Hi Paul: JAVA vs C or C++....the performance gap is shrinking.
From the article:..."It's no longer an order of magnitude difference," said one programmer, regarding the difference between a Java application and one in C or C++. "The differential is more like a factor of two," he said.
New Apps Move Java Into Mainstream
(11/04/97; 2:00 p.m. EST)
By Ellis Booker, InternetWeek
First to arrive were the all-Java development tools. But now IT managers are quickly discovering they can get the full aroma of Java with the first crop of systems-oriented, server-side applications based purely on the programming language.
In two weeks, the first database built from the ground up in Java, called the Java Data Management System, will be unveiled by Cloudscape. Last month saw the arrival of the first general-purpose Java application server.
And that is just the tip of the iceberg. KeyLabs, the official certification entity for Sun's 100% Pure Java program, reports some 80 products have already been certified since June and 200 more have registered. These pure Java wares run the gamut of development tools, from database access middleware to virtual reality viewers, said Mike Fahnert, certification program manager.
Is all this activity proof that Java as a platform is ready for prime time and that companies will start shopping soon from among a plethora of native, server-side applications, not just client-side applets?
"We've made a philosophical decision to do new development in a Java environment," said Jeff Kostiw, manager of the information technology department at Municipal Investors Service (a subsidiary of MBIA ), which last week released the Client Connection, a Web service for its 5,000 municipality investors. Through the service, these customers can securely access their accounts via the Web.
Indeed, a new market for such products is emerging. Last month, HuskyLabs introduced a Java-based information management product dubbed Chakra. Chakra 1.0 offers authenticated and encrypted distribution of software components, messages, documents, and multimedia. It even allows for real-time chat.
Company president David Levine said groupware and collaboration vendors such as Lotus and Netscape were "burdened" with legacy code. Netscape, he said, was basically offering a client/server system.
"They've got a fat client and fat servers," Levine said. By comparison, Chakra's client can be downloaded on demand or carried on a single floppy disk, he said.
Another first will occur next week when start-up Cloudscape will deliver a beta of the first Java Data Management System. The company -- founded by a team of former Sybase, Oracle, Illustra, and Informix employees -- will aim its product, code-named JBMS, at embedding in applications for personal computers and skeletal clients, such as network computers and the U.S. Robotics PalmPilot, as well as applications such as E-mail.
This week, WebLogic, one of the first Java application developers, will unveil Tangah, which the company calls the first Java-based application server. With Tangah, an application can be run on the server or on the browser. The product is among the first to implement Enterprise JavaBeans, an evolving specification for distributed object application.
Meanwhile, there is a prevailing belief that native Java applications are much slower than their counterparts in C or C++. However, those most familiar with the speed issues around the Java Virtual Machine and Java Developers Kit remark on the significant strides made by Sun between the 1.0 and 1.1x releases.
"It's no longer an order of magnitude difference," said one programmer, regarding the difference between a Java application and one in C or C++. "The differential is more like a factor of two," he said.
Copyright (c) CMP Media, 1997.
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Paul - Let's hope that Novell can push the envelope in developing a JVM platform that will take advantage of the NetWare OS and its efficient server "engine". If so, then perhaps Novell can leap frog Microsoft in delivering JAVA enabled integrated server/client side applications.
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