Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2001 23:28:31 -0500 (CDT) From: John Utz <john@utzweb.net> To: Jeff Dalton <jeff@aiai.ed.ac.uk> Cc: "Koster, K.J." <K.J.Koster@kpn.com>, <freebsd-java@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: RE: java status and Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.33.0108142311280.30259-100000@jupiter.linuxengine.net> In-Reply-To: <19952.200108141353@todday>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Tue, 14 Aug 2001, Jeff Dalton wrote: > Can someone explain why it's so hard to port new versions of JDK? because the vm and the class libs continue to chage dramatically with each revision. This is A Good Thing ( copywrite 199X Martha Stewart Inc. ), because lotsa' things in java could stand serious improvement! > K. J. Koster wrote: > > > The source code to the JDK is some 25 megs of a mix of C, shell scripts, > > assembler and makefiles. You need all of this to work to get a JDK. I think > > that's taxing enough for any OS without Sun specifying others as well. :-) > > Ok, but why haven't they done the "obvious" thing of having all the C > and assembler down in the VM, with the rest in Java, and with new > versions arranged so that you can, if you want, keep using the same > VM and just put in the new Java code? because then it would be even more godforsakenly slow and bloated then it is already! :-) there are some times when puncturing the abstraction layer in order to obtain speed improvements is appropriate, and the jvm and the java.* classlibs are a fine example thereof. If, for instance, Swing was only a wrapper around a humoungous collection of monstrous native libs that would be ok by me. :-) to return to your point, the vm and core class implementation is *supposed* to be where all the hard porting work is concentrated. this is what theoretically lets app devs do the Write Once thingy. In short, the people who are doing the port are absolute dev gods! and we should greately appreciate their skill and their contributions! > -- Jeff > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-java" in the body of the message > -- John L. Utz III john@utzweb.net Idiocy is the Impulse Function in the Convolution of Life To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-java" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?Pine.LNX.4.33.0108142311280.30259-100000>