Upon registration, you received a capacious bag with the JavaOne logo embroidered
on the front. I preferred the backpack of last year however, for one reason,
it was easier to carry. This year's bag didn't sit as well, was a little
more bother to get into, and had only one small pocket on the flap. Inside
were 3 CD's (Java Workshop, JavaReel, and CBT Training), a JavaOne pen
(with beans in the cap), promotional flyers, and the invaluable notebook.
The notebook contained maps of the conference, the schedule (which had
only one change during the entire conference), abstracts of all sessions
and keynotes, a list of all exhibitors along with a short description of
their products, and lots of blank pages for note-taking. I was glad to
find out that we didn't have to deal with hundreds of handouts this year
since all session slides were going to be placed online. Still, the bag
was very useful to hold all the literature and memorabilia collected. Some
of the items found at various locations around the conference were a Duke
decal, a Duke dollar bill, a Duke comic book, T-shirts, cups, buttons,
and pens.
Keynotes were given by several of the notables in the Java world.
In all, they talked about the current and future state of the Java revolution
along with some of what has been accomplished so far. Remember that
Java was introduced to the world only 2 calendar years ago (how many is
that in Internet years??).
 |
James
Gosling and
Alan Baratz |
(Sun Fellow and a key architect of Java)
(President, JavaSoft) |
| |
Eric
Schmidt and
Vinton G. Cerf |
(CTO Sun Microsystems)
(Senior VP MCI Communications and co-developer of TCP/IP) |
| |
Scott
McNealy |
(CEO and co-founder, Sun Microsystems) |
| |
Dana Carvey |
(comedian)
[no transcript available; see bio just after Scott McNealy's Keynote abstract]
|
| |
Jeff
Johnson |
(Lead UI Engineer - Hubble Space Telescope,
Lockheed Martin Space Mission Systems) |
|
One of the important things Alan Baratz announced was that Sun has applied
to ISO (the International Standards Organization) to be a working group
of ISO. This will enable them to be on the fast-track through the process
of standardizing Java.
I was particularly intrigued to learn from Jeff Johnson's talk [and those
from Dr. Paul Backes (JPL) and Dr. Greg Helt (UC Berkeley)] that for the
Hubble Space Telescope (Lockheed; NASA Goddard), the Mars Rover
(Jet Propulsion Labs, Pasadena), and a DNA Mapping tool for the Human
Genome Project (University of California, Berkeley) - the controls
are all Java Applets. That means that with commands sent through
Java applets in a browser, the engineers and scientists can tell the telescope
where to point and the rover on Mars (!) where to go and what to do when
it gets there. Now, if those aren't some fine examples of
serious programming, I don't know what is.
Jeff told us that the Johnson Space Center (Houston, Texas, USA) uses Java
too and that Johnson and Goddard share Java code without having to port.
He also told us that Goddard regards this as the most successful software
system they have ever had. Management at Goddard, despite initial reluctance,
now asks "why do we do it any other way?"
Paul Backes told us that the web interface was originally planned to be
used for the rover mission to Mars in the year 2001 but it was developed
so fast that they decided to use it for this current mission. The current
rover is scheduled to land on Mars on July 4, 1997.
Greg Helt says that the biologists love this interface to their data. With
their applet driven interface, a "whole planet of collaborators"
can have access to 3 billion bytes of information in real-time. It also
supports global collaborative annotation. This interface uses Marimba's
Castanet for deployment and updates.
John Gage added that "the expensive, difficult science can now reach
the kids in the classrooms."
About
the Hubble Space Telescope
About the Mars Rover
About the Human Genome Project
Click here to see a listing of the 34 BOF sessions
held in various locations in and near Moscone.
Click
here to see a listing of the 72 Tracks packed into those three days.
I would like to add here that it was quite noticeable that the speakers
were much better prepared with their speaking skills this year! Congratulations
to all for the hard work and the good control of nerves!
One criticism that I usually have, and it is appropriate here again, is
that for many slides the fonts were too small!
It is better to show fewer words on the slide that can be seen at the back
of the room than many words that only the front row can see.
One of my favorite sessions in the Technical Track was on improving performance
of my Java code. See an abstract of this at High
Performance Java: Programming Tips, Techniques and Choices. You
can download the Slides for that presentation by clicking on the Slides
button just after the Abstract.
