games, Why Java Technology Suits Games, Dodging Barriers in Multiplayer Games, New Dimensions: 2D and 3D, Building Interactive Communities, Going Beyond C++, and What Java Technology Brings to Gaming "

AJ writes "Ok, here is the deal, on the 10 August (US time) Sun is going to release Solaris 2.6 Intel & Sparc FREE for personal/educational/non-commercial use. For more information check this out."

A slew of rumors have started flying that IBM may be interested in purchasing Sun. However, the word on the Street is that the likelihood of this is pretty small, because IBM's business focus is not where Sun is at currently. Thanks to profesor for being the first to send this one in.

Cary Collett writes "Sun Microsystems and IBM will today announce the availability of the JavaOS for Business, a new Java-based operating system derivative targeted at network computer rollouts and other client devices such as kiosks. See the whole scoop here "

Although Sun has been under pressure lately, after reporting higher then expected revenues yesterday, they also talked about exploiting the infamous delays of Merced and NT5. They go on to talk about how their reliance on network computing has given them an edge- what do you folks think? Will Sun make it in the long run?

According to UK based Electronics Weekly, Sun is considering relaxing the terms of the Java license. No precise details were available. (Access to the site requires cookies (boo) and registration (boo)).

Jason Riedy wrote in with a link to A SunWorld Survey on free software. They are sampling to see how professionals use open source products in the workplace, as well as at home. I'm curious to see the results.

Slashdot Exclusive - Sun Microsystems has officially joined Linux International. While Sun has no plans to begin bundling Linux with their workstations, they realize their customers have taken an interest in the OS. Read on to find out more, including the upcoming announcment from Sun regarding the company's official position on all things Linux. David Andrew will represent Sun on Linux International board. He has stated the following things:

• Sun has no plans to bundle Linux with any of its SPARC workstations
• Sun will not support end-users directly, but will support vendors which "package" Linux

He has listed the following reasons as to why Sun will be joining Linux International:

• "Availability of our new low-cost Ultra5 and Ultra10 workstations, designed to run Unix OS very well."
• "Support for other Unix participants against NT is in our interest."
• "Appreciation of the people who are doing the UltraPenguin port for SPARC."

Certainly sounds like Linux has gained an important ally. Linux, Sun, Netscape, and millions of others. Linux is a powerful player, indeed.

Slashdot Exclusive - Sun Microsystems has officially joined Linux International. While Sun has no plans to begin bundling Linux with their workstations, they realize their customers have taken an interest in the OS. Read on to find out more, including the upcoming announcment from Sun regarding the company's official position on all things Linux. David Andrew will represent Sun on Linux International board. He has stated the following things:

• Sun has no plans to bundle Linux with any of its SPARC workstations
• Sun will not support end-users directly, but will support vendors which "package" Linux

He has listed the following reasons as to why Sun will be joining Linux International:

• "Availability of our new low-cost Ultra5 and Ultra10 workstations, designed to run Unix OS very well."
• "Support for other Unix participants against NT is in our interest."
• "Appreciation of the people who are doing the UltraPenguin port for SPARC."

Certainly sounds like Linux has gained an important ally. Linux, Sun, Netscape, and millions of others. Linux is a powerful player, indeed.

Snoop Baron writes " Sun has put up an article in honor of Java's 3rd official Birthday (May 23, 1998). It gives a brief history of the technology up till today. I think it's definetly worth a read. "

Cloud9 sent us a couple of interesting bits about Sun from the last few days. Sun has been named Technological Sponsor for the Cannes Film Festival. Also, Sun's Java was selected by TCI to be their standard in set top cable boxes.

Cloud9 sent us a couple of interesting bits about Sun from the last few days. Sun has been named Technological Sponsor for the Cannes Film Festival. Also, Sun's Java was selected by TCI to be their standard in set top cable boxes.

Sun has announced the 360MHz UltraSPARC-II processor. The chip has 4MB (yes, megabytes) of L2 cache, and will be available in workstations such as the Ultra 60. At US$3970 in volume, it's not cheap. I could probably live with the new 333MHz UltraSPARC-IIi, which is signficantly cheaper, though ;) Sun is also expected to cut prices on its Ultra series of workstations later today.

Sun has announced the 360MHz UltraSPARC-II processor. The chip has 4MB (yes, megabytes) of L2 cache, and will be available in workstations such as the Ultra 60. At US$3970 in volume, it's not cheap. I could probably live with the new 333MHz UltraSPARC-IIi, which is signficantly cheaper, though ;) Sun is also expected to cut prices on its Ultra series of workstations later today.

Erik Hovland writes "I was looking at SUNs website and noticed that they are going to webcast the computer bowl. I thought the slashdot faithful would like to know that Marc Andreessen is on the West coast team along with other nerd notables. The other interesting thing is that the browser for the competition is only available for windows! They should have contacted IBM to do a modification to their cool chess servlet."

Erik Hovland writes "I was looking at SUNs website and noticed that they are going to webcast the computer bowl. I thought the slashdot faithful would like to know that Marc Andreessen is on the West coast team along with other nerd notables. The other interesting thing is that the browser for the competition is only available for windows! They should have contacted IBM to do a modification to their cool chess servlet."