aJile Systems has announced a new 100% J2ME PDA that runs Java bytecode natively in hardware. It also has wireless connectivity, mp3 support, a thumb board, and other fun stuff. Read the story and more technical details at InfoSync and check also a hi-res picture of the prototype device.
Java-Bytecode-in-Hardware in aJile’s New PDA
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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I haven’t read “people clamoring for faster handheld Java and willing to switch platforms to get it”. And it would be a surprise for people to buy new hardware and give up all their old apps just for a bit of that ever-so-elusive and oxymoronic “Java performance”.
If the platform were open source, it might be interesting.
The whole point of Java, though is to force people to upgrade their general purpose CPU’s. That’s why it is so slow and why it barely improves in speed even when you massively improve your processor horsepower. It is Sun’s version of the Windows MIPS-killer.
One better hope these guys get bought by Sun or some other Java-fanboy company.
#m
It means the processor could do Java? Besides, it isn’t like there are plenty of J2EE apps out there, what’s the point?
There was a move a while back to build processors that natively execute Java bytecode. It is not too dissimilar from the processors that were built to natively execute Forth. These guys have a little processor that speaks Java.
Sun has its own effort, MAJC, that is supposed to natively execute Java.
I would not expect the handheld to run J2EE 😉 There’s not enough RAM on the device to hold even some of the smallest parts of the J2EE framework. J2ME… Java2 “Micro Edition”
#m
Did a kindergarten child design that GUI? And no I don’t want to hear the ‘but it’s designed for high contrast on low-powered screens’ excuse.
Reminds me of the Java settopbox games I always see at NAB. Not visually pleasing, and always behind the mainstream, which in this case, is a WinCE handheld (sorry to say). Also, the buttons look poorly silkscreened. I bet that silver wears off in a few months of use. Last complaint – a MMC slot but no CF? Was this device designed by kindergarten children too?
Two thumbs down.
PocketCosmo blows this one away, and its made by a company that traditionally specializes in making kitchen utensils, for crying out loud.
I’ve talked extensivley with a few people who have been using the aJile processors for a while and they tell me they absoutley fly.
I’ve used the Dallas Semi Tini product (http://www.ibutton.com/tini/) for about 3 years now and for a lot of operations there is a real performance hurdle in implementing a JVM in a 8-bit micro. Even if 32 bit micros are used, the JVM still takes a lot of overhead.
Putting the few key features like garbage collection systems, certain memory allocation/access function etc.. into hardaware or hardcoded rom allows you to still have what is esentially a microcontroller but be able to drive decent performace out of runing Java ByteCode.
This has the great benefit of being able to use the same classes etc.. on all processing devices without having to have full blown processors.
Very good stuff.
Who needs a PDA to play mp3s ?
When I 1st used Java on Windows, I used the Supercede compiler, I was pleasantly surprised to find that since it was really a simple C++ compiler with a hastily added Java lang frontend that always compiled to simple native x86 code, its C++ & Java performance was similar & fast provided that I didn’t use new & the class libs.
As my Java programs used more & more of the Java libs, they grew slooower. But if I had done the same with C++, that is used a garbage collecting C++ kit as big as the Java kit, I would expect the same trouble.
So Java as a language with sparse & efficient use of GC is fast but any significant use of the libs or slack use of GC makes it slow. But to not do so begs the question, why use Java if you do not take advantage of the GC+libs. Perhaps when the language is directly supported by a Java enabled cpu, the remaining advantage for simple Java is the tiny code size for small foot print PDAs etc. But the kind of apps that would appear on such a thing should be easy enough to write without getting into too deep water.
ok, can you please stop the “Java is slow” FUD. this is not Slashdot. I write java for a living and I have never written an app that was slow enough to notice. it all depends on how you write the code. if the java app is slow, blame the programmers, not the language
I saw a benchmark in which java beat vc++,
it was slower on the other bench marks though. Optimized java is only slightly slower than optimized C++.
I don’t agree with Java being not slow. I think any Swing app is noticable slow compared to a native windows app, at least on my PIII 450.
Lagging menus and slow redrawing are very noticable.
I’m a Java programmer too at the moment and I really like it. Swing on the other hand…
Can we please stop using the word ‘FUD’ all the time, please? It’s almost as overused as ‘troll’ and it gets really annoying.
don’t use swing.
3 options:
1) use AWT
2) use jdk 1.4 swing, the optimized one
3) use SWT http://www.eclipse.org
Hmmm, Yes it is!
