From Tim May's citation of Vladimir Z. Nuri:
maybe Java is all about a generation gap in computing. hey!! the first language that the "older generation" hates.
Better try another language, I'm quite a bit older than Tim, and like Java very much. It's one of the best languages I've seen since Algol 60. To learn the language, I'd recommend Java in 21 Days and, as a quick desk reference, Java in a Nutshell. Tim May writes
I think the security problems are, first of all, no worse vis-a-vis the language itself than problems with any language.
They're better than most, as programmers can't "escape" from memory and variable typing bounds.
Until Java and associated programs and tools appeared, I was seriously thinking about getting a Pentium or Pentium Pro (shudder, even though I admire my former employer and current stock benefactor, Intel) and putting Linux on it.
If you're interested in Linux, you can get Linux for Power PC. Check out http://www.mklinux.apple.com for details. Currently, it runs on the first-generation Power PC's (6100, 7100, 8100).
Perry has some valid points vis-a-vis the most naive uses of applets. Were I the security manager of Morgan Stanley, I would certainly not want traders downloading "kewl" applets and (possibly) causing Big Problems. So what else is new?
The use of signed classes makes this practical as "kewl," but unsigned, applets should be safe unless the user makes a stupid decision regarding default applet permissions (and ignoring the Trojan Horse problem). The attraction to (for example) Morgan Stanley, is that it minimizes their risk when employees must work outside the corporate firewall. For example, an employee making an external sales call can dial into Morgan Stanley and use an appropriately privileged signed applet to access private data on the corporate server as well as files on the employee's portable computer).
Java as a language and as a platform-independent implementation is an achievement.
It's also not owned by the evil Redmond empire and does not appear to be owned by a hardware vendor (as, when compared with Intel, Motorola, and the Intel clones, Sun is a minor player in the hardware arena). It will be very interesting to see what happens when ANSI/ISO/IEEE decide that they must "standardize" the language. I'm currently reading "The Hubble Wars" and don't hold out mush hope that the official standard dies will actually improve the language.
And in some ways a more important comparison is to Perl and TCL, along with more obscure languages like Python and REXX. The welter of Net-oriented languages shows signs of being much-simplified by the wide adoption of Java. It will be interesting to watch the next several years of developments.
Rather than compare Java to Perl/TCL, try comparing it to Visual Basic, C, C++, Fortran, and COBOL. Martin Minow minow@apple.com