| TECHNICAL ENGLISH II No.9 | June 6,2002 |
The Text
Perhaps the microprocessor revolution's most important contribution to date is that it made possible the development of personal computers, which now number in the hundreds of millions worldwide. Personal computers have had a profound impact on people and the way organizations conduct and manage their business.
Many people believe that the next major area in which microprocessors will have a profound impact is in intelligent consumer-electronic devices. Recognizing this, Sun Microsystems funded an internal corporate research project code-named Green in 1991.
The project resulted in the development of a C and C++ based language that its creator, James Gosling, called Oak after an oak tree outside his window at Sun. It was later discovered that there already was a computer language called Oak. When a group of Sun people visited a local coffee place, the name Java was suggested, and it stuck.
The Green project ran into some difficulties. The marketplace for intelligent consumer-electronic devices was not developing as quickly as Sun had anticipated. Worse yet, a major contract for which Sun competed was awarded to another company. So the project was in danger of being canceled. By sheer good fortune, the World Wide Web exploded in popularity in 1993, and Sun people saw the immediate potential of using Java to create Web pages with so-called dynamic content. This breathed new life into the project. Sun formally announced Java at a major conference in May 1995. Ordinarily, an event like this would not have generated much attention. However, Java generated immediate interest in the business community because of the phenomenal interest in the World Wide Web. Java is now used to create Web pages with dynamic and interactive content, to develop large-scale enterprise applications, to enhance the functionality of World Wide Web servers (the computers that provided the content we see in our Web browsers), to provide applications for consumer devices (such as cell phones, pagers and personal digital assistants) and for many other purposes.
Java Class Libraries
Java programs consist of pieces called classes. Classes consist of pieces called methods that perform tasks and return information when they complete their tasks. You can program each piece you may need to form a Java program. However, most Java programmers take advantage of rich collections of existing classes in Java class Libraries. The class libraries are also known as the Java APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). Thus, there are really two pieces to learning the Java "world." The first is learning the Java language itself so that you can program your own classes; the second is learning how to use the classes in the extensive Java class libraries.
Class libraries are provided primarily by compiler vendors, but many class libraries are supplied by independent software vendors (ISVs). Also, many class libraries are available from the Internet and World Wide Web as freeware or shareware. You can download freeware products and use them for free subject to any restrictions specified by the copyright owner. You also can download shareware products for free, so you can try the software.
Shareware products often are free of change for personal use. However, for shareware products that you use regularly or use for commercial purposes, you are expected to pay a fee designated by the copyright owner.
Many freeware and shareware products are also open source. The source code for open-source products is freely available on the Internet, which enables you to learn from the source code, validate that the code serves its stated purpose and even modify the code.
Often, open-source products require that you publish any enhancements you make so the open-source community can continue to evolve those products. One example of a popular open-source product is the Linux operating system.
REVIEW QUESTION
1) Fill in the Blanks in each of the following sentence about the Java environment:
a) The old name of Java is __________ .
b) Java is developed and owned by __________ .
c) World Wide Web exploded in popularity in 1993, and Java was used to create ______________________________ .
d) Java programs consist of pieces called __________ .
e) The _____________________ are also known as the Java APIs (Application Programming Interfaces).
f) Class libraries are provided by compiler vendors, but many class libraries are supplied by _________________________________________ .
g) The source code for __________ products is freely available on the Internet.
2) Categorize each of the following items as either hardware or software:
a) CPU
b) Java compiler
c) ALU
d) Java interpreter
e) Input Unit
f) Editor
3) Find the correct answer in the Java literature and fill the blanks.
a) The __________ command from the Java 2 Software Development Kit (SDK) executes a Java applet.
b) The __________ command from the Java 2 SDK executes a Java application.
c) The __________ command from the Java 2 SDK compiles a Java program.
d) A Java program file must end with the __________ file extension.
e) When a Java program is compiled, the file produced by the compiler ends with the __________ file extension.
f) The file produced by the Java compiler contains __________ that are interpreted to execute a Java applet or application.
g) __________ allows an applet or application to perform multiple activities in parallel.
h) The __________ GUI components are written completely in Java.
i) Lists and tables of values are called __________ in Java programming.