Dr. Dobb's Journal January 1998
We planned it this way. We really did. Really. We knew last summer that kicking off 1998 (which, by the way, launches DDJ into its 23rd year of publication, thank you very much) with an issue on Java would be the cat's pajamas. Why? Because Java has become a media darling (just like we knew it would). After all, when was the last time you saw "C++" or "Fortran" on the front page of your daily fishwrap, headlined on CNN Headline News, or in everyone's favorite comic strip?
What's made Java the rock star of the programming world? Not its memory management, portability, or security, for goodness sakes. Nope, what's put its name in lights is the spin doctoring and lawsuits that are part of the "bidness of doing bidness" in the 1990s. From Intel/Microsoft/DEC/Compaq's attempt to paint Sun into an ISO standardization corner, to Sun's lawsuit against Microsoft over allegedly breaching the Java license contract (and Microsoft's countersuit), a programming phenomenon has degenerated into a soap opera. Of course, there's more than a little irony in a gang like Intel, Microsoft, DEC, and Compaq calling for open standards.
But fame is a fleeting mistress, especially when a bigger fish -- like the Justice Department's consent-decree violation charge against Microsoft -- comes along. Even though the Java headlines have disappeared, the issues behind them haven't. By the time you read this, member countries will have voted on Sun's proposal to make Java an ISO standard. In fact, it probably doesn't matter whether or not the ISO adopts Sun's proposal. Yes, the W3C has said it won't certify browsers that aren't ISO-compliant, but then again, you have to wonder if that matters either. As for the Sun-Microsoft lawsuits, they'll drag on until the Silicon Gulch is known as Silicon Geezers.
The only thing positive to come out of all of this macho posturing is the Java Lobby. A grass-roots, nonpartisan, independent group of developers dedicated to seeing Java become truly portable, open, and standardized, the Java Lobby made its own headlines by sending an "Open Letter to Bill Gates and Microsoft" asking Microsoft to "advance a common Java implementation." The letter, faintly reminiscent of Bill Gates' 1976 "Open Letter to Hobbyists" (published in the Homebrew Computer Club Newsletter), has so far been brushed off by Microsoft. You can lend your support to the Lobby by contacting http://www.javalobby.org/.
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One of the more annoying aspects of reading any print publication involves references to previously published material that supplements the article in front of you. To address this nuisance, we're posting back-referenced articles at http://www.ddj.com/. These articles are linked through the current issue's online table of contents. For instance, this month Arthur van Hoff makes reference to his seminal article "Java and Internet Programming," which appeared in the August 1995 issue of DDJ. Going to the January 1998 table of contents at the DDJ web site, you'll find a link to Arthur's 1995 article. Likewise, in "The Java Internationalization API," Carol Jones references Cliff Berg's July 1997 "Java Q&A" column, which is also linked through this month's online table of contents. In addition to articles, source code and other supplemental material are linked there too.
One other change that goes into effect this month involves the familiar reader-service cards, which have been bound into magazines for years. These cards have made it possible for you to obtain additional product information directly from vendors who advertise in this and other magazines. Unfortunately, it sometimes has taken weeks or months for this information to find its way back to you. To speed things up, the DDJ advertising group is introducing an online feature called "DDJ Ad Link," accessible at http://www.ddj.com/. By identifying the products or companies you are interested in, then providing your contact information, you can receive information by e-mail, surface mail, or phone.
--Jonathan Erickson