David A. Cafaro wrote:
Ok, quick question, but why do you say Java isn't well supported under Linux? I'm just a little confused on that. I've been using Java to write and run programs under Linux with no problems, and with what seems like very good support. Between JVM/JDKs from Sun/IBM/BlackDown/Apache Geronimo, development tools from Eclipse, SlickEdit, Apache.org and assorted sqlDB drivers, WebServer Apps, and other items, Java seems to be very well supported. Could you clarify that some, I'm worried I'm missing something. Thanks.
Yes, I should clarify. Red Hat/Fedora Linux does not have a JRE out of the box. I have yet to come across a distro that offers it. Hopping into the #Java channel on Freenode, and posing the question of which distro is best for Java development I didn't get an answer. Downloading and installing the Sun JRE has been tricky at best. Non-professionals aren't going to know about blackdown/IBM/Geronimo, let alone where to get it. Well supported to me means trivial to install and use by a non-professional, and easy to find. Sun's done a better job recently, with the Windows side, but Linux is still pretty substandard.
Don't get me wrong: I love Java. It's my favorite language. It's rich, and powerful, and you can do almost anything with it. But it's got a lot of baggage. These are problems that have mostly been solved on Windows. But they are not handled out of the box on any other platform but Solaris. Gjc will compile Java code to native, and therefore your Java code _will_ be just a standard executable.
If the baggage has been handled elegantly by you or some other source, I'd love to hear about it. What I want is what Mr. Merrill has described. Execute Java code as a normal app.
Also, as a kind of watermark: Occasionally I'll log into the Durham County Library System's web catalog system (a Java applet deployed via browser). It's relatively quick using IE and MSJVM, but it's slower than molasses on a cold day in FireFox using a Sun supplied JRE in either Windows or Linux. Could be Mozilla's fault, but it's unacceptable. Oh, and Eclipse? The last Milestone 3.0 release doesn't run with IBM's Java. It requires the Sun JDK. Talk about screwball.
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