The JNode team announced the release of version 0.2.4 of the JNode.org operating system. JNode.org is an open source Java OS written in Java (with a very small assembler nano-kernel). This release features the first possibility of basic development under JNode. Screenshots are available, new features and improvements in this release listed are listed in the changelog.
Can’t say I agree with the choice of Java as the language, although the screenshots look pretty interesting.
Just out of curiosity, why?
It’s not what I would call flexible and is pretty dumbed-down. Actually, that was a main goal of the language, for better or for worse.
Sorry, but that’s not correct. Taken from the wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_programming_language#Philosophy
(the Wikipedia information is actually pretty good on Java…):
There were five primary goals in the creation of the Java language:
1. It should use the object-oriented programming methodology.
2. It should allow the same program to be executed on multiple operating systems.
3. It should contain built-in support for using computer networks.
4. It should be designed to execute code from remote sources securely.
5. It should be easy to use by selecting what was considered the good parts of other object-oriented languages.
There is more information in the wikipedia page following what I pasted if you’d like to read up further on Java’s intended purpose, as well as the underlying mechanisms it uses to achieve it’s goals.
Don’t spread misinformation, please.
Java is a wonderful language, of course with flaws, but it has improved tremendously especially in the past few revisions (Java 5 and now 6) – and has addressed MANY of the common complaints as of 6. Java on the desktop has a chance, Java in the enterprise is already huge. They got burned on the desktop because Sun didn’t put their effort there for some time (dedicated to enterprise, Sun’s bread and butter) but lately they have been listening to user/dev feedback, and are putting a lot of energy/resources into the Desktop side of Java, and it really shows.
It might not have been a goal, but it certainly was a requirement. Why do you think Java’s type system is so restrictive? It doesn’t even have any notion of closures or anonymous functions (the closest thing being anonymous classes). It has gotten better since the beginning, but the fact that it only (relatively) recently stopped using containers of Objects certainly isn’t reassuring.
I believe the creator is credited to saying he managed to drag it half-way to lisp; tell me, if it wasn’t meant to be dumbed down, why didn’t he just go all the way?
Edited 2006-10-08 01:04
Idealism and reality are two different beasts. Java started out as an idealistic language, but (especially in the past few years) has begun to synchronize with reality.
I know this is a cryptic response, but I also know you are intelligent enough to decipher it and take from it the answer your seek.
It also explains why Java has a chance at making up lost ground in the desktop space. There are a lot of enterprise application developers out there with a lot of knowledge, who have been fence-sitting to see where Sun/Java will go in the future. There is now a clear glimpse (Java 6) showing, and those fence-sitters are now starting to churn out desktop applications (sorry, no citation, my own thoughts) – I am one of them. Keep in mind, I am also a business owner, and my decisions are based on business logic/sense. That should say something to you.
As to your questions, I have no direct answers (as I am not the creator) – but I hope you can catch my underlying “drift”. I am not brand loyal, I am not company loyal (except to my own) – but I am quite aware of my surroundings, and Java is finally headed in the right direction. This is true of Sun, as well.
Cheers,
David
PS – Email me if you would like to continue a further intellectual conversation of business-sense. It would be too off-topic for this forum. I had to edit because there are no PMs here, but my email is or m a ndj ]at[ core n o de.com
Edited 2006-10-08 05:44
its looking good, i’m sure if they keep at it, it’ll bear some fruit soon.
Java is a very capable language, there no reason why not to use it, Java’s speed issues are largly a thing of the past and get less and less irreleavant with every new release of java.
Speed issues aren’t what I was referring to if that was in response to me.
I think the Ocean look and feel does Java a disservice. The changelog suggests that it’s possible to select different look and feels – I wish they’d select a one for their screenshots!
nope wasn’t refering to you just a generalisation.