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Integrating Java and the Data Base

An important issue among Java developers is how to access corporate data necessary to support Java applications. Numerous solutions are becoming available to connect Web-based Java applications to the data on servers and hosts. That connection is critical if Java is to be more than just a technology for building small applets that can be downloaded to and run inside a Web browser. Until Java applets can make use of corporate data, their usefulness is limited.

To remedy this situation, Sun Microsystems’ JavaSoft unit, which develops and markets Java tools, has come up with the Java Data Base Connectivity (JDBC) specification, which is intended to compete with Microsoft’s Open Data Base Connectivity (ODBC) solution for allowing Java applets to connect to different vendors’ SQL data bases. The JDBC specification is expected to enable the building of large-scale Java-based application servers in corporate client/server networks. Without this type of interface, programmers would have to master a different interface for each data base used by their company.

Bridges to ODBC and CORBA

JavaSoft unit even offers a bridging tool to link Java applications to data bases that support Microsoft’s ODBC interface. With the bridge, Java developers need only work with JDBC to build data base applications that can also access existing ODBC data. The bridge is fully compatible with existing ODBC drivers.

In the future, as JDBC drivers are built for specific data bases—such as those from Ingres, Oracle, and Sybase—developers can choose a pure JDBC link to data bases or use the bridge to ODBC. JDBC will support interchangeable data base drivers by means of a driver manager that would automatically load the proper JDBC driver for connecting to a specific data base.

Third-party middleware solutions are emerging that link Java objects over the network using the Internet Inter-ORB Protocol (IIOP) specified in the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA). Through this CORBA connection, developers can connect new Java applets to existing C or C++ programs. With the addition of an “object wrapper,” this connection also links Java applets to host transactions and data.

At this writing, Sun’s JavaSoft unit has announced plans to add new code that lets Java objects on different computers easily work with each other without additional middleware such as an object request broker (ORB). JavaSoft is also developing the added capability of letting Java objects interact across a firewall. Firewalls control public Internet access to corporate backbones but also prevent client/server applications from working across broad portions of the Net.

INTEGRATING JAVA WITH COMMON OPERATING SYSTEMS

Because Java is an interpreted language that relies on easily ported underlying code to talk to the operating system, it can easily run on Windows, UNIX, and other common operating systems. Efforts are underway by the major operating system vendors to integrate Java into their systems, providing a way to make Java more accessible to developers and users. Developers will have easier access to Java programming on their platform of choice and users will be able to run Java applets and applications outside of their Web browsers.

Microsoft is embedding Java into future versions of Windows ’95 and Windows NT. Apple will integrate Java into its Macintosh, Pippin, and Newton operating systems, as well as into its authoring technologies, Internet servers, client software, and CyberDog Internet suite. Silicon Graphics (SGI) will embed Java in its IRIX operating system, and Sun will embed it in Solaris. IBM Corp. is embedding Java in all its client and server product lines this year, including Lotus Notes and Merlin, its forthcoming new version of OS/2, as well as AIX, OS/400, and OS/390 (formerly MVS).

Other companies that plan to integrate Java into their operating systems include Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi Ltd., Novell, Santa Cruz Operation, and Tandem Computers.

Native Applications

Putting the Virtual Machine—Java’s native operating environment— inside the operating system will give Java applications the speed of those written in a compiled language and still allow them to run cross-platform. In addition to speed, the benefits to users of a Java-embedded operating system include access to a greater number of applications that they can run natively, with or without a browser.

What remains to be seen is whether the operating system vendors will make extensions and additions in the form of APIs that could result in serious interoperability problems. If this happens, not only is the goal of Java’s portability defeated, but the industry could see Java fragment into a multitude of flavors reminiscent of UNIX.

JAVA SECURITY

The Java language was designed to operate in distributed environments. With security features designed into the language and runtime system, the Java language enables construction of tamper-free programs. In the networked environment, Java programs are secure from intrusion by unauthorized code attempting to get behind the scenes and create viruses or invade file systems.

Java’s networking package provides the interfaces to handle the various wide area network protocols, including hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), file transfer protocol (FTP), and Telnet, among others. The networking package can be set up to:

  Disallow all network accesses.
  Allow network accesses to only the hosts from which the code was imported.
  Allow network accesses only outside the firewall if the code came from outside.
  Allow all network accesses.


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