Fatal Exception's Neil McAllister sees recent experiments enabling a resurgence for JavaScript on the server, one likely to dent Java's role in the data center. 'Today, projects such as CommonJS and Node.js are extending JavaScript even further, allowing it to take on Java's traditional role in the data center. In a fascinating role reversal, JavaScript is becoming the versatile, powerful, all-purpose language for the Web, while Java risks becoming a kind of modern-day Cobol," McAllister writes. And though such experiments have a ways to go, the benefits of JavaScript as a server-side language are clear and striking.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Member since:2008-12-26
Member since:2009-07-16
Member since:2007-10-18
Member since:2005-07-06
IIRC Sun made a deal with Netscape (the "inventor" of JavaScript back in the day) to cross-license the "Java" trademark, since back then Java was marketed as the new hotness and they wanted some of that to rub off on them. (IIRC this was also part of a larger deal whereby various products were developed and sold jointly by Sun and Netscape under the moniker iPlanet, all of which IIRC is now completely owned by Oracle.) The fact that the syntax has a lot in common is just a bit of trivia that reduces the absurdity factor without actually eliminating it. 
Member since:2005-11-02
The story is long and boring.
Netscape wanted a scripting language for its browser. At the time netscape also had a good relationship with Sun and Java was the new industry buzzword. (Netscape was working on rewriting Navigator in Java at the time, if I recall correctly.) Originally Javascript was called StarScript, and before that had some codenames that I now forget. Netscape, or perhaps Sun, wanted a scripting language to bridge the gap between embedded Java applets in the browser and the rest of the page. So, the nominal purpose of Javascript was to "script" Java applets. Plus, you got all kinds of automatic buzz! Netscape got a deal from Sun wherein it could use the "Java" in the name, since they were buddies at the time, and so began the most confusing marketing mistake in language history (so much worse than Go).
Microsoft didn't have a deal with Sun for use of the Javascript name, so they called their similar scripting language JScript. I say "similar" out of kindness but in the beginning they were a lot less similar than you'd expect.
Eventually Netscape submitted Javascript to a standards group, in part to counter Microsoft's incompatible implementation which was serving to fracture browser scripting (Microsoft, remember, wanted you to write embedded vbscript!) and the standardized version was released as ECMAScript, a name so uncatchy it was guaranteed to be ignored by everybody.
In practice, today, everyone calls it Javascript but only Mozilla officially is allowed to call its interpreter Javascript. Everyone else makes ECMAScript-compatible interpreters which are called a lot of different things that everybody ignores.
Somebody else can chime in with the actually-correct netscape/sun/java/script stuff, but that's the gist.
Member since:2006-12-07
And, why do you think that developers would avoid Java ? Because Oracle prevents Google from developing their own VM ? Because of some open source principles ? Who cares ? JDK is free for download, many additions and development tools, too. Java is stable secure and easy to deploy. There are alternative (compliant) JDK's like IBM JDK, Apache Harmony, Iced Tea.....
There are loads of high quality client side GUI applications written in Swing and SWT.
How many applications have you ever sold to an enterprise customer ? I think it is somewhere around zero, right. Do you imagine that one can come with bunch of open source packages and start to build them with gcc on customers production server ? Forget it, normal people don't even have C/C++ compiler on production machine for security reasons. And what about Windows servers ? Are they supposed to run Visual Studio on production server ?
JS needs standard way of deployment on major HTTP servers, at least one like PHP, which comes packaged and prebuilt for Linux, Mac and Windows, Apache and IIS. Something that IT department of the customers company might install and deploy with confidence, and without possible interference with other applications and services on the production server.
Until those conditions are met, JS is toy for hobbyists. Or, maybe, for sort of things like yet another Wiki engine for nonprofits, who will invite you to the party, instead of paying you money. On such parties, you might meet someone and have sex, that's why such projects are called "sexy projects".