Fugly! even
I think you’ve hit the peceived problem on the head; Swing.
Most of the people that complain about Java’s slowness are stuck on the desktop (and in the past) or don’t know how to program threads and lock up their UI through poor design; then impute the problem to Java instead of their own lack of programming skill.
Swing is a little large, but there’s no law against writing your own AWT controls. Besides, 1.4’s Swing library is a large improvement over older versions of Swing. I don’t have any qualms with it.
I’ll wager that most people here have not seen or used a Swing based application compiled on the 1.4 SDK or the new beta. I think most people heard Java was slow back in the 90s and never bothered to follow its progress. Anyway, Swing and desktop apps is such a small part of what Java can do; it’s a pity people don’t expand their horizons a bit.
Oh well, the less Java programmers there are, the more opportunities for me.
When i said java, i was referring to java and not swing. Swing is brutally slow. I do not notice any difference on my P200 between 1.3 and 1.4 when using swing. I hope that’s not the case with faster computers.
Swing aside, java is quite fast.
>the more opportunities for me.
and more job security for both of us
What kind of koolaid do you guys drink?
Name one Java app that is as fast (or faster as Java is sooooo fast) than its C/C++ native counterpart.
I’ve run the 1.4 Swing demos on my Dual 1Ghz 1GB RAM machine and Swing is very slow compared to native Windows code. If I had a choice, I’d always run a native application vs. one written in Java.
Outside of user interface code, Java is still slow. Forcing all memory management to the heap doesn’t speed things up, ya know. There is tremendous lag or latency in much Java code, especially as most Java programmers use exceptions for everything under the sun.
Having a 32MB+ bloated sack of bytecode crap floating around in memory doesn’t speed things up either. Some code has to spelunk through all the stuff — whatever the hell it is –that is loaded when you run any reasonably sized Java application. This is with the latest Sun 1.4JRE.
If I’m going to have a giant runtime, why wouldn’t I use .NET instead of Java? It at least gives me native GUI.
#m
Michael, please stop bashing Java. Go and download JRE 1.4.1b, and enjoy the hardware acceleration. If you do not like SWING, use AWT, ot SWT. Especially with SWT (from IBM check http://www.eclipse.org, download it, and run it.), which uses native GUI, it is impossible to differentiate Java Programs and Native applications.
Why wouln’t you use .NET? Easy dear:
It is not cross platform, and never will be. WinForms is not submitted to the Ecma. So as ADO.NET, and enterprise services part of .NET, which contains very important services, such as transactions. Mono cannot implement WinForms, as it is illegal, since MS has the patents. Icaza even says that they will not implement it.
Java is cross platform, and it works. You are looking for a good and fast Java application? Follow this link and check out Autodesk’s latest JAVA based 3D architectural planning product, like Autodesk:
http://java.sun.com/products/jfc/tsc/sightings/S09.html
Don’t forget to check out other products, and stop spreading FUD.
I just finished running the demo for the JETSWT file browser.
Okay, it is definitely speedier than Swing and speedier than most Java I’ve seen.
But it still has paint bugs.
On a simple file viewer dialog, it paints the screen two to three times after clicking on a directory with a lot of file names in it.
Windows file explorer paints the screen once.
Other than giant footprint and sluggishness, hyperactive repaint has been the other big Java GUI bugaboo. So JETSWT is better, but the repaints still need fixing.
#m
Croano:
Thanks for the links, I haven’t really played much with Java since 1.2 & VCafe4. Can you name any apps that use SWT?
Seems Java is finally losing some of the religious rules that Sun imposed on it that must have held it back some ie SWT looks like JDirect but without the MS entrapment. Perhaps I can revisit my CAD app that died on bad Offscreen bitmap performance for 2kx2k renders.
Finally with broadband, I can now grab loads of stuff from IBM, Eclipse, Sun sites. Anybody else?
What is the state of GCJ on Windows?
