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- Newsgroups: comp.object,comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.java
- Path: netcom.com!milod
- From: milod@netcom.com (John DiCamillo)
- Subject: Re: Java: What's the Big Deal?
- Message-ID: <milodDo5yDE.H8B@netcom.com>
- Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
- References: <4i40ik$9dt@news4.digex.net>
- Date: Tue, 12 Mar 1996 16:41:38 GMT
- Sender: milod@netcom16.netcom.com
-
- ell@access1.digex.net (Ell) writes:
-
- >What is you can do in Java, you can't do as easily with a library in C++?
-
- Write applets the run on the Web (duh! :-) Folklore has it
- that Sun couldn't even interest anyone in Oak until the
- applet idea came around. Suddenly, everybody wants some.
-
- Seriously: The 2nd most notable thing about Java may be the
- JVM. Developers can write programs that are binary compatible
- on a variety of platforms and operating systems (remember JF?).
-
- Actually, the Smalltalk uh...afficianados have been saying
- "we had a virtual machine first!", but the interesting
- difference is that the JVM is standard across Java compilers
- (and some other language compilers) which provides the
- portability. Something Smalltalk has never really had.
-
- Other merely practical advantages (for certain kinds of apps)
- include:
-
- 1) Trade speed for safety (no pointer arithmetic + GC +
- all casts dynamically checked + array bounds + ...)
- This makes it a bit easier to program in than C++.
-
- 2) No header files => faster compilation
-
- 3) Slightly simpler syntax (mostly due to the lack of
- address operators, function pointers, and templates)
-
- 4) Standard library comes with the language - which is
- still not quite true of C++.
-
- --
- ciao,
- milo
- ================================================================
- John DiCamillo Fiery the Angels Fell
- milod@netcom.com Deep thunder rode around their shores
-