Another favorite session in the Technical Track was the Advanced
Programming Tutorial. The primary topics were regarding new features
in JDK 1.1: JNI, inner classes, and Reflection. The source code for this
Tutorial is available for download.
Some of the tips learned were:
|
JNI (Java Native Interface) |
|
 |
With JNI, everything is done through the JNI environment pointer.
When this is used, the application is no longer 100% Pure. |
|
|
JNI works in 2 steps: 1. look, 2. call. |
|
|
How to pass-by-reference in Java: use a one element array. |
|
|
Non-private fields should generally be final so subclasses won't
rinse it out. |
|
Inner Classes |
|
|
An IC is local to another class or block and has direct access to those
local
variables and methods. It must be final. |
|
|
Use ICs instead of functions for callbacks and to keep packages tidy.
|
|
Reflection |
|
|
Provides the ability for a program to reason about itself and is usually
in the
purview of the compiler. |
|
|
In 1.1, can use Reflection for methods, constructors, as well as classes.
|
|
|
Can invoke any Java name symbolically. |
|
|
Can ask questions regarding structure, fields, and supertypes on live
objects. |
|
When to use JNI, when to use Reflection |
|
|
Prefer to use Reflection instead of JNI, if possible. |
|
|
To connect to C code, use JNI. |
|
|
To stay 100% Pure, use Reflection. |
|
|
To use outside symbolics which are thrown to the code, use Reflection.
|
|
|
Method pointers in JNI are used once and cached. |
|
|
Reflection stuff is garbage collected. |
The Keynotes, the sessions' slides, some source code,
and recorded WebCasts can be seen or downloaded from the JavaOne
'97 web site. You will need a RealAudio
3.x player to here the WebCasts.
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The Exhibition Floor
There were so many vendors with interesting products that you could have
spent the entire 3 days just here and probably still not see them all.
One thing I was sorry to notice here was that there were very few promotional
items. You know, the lucite pyramids, squeeze balls, slinkys, and such.
A few vendors had pens and buttons and cups. JavaWorld had my favorite
pen - it is flat! and can also be used as a bookmark. Now that was innovative.
I talked with many of the vendors while at the show. 136 exhibitors were
listed in the conference syllabus but some reports have the number closer
to 300! It is interesting to see all the products that have already been
developed in Java and for Java. And it is quite enticing to hear of what
is planned for the future. Some of these vendors agreed to let our conversations
be published here for your benefit. Among these were Visix (development
environment), Finjan (security software), O'Reilly & Associates (publishers),
and Schlumberger (Smart Cards). The conversations we had can be found at
the following links:
| |
Visix |
High-end evelopment environment |
| |
Finjan |
Security Software |
| |
Schlumberger |
Smart Cards |
| |
O'Reilly |
Publisher; home of the Java in a Nutshell book |
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Receptions and Other Fun Stuff
And as last
year, there were numerous receptions and parties. Some were sponsored by
the conference and some were sponsored by vendors. At these events, one
can meet many people and learn a great deal in addition to having alot
of fun and great food. As you were cruising around the floor, or rushing
from a session to an interview or a BOF, you could stop at one of the coffee
kiosks for a real latte or cappacino. And of course, periodically Duke
was there "in person" being its friendly self. Amenities such
as convenient "coat check" areas (a place to store your bags
and paraphenalia) and continental breakfasts (bagels, muffins, and abundant
fruit) were not forgotten. The coffee provided in the big urns was better
than last year too. I definitely appreciated the coffee kiosk remaining
open late Friday evening in the Hacker's Lounge.
In those brief
moments between scheduled activities, the Hacker's Lounge offered about
80 computers where you could check your email, surf the web, or try out
the Views. Those computers were constantly busy - 80 just weren't enough.
While waiting you could lounge on the comfortable setees or play games
(e.g. interactive TV). Nearby was the JavaStore with the shirts and jackets
and bags and cups. One of the new items this year was a stuffed Duke for
$15.
Members of
Java User's Groups got an extra event on Tuesday afternoon. We were given
a bag of goodies including a Duke comic book, a Java cup (nicely boxed),
a frisbee, a round mousepad (from CBT, Java training), and 3 CD's (Java
Workshop, Java Reel - one year of JavaWorld on CD, and CBT Overview). The
food was really good small sandwiches, soft hot pretzels, and large! cookies.
