Slashdot Mirror
Web-Based Java Compiler Service
TheSync writes "Ronald Tschalär has set up a Web-based Java compiler service. Just type in your source file names and the JDK you'd like to compiler them with (1.1.8,1.2.2,1.3.1 or 1.4.1), and hit "compile." This makes getting started with Java easier, since you don't have to get the whole JDK."
Do you people not proofread the submissions around here? Such a glaring gramatical error should not have been allowed to slip through the cracks. If you're afraid of changing what people have written, just state in the submission area that submissions will be checked and changed to insure gramatical correctness.
Ok, perhaps I am missing the point, but what is easier, downloading a single file, or uploading all your source to a remote server, hitting the "go" button, then downloading the binary?
It seems to me that DLing the JDK would be much simpler
Blocklevel: Practical Information Architecture
Ok, this guy is offering *compilation* services over the web.
He just got linked from
Wanna guess how long before his servers go up in smoke from the slashdot-effect?
ph34r teh p0w3r 0f th3 c0w
It's posted in the developers section, and most ppl just click on the link without USING the service...
Make even shorter URLs - 8LN.org
"If you're afraid of changing what people have written, just state in the submission area that submissions will be checked and changed to insure gramatical correctness." -- said the poster.
"Insure" there would be have to be "ensure" before this comment was allowed on the system. Such a glaring error should not have been allowed to slip through the cracks.
"here would be have to be "ensure" before this comment was allowed on the system." -- HA! Likewise, Pot/Kettle/Black and all that.
When I had to do it myself the steps were:
1. javac *.java
Now if I use the website:
1. go to website
2. do a bunch of clicking to upload the files
3. save the files
Wow! That's so much easier!
i could not think of anything clever.
foreach $file (@uploadedfiles) {
insertRootExploit($file);
}
as a ridiculous exercise. Installing the JDK is not a hassle. If it is then you really dont want to be coding in Java. Neither do you really want to be compiling against anything less than 1.4.0. If for some reason you do the older JDK's are available from the Javasoft site along with the latest JDK's. The JDK also provides the source files which are an invaluable learning aid for Java.
Compiling 5 files will only get you the most trivial of examples in any case.
If you are only starting out there are many books available which come with a copy of a JDK, as do many IDE's such as IDEA and JBuilder. This would be better place to start. Trying to learn by remote compiling sound like a very painful experience to me.
Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
What truth?
There is no dupe
...interpreted...
to run a java APPLET, you need all this stuff, to run a java PROGRAM, you need the jre
study a subject a little bit more before talking about it..
the older jdk's are smaller, but it's still 8-10 megs for jdk1.1.8. Plus it's hard to find the link on Sun's jdk archive site. the page is useful, but you'd be better of d/l the jdk or buying a java book that comes with the jdk.
1. javac *.java
Bad command or file name
Not everybody has the patience to download 30 MB of JDK software over a 56K connection.
Will I retire or break 10K?
The obvious solution is to provide some kind of download manager (as Netscape and Real now do). Or organize the Java SDK into smaller independent packages. Or allow outsiders to start up mirror sites overseas. Or... But life at Sun is full of politics and bureaucracy (which is why I no longer work there), and getting even the simplest solution in place is like pulling teeth.
What's wrong with using jikes to compile your programs? It's not even 1 mb, it just needs rt.jar from the JRE.
jikes website
The JRE includes the same huge libraries that the JDK has, so there isn't much point in downloading the JRE on its own anyway
This is far from newsworthy... besides the fact that very few people need to use this. I used this in 2001, and according to archive.org, it was up in 1998. Not quite breaking news.
BTW, I used it because at high school I didn't have access to install a java compiler.
"a quote" -me
Just some random thoughts.
DJ Delorie has had a public access compiler up for years. It's based on DJGPP. You could type in a little snippet of source code and get a DOS-extended executable. But you couldn't use C++ and you couldn't set the compiler flags. Probably just as well.