SWT is quite new. Eclipse, as a start is using SWT. All the Eclipse Plug-ins (Unbelievably there are more than 100 already) are using SWT. Check out the following site to look for the plug-ins. There is incredible support for Eclipse from both commercial world (Fujiitsu, HP, Rational, TogetherSoft, etc.) and open source world. It will be de-facto IDE standard of future for sure:
http://eclipse-plugins.2y.net/eclipse/index.jsp
Check out the following site for different Java to Native compiler options:
http://www.geocities.com/marcoschmidt.geo/jcomp.html#native
GCJ is getting better and better every day. They just released a new version GCJ 3.1.1 just 3 days ago! : ) Check to link to see release details:
http://gcc.gnu.org/gcc-3.1/changes.html
There is a Java to native compiler called excelsior-jet. It simply ROCKS! It compiles Java applications to native Windows executables, for the programs which really need speed, like client-side applications. They already had a fantastic SWING to native windows compiler, they released a version of their native compiler which works also with SWT. Check it out here:
http://www.excelsior-usa.com/jetswt.html
ALSO, the totally open source JVM implementation called KAWA was quite dead for a long time, nowadays, it is active again, and many new activities are happening there. So, I think it will be a good open source JVM in the future.
Well, not gcc of course, you are asking about gcj. Sorry,I am kinda tired today. : )
Well, honestly, I do not know the status of Gcj on windows, since I am using the other tool, Excelsior. But it seems like the guys are working on it like ants. Quite an activity going on:
http://gcc.gnu.org/java/index.html
Sorry again.
One of the contributing factors for me switching from Mac to Win quite a few yrs ago was the awefull Roaster env & that Apple remained so far behind on Java as well as all the usual crash issues.
On the Windows side there were quite a few Java tools, since I insisted on native compiles, that left SuperCede & VCafe. I believe Supercede as buggy & crappy as it was was acquired by one of the tier one vendors selling x$K compilers (Excelsior?) and then to my dismay Symantec lost interest in Java & sold to WebGain.
Seemed like Java vendors were either free or becoming very expensive (justified perhaps by the dot com bubble). Also Java as a simple language got swamped by literally dozens of APIs I had 0 interest in and was heading off to where it is today.
I still get the impression that native compile for Java is off the beaten track & taboo at Sun,Borland, but not so at IBM. Anyway what is the current scene of vendors either free or budget?
What kind of koolaid do you guys drink?
Well, it’s obvious that you haven’t even used Java for a long time (based on your last post as of my writing this one). Why don’t you actually try it before bashing it.
I’ve run the 1.4 Swing demos on my Dual 1Ghz 1GB RAM machine and Swing is very slow compared to native Windows code.
Then your machine has a problem. I am running the Swing demos right now and they are just fine. I’m also running several Java 3D games, which are also running pleasantly fast.
If I had a choice, I’d always run a native application vs. one written in Java.
To each his own. If I had a choice, I would be running Linux. Good thing I have a choice.
Outside of user interface code, Java is still slow.
No it isn’t.
…especially as most Java programmers use exceptions for everything under the sun.
Most C++ programmer’s use exceptions for everything under the sun as well; and asserts, and if statements… It’s called error handling. If you’re not doing it your programs probably suck.
If I’m going to have a giant runtime, why wouldn’t I use .NET instead of Java? It at least gives me native GUI.
Because .NET isn’t cross platform, because .NET is a convoluted sputum ball of many technologies bundled into a nice marketing sack, because .NET’s documentation leaves a lot to be desired (sure there’s a lot of it, but try to find anything), because it takes a lot longer to do web apps with .NET and they are harder to maintain, and I’m currently stuck using IIS as a web server; just to name a few.
If I’m writing a Windows only desktop apps, sure, C# is a great language to do that on, but the Windows desktop is the only place it really shines.
Windows file explorer paints the screen once.
You’ve obviously not running Windows XP Windows Explorer with its, “repaint the tree view every damn second or two”, functionality.
Anyway, it’s is more than apparent that you don’t know much about Java, so please spare those of us who do your negative posts.
Sorry to be curt, I’m tired. I’ll be better in the morning. Goodnight.
As long as it’s factual negativity.
I use Windows XP quite a few hours every day. And Windows 2000. Out of the two, I prefer Windows XP because of ClearType. If XP didn’t have ClearType, Windows 2000 would be my favorite — disk i/o is quite fast compared to XP.
There is no Java office that compares to Microsoft Office. Every company that has tried to make a Java office has tanked. I understand it is a human thing… to be afraid of change… but Java’s not the thing for desktop apps. Take C++, dumb it down, add better object meta data, bulk up the runtime, interpret it… doesn’t make for a good client platform.
Name one TOP SELLING application written in Java.
As for Windows, XP doesn’t paint the screen too badly. Yes, worse than Windows 2000. But it doesn’t paint the screen more than once when you click on a directory.
It’s fine that you stick with your income-producing language. But let us confuse “it puts bread on my table” with “it is a technically excellent language”.
#m