At this event, Netscape announced that Communicator 4.0 would support JDK
1.1 except for the AWT Enhancements and JavaBeans. They also talked about
their new granular security concept and the JAR Packager. Among the other
presenters, Kalamar (VisualJS) talked about building crossware applications
(drag-n-drop client or server components; CORBA aware), and JavaWorld gave
a Year-In-Review.
Later Tuesday
evening was the official conference Welcome Reception held at the San
Francisco Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). We were treated to food, food,
and more food - all of it presented by tuxedoed servers in artistic gourmet
buffet style - and all of it great. I especially liked the iced tower of
shrimp. MOMA was full to the brim of people destined to become part of
Java's history at JavaTwo (I mean, JavaOne '97). The networking had begun.
Wednesday
evening, Sybase gave a reception at
the Brookings Gallery where they gave the presentation of their
product Jaguar CTS (Component Transaction Server). After the presentation,
you received a small stuffed jaguar and munched on nicely presented finger
foods in the jungle atmosphere. Jaguar's scalable execution environment
supports Java/JavaBeans, C/C++, CORBA, and yes, ActiveX. A beta is now
available. Other Sybase offerings include jConnect providing native Java
database connectivity, a partnershop with Visigenic which enable ORBs to
run in Jaguar, NetOLTP a component transactions server for transactions
over a net (inter-, intra-, or extranet), and JATO a RAD tool. Also noteworthy
is that Marimba and Sybase have formed
a "strategic alliance to cooperatively market and sell a complete
solution for developing and deploying Java-based business applications
over the Inernet."
From there,
if you walked fast, you could fit in a BOF before the Party on the Floor
at the Hacker's Lounge area.
Java Fest
'97 (the street party) capped off Wednesday's special events. For this
they actually closed down one block of Howard street in San Francisco
(unbelievable!) so we could party in the street. It was jammed - really JAMMED shoulder to shoulder - with JavaOne people
for several hours. Even though the cooks were cooking as fast as they could,
the lines were fairly long at the different food booths (hot dogs, hamburgers,
chicken-on-a-stick, tacos, ...). Still, everyone got plenty to eat and
drink plus a T-shirt or two (it was here that folks picked up the now famous
Gates T-shirt: "In a World Without Fences, Who Needs Gates" (not
that we're bashing but it is a famous T-shirt)).
Thursday evening,
after the sessions, JavaWorld gave
a reception at the Cyberworld Cafe. Again, good food and drink abounded
along with networking and just a generally good time. The walk to the Cyberworld
Cafe was a long one, though, especially considering the fact that you had
just been walking all day around the conference!
And then Thursday
night, was the incredible gathering Fort Mason. You have to just
take a deep breath and plunge in. This one is pure entertainment of the
first order. The theme this year was Portal to the Millennium. It
was held in two buildings each with distinct regions such as the
Rainforest, Rio de Janeiro, Clubland San Francisco, and the FunDome. Three
or four bands provided great music (jazz, rock, dance). The food was much
more varied and just better this year than last and there was no danger
of you becoming dehydrated with all the beverages readily available. Among
the games were the gyroscope, virtual reality, the trampoline, the maze
race, and super volleyball/basketball (the balls were about 5 feet diameter
and the "hoop" was about 20 feet high). And the stilt walkers
were there, this year costumed as what might be called butterfly/angels.
Instead of the talking robot of last year, there were rollerskaters dressed
in fantastical costume. This event is truely one of the highlights of the
special events that you must experience to believe.
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Closing Comment
This once-a-year
event is one you have to attend to fully appreciate. And that is putting
it mildly! Make your plans now to come to San Francisco next spring
and see for yourself. Be sure to bring good walking shoes and just plan
to get very little sleep. You will leave saturated with information about
Java and all its related aspects. One thing is sure: it is definitely exciting!
The trend is clear. Java will be everywhere.
The magazine
SunWorld recently released
an announcement giving notice that a "How
It All Began" article has been revived via a
link on JavaSoft's website to SunWorld's archive. It has received a
great deal of attention. As they say, it covers:
What were the creators' expectations? Did they underestimate Java's
impact? What were "Green," "Aspen," "*7,"
and "Oak?" The story also offers a detailed timeline of Java's
development starting with a "Project Stealth" brainstorming session
with Gosling, Bill Joy, Andy Bechtolsheim, and others.
This is definitely a must-read for all who are interested in Java and
the Java culture.
Go
To Top
All links listed in this
article.
