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Web-Based Java Compiler Service

Posted by timothy on from the web-services dept.

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."

3 of 50 comments (clear)

  1. That's the theory by fm6 · · Score: 3, Informative
    In theory you're right. But that single file is huge. When I worked for JavaSoft, there was a lot of negative feedback from people who had slow and/or unreliable internet connections, and couldn't keep an ftp or http connection open long enough.

    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.

  2. jikes by sa3 · · Score: 3, Informative

    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

  3. Do not try them all! by fm6 · · Score: 3, Informative
    I agree, this wouldn't be easier if the user was working with a single version. But it might be easier than downloading all of those versions of the JDK, if the user wants to try each one.
    Strictly speaking, there is only one version. Or if you want to get really picky, there's four versions, three of which are unsupported. There are an ungodly number of releases, which contain things like bug fixes and minor new features. But these are supposed to be backward compatible with the old versions. Anything that's not is a bug.

    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!