The third and final WWDC product I want to talk about is - of course - OS X 10.9 Mavericks. While iOS 7 was clearly the focus of this year's WWDC, its venerable desktop counterpart certainly wasn't left behind. Apple announced OS X 10.9 Mavericks, the first OS X release not to carry the name of a big cat.
We already talked about iOS 7 yesterday (after a night of sleep, it's only looking worse and worse - look at this, for Fiona's sake!), so now it's time to talk about the downright stunning and belly flutters-inducing new Mac Pro. As former owner and huge, huge, huge fan of the PowerMac G4 Cube - I haven't been this excited about an Apple product since, well, I would say the iMac G4. This is the Apple I used to love.
Apple held its big keynote event thing at WWDC earlier this evening, but since I was away with friends I've had to read up on it later in the evening. The company announced iOS 7, OS X 10.9 Mavericks, and they gave a preview of the new Mac Pro. Especially the Mac Pro impressed me, and while iOS 7's new Holo/Metro-inspired theme looks messy and garish to me, I do commend Apple for finally breaking the mold. This news item will focus on iOS 7 - I'll dive into the Mac Pro and OS X 10.9 tomorrow (it's late here now).
And yes, the PRISM scandal is far, far from over. More and more information keeps leaking out, and the more gets out, the worse it gets. The companies involved have sent out official statements - often by mouth of their CEOs - and what's interesting is that not only are these official statements eerily similar to each other, using the same terms clearly designed by lawyers, they also directly contradict new reports from The New York Times. So, who is lying?This story is getting bigger and bigger. Even though most Americans probably already knew, it is now official: the United States government, through its National Security Agency, is collecting the communications and data of all American citizens, and of non-Americans using American services, through a wide collaboration with the large companies in technology, like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and so on. Interestingly enough, the NSA itself, as well as the US government, have repeatedly and firmly denied this massive spying on Americans and non-Americans took place at all.Ah, patents - the never-ending scourge of the technology industry. Whether wielded by companies who don't actually make any products, or large corporations who abuse them because they can't compete in the market place or because they're simply jerks, they do the industry a huge disservice and are simply plain dangerous. According to The Wall Street Journal (circumvention link), president Obama is about to take several executive actions to address patent trolls - which may seem like a good idea, but I am very worried that all this will do is strengthen the positions of notorious patent system abusers such as Apple and Microsoft.
With version 13.05, the developers of the Genode OS Framework take measures to ensure that Genode continues to scale well with a growing number of users and the steadily broadening platform coverage. Further highlights are the improved SoC support for Exynos 5, OMAP4, Raspberry Pi, i.MX, and new components for realizing headless systems.At the D11 conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook once again took the stage to be interviewed by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. While most of the interview can be replicated by picking and reading 10 random Apple fanblog stories - there were still a number of very interesting things that warrant some closer scrutiny.
So, the Xbox One disaster continues. Microsoft's policy for dealing with the used games market has reportedly leaked - and it's a clear and direct attack to destroy the used games market. Prices for used games will be set at the retail value of a new game, and retailers have to hook into Microsoft's computer systems and comply with Microsoft's terms and conditions.At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!
Member since:
2005-11-10
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2007/07/the-principle-of-least-pow...
Java’s threat is not JavaScript, it’s Oracle and the big stink they are kicking up. People will avoid the language and new projects will begin to be made in JS and Java will eventually obsolete over the next decade; it will of course matter on where Oracle, and the community, take Java.
The inescapable truth is that client-side, Java is a complete failure. Developers would rather fight with a half-implemented language in half-implemented browsers doing all sorts of insane backflips (like GWT) *just* to save having to serve an <applet> to users.
And running the same code client side as server is a huuuuge boon which is really enticing to users.
Atwood’s Law could not possibly be more poignant. In the race to get everything running in a browser, the server too will pick up the ports too. Expect a flood of JS libraries for everything from encryption to video editing.