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Java: Add Some Milk and SugarIt's the language that launched a thousand horrible coffee-related puns in computer classes and software publications across the world. It has percolated out across the Web, and filtered into the dreams of everyone who fears Microsoft is taking over computing. 400,000 programmers are said to know it; 80,000 Web pages are said to include it. We talk, of course, of Sun Microsystems' Java, the toaster instruction set turned cross-platform salvation. This site first caught the Java bug in early 1997. I installed what was then the leading Java-builder, Symantec Cafe, on the old 486, and reached for one of the 200-plus Java books already then flooding the market, a 600-page volume called "Teach Yourself Java in Cafe in 21 Days". That early jump into Java, it turned out, was a mistake. The early chapters of TYJC21D gave me a helpful feel for Java's structure. But I also found out what sort of 21 days the title was referring to. They weren't 21 days where you come home, eat dinner and then settle down on the couch for a hour or two with a computer book. They were 21 days like the last three weeks before your final exam. As the book warned, unless you already know C or C++, Java programming takes plenty of study, even with the help of a good integrated development environment like Cafe or its successor, Visual Cafe. Programming with just the help of something like Sun's on-line Java tutorial appears an order of magnitude harder. Since I have a day job, Java's learning curve came as a disappointment. TYJC21D went back onto a lower shelf and Cafe met the uninstaller. Java without the HypeIn the months since, though, my disappointment has eased - for three reasons. These same reasons apply to every non-programmer Web designer out there. First, the Web hype about Java, fed by creator Sun Microsystems, has overtaken the reality. The hottest, coolest, best-designed pages on the Web have mostly been ignoring it; other sites have been using it for simple scrolling displays and animations that made little obvious advance on HTML. Java isn't about to replace HTML on Web pages. It certainly won't challenge Windows any time soon as personal and small business computing's dominant operating system, despite the (arguably quite justifiable) hopes of its enthusiasts. It runs like a slug on many of today's systems - especially Windows 3.1, still the dominant corporate operating system - and it crashes browsers even on Pentium machines. Even the true scope of its "write once, run anywhere" cross-platform performance remains in doubt. Java will rise gradually, and within limits, possibly becoming an attractive alternative to Windows. But it is not poised for an imminent takeover, tomorrow or next year. Nevertheless, Java will rise. Relatively simple in operation, secure, object-oriented and closely related to the well-known C family, it should let the same piece of code run on Windows, Apple and Unix machines on all recent Netscape and Microsoft browsers. And the programmers who have helped Java-creation tools outsell application development tools aren't suddenly going to drop it tomorrow. My second reason to stop worrying about Java is that while it's hard to write Java "applets", it's extremely easy to find them and incorporate them in your pages. Two sites in particular - Gamelan and JARS (Java Applet Rating Service) - provide collections of the best applets. Many of their creators will happily give them away, and provide you with the instructions to put them on your Web pages. I'm now running two examples in my pages - Joerg Muessner's CreditRoll and David Griffiths's knock-down gorgeous Lake. Instant CoffeeIf they're not enough, a new breed of no-code tools is springing up to help non-programmers create Java applets. Macromedia's free AppletAce download creates a few gimmicky and not-so-gimmicky effects and charts remarkably painlessly in a series of simple dialogue boxes. Further up the scale are a series of try-before-you-buy downloadable programs for creating Web multimedia presentations with sound and movement. One of the best of them is the newly-updated Jamba 2.0 from Aimtech, best known for its high-level Icon Author multimedia tool. Though not the simplest of tools, it comes complete with solid tutorials, offers a 30-day downloadable trial version and can create some impressive (if still small) effects. Jamba's newest rival, Kinetix' Hyperwire, is also winning good reviews. Jamba, Hyperwire and similar programs look set to fight it out with Macromedia Shockwave for dominance in Web multimedia presentations over the next few years. Many of the best Java resources can be found on-line. But if you'd like a book to help you, Hayden Books' Java Web Magic ($69.95 from Prentice Hall Australia) will take you through many simple applets and programs - and an accompanying CD includes the applets, Macromedia AppletAce and the Jamba trial version, along with other tools such as the GoldWave sound editor for converting audio files into the Java-friendly .au format. All of that makes Java a good deal sweeter and lighter. I wouldn't recommend Java as a key site element yet. Instructively, Aimtech's main Jamba page recently removed its Java features. But Java will only gain popularity as computers and browsers advance. It will eventually become a key element of everything from advanced page navigation to audio playback. Just be prepared to have your browser crash while you're learning about it. You can take a (very) quick tour of Java applets here, and download the Lake and CreditRoll applets after seeing them in action.
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Byte's Tom Halfhill explains