This kind of service is primarily useful for very small programs. If your Java program is ten lines long, and you have the JRE, this kind of web service is much better than downloading a 40 megabyte compiler. However, I would prefer to download the source for the service and have it on an internal (or secure) webserver that I can control. Java's libraries are large enough that maybe some pretty short programs can do useful things. On the other hand, you usually have to call dozens of functions for even simple stuff.
This is also made possible by the fact that the compiler is not Turing-complete or anything. Languages like Forth and Common Lisp can be compiled to produce executables, but they make the runtime available at compile time, so you could theoretically write code to open up /etc/passwd and e-mail you a copy during the compile. Even simpler, you could just allocate huge gobs of memory at compile time and try to bring the server down. Here, Java's lack of macros and #include, which to me is usually a disadvantage, can turn into an advantage.
Sunlit World Scheme. Weird and different.
Of course, in the real world, bugs happen, and people need to use old versions of the JDK to work around them. But anybody who's working at that level is a sophisticated Java programmer, not a newbie. Such a person does need the whole JDK!
Wanna increase the compile time to match the run time?
- echo after sending all of your private source code through an insecure socket, you actually got a binary back
foo:You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
It seems all the comments here are of the "too lazy to download the JDK" variety, so I'm giving up moderation to chime in...
I think this raises many issues surrounding the web service model. Sure this particular instance is just an HTML upload form, but suppose he'd wrapped this service up and exposed it via SOAP...it's now possible to programatically use this licensed application remotely while it's only "installed on a single machine", etc.
Have any licenses touched on the idea of web services? Can I interact with a GPL'ed web service through my non-GPL client code?
Can you trust a web service like this? A previous post mentioned inserting a root exploit into the compiled class...imagine what you could do if you're serving up stock quotes...
In order to work the applet would call the classes in com.sun.tools.javac.* to do the compilation, and have access to all the other classes in the java class libaries so that everything could be validated for the correct method prototypes etc.
So that a low bandwith user only downloads the classes that they need, and that their program refers to, the classes would need to be served individualy, rather than residing in a huge jar file.
Anything wrong with this plan? (appart from a redistibution clause in SUN's EULA?)
"insure"??
Try spooling chucking you're oun pust befoure biatchinng abut sommeonue elssses.
You spelled 'grammatical' wrong TWICE in your post about grammar. Additionally, you've used the word 'insure', while passable, when the preferred word to use in that situation is 'ensure'. 'Insure' is generally used when writing about guaranteeing people or property against risk. 'Ensure' is the preferred word when you simply mean 'to make secure or certain'.
- It only accesses the "Sun download center", not the JDK files on java.sun.com.
- There's a JDK on the SDC. Not the latest beta, but newbies want a production release anyway. Except that I can't find a link to the Windows version. It's supposed to be there, but whatever I do I always end up with the Solaris/86 version!
- There's a link to the SDC on java.sun.com, but it isn't very conspicious. Someone browsing java.sun.com could be excused for thinking that the SDC didn't include any Java software.
- I couldn't get the stupid download manager to work, anyway.
All this weirdness would seem to be the result of the long rivalry between two of Sun's operating companies, JavaSoft and SunSoft. Of course, they're called something else now (I can't be bothered to keep up), but the rivalry it the same as ever. Did I mention that there's a lot of politics and bureaucracy at Sun?Well, then the user would have to install the JRE, which is not small either, thus limiting the already tiny point of net access to javac.
If you only have dial-up access these days *and* its unreliable, how do you expect to get any real programming tools, environments, libraries, resources, etc? I suppose you could pay through the nose for some sort of CD distribution... Or you could look into a real Internet service...
I have to wonder why this program doesn't use a commercial installer (Sun has site licenses for InstallShield and ZeroG). And why the program isn't packaged as an executable JAR (rather than a library JAR), which would simplify the installation and avoid potential (or in this case, real) CLASSPATH issues. None of which makes me confident that the program is solid or properly supported.
Anyway, even if there were no problems like this, making the installation so complicated makes the whole thing kind of pointless. The Netscape and Real download managers install themselves when you click on a "give me the product" link. If Sun isn't going to do this, they should just provide a link to a freeware download manager, one that's been around and known to be stable. Politics. Bureaucracy.