Getting my Head Around the Java

So admittedly, I know almost nothing about Java (and the workings of Sun Microsystems for that matter), and didn’t feel lacking in this knowledge, ever, until now. However, since the core - the root, the crux - of what Elastic Path does and makes, depends on Java (and yes, my livelihood is tied to Elastic Path), I am poking around the blog-o-sphere to find out what makes Java important, or special, or just tasty (ooops wrong java … but note: Turk’s West Cafe Milano across the way is very tasty).

First off, Java is a programming language (you knew that) developed by Sun Microsystems. James Gosling (Sun technical article/interview - Business Week interview) is the “Father” of Java as it were.

I imagine white hallways with flickering fluorescent lights with tousled haired programmers geeking out ’til wee hours in some Californian technology business park coming up with a language to express what Sun founder Scott McNealy (in wikipedia, Info World interview) meant when he said, “the network is the computer.”

How they came up with the Java programming language from that phrase escapes me since I am still figuring out exactly what McNealy’s proclamation meant ;-). Really, he speaks of using many and/or specialized computers, distributed around a network, to perform tasks, resulting in increased efficiency (or leveraging specialists to reduce redundancy) - I think.

More after the break …

Anyhow, a couple of weeks ago, Scott stepped aside as CEO - speculations on why abound - and youngish wunderkind Johnathan Schwartz took the reins with much enthusiasm and promise of exciting times ahead. Exciting times for who? I am not totally sure but - following the money - it seems Sun makes hardware (which it sells), and Sun makes software which I am not sure how it sells (you download the technology for free right?).

Well, regardless of the vagrancies of business, this news must be noteworthy for the thousands of Java developers around the world.

Developers come is a couple different “flavors,” the two common sides of the fence are .Net-centric and Java-centric - this ignores PHP/Drupal aficionados (with no disrespect intended … just bear with me while I sort this out). .Net is Microsoft, hence proprietary but also has the integrability of working within the confines of the MS universe. I hear that the programming environment is more visually-based and flexible as long as you don’t want to change anything major.

Java is also proprietary but flirts with the (rather desirable) buzz of open source mojo. While rumors abound of Sun releases Java entirely to the open source “community,” this may limit their ability test and verify compliance to their “official” standards. Is this important? What is being made with Java which makes it critical? Who cares? I don’t care that much since I hardly ever seem to use Java in my daily web-adventures. Or do I?

Clearly I am not the audience who pays Sun’s bills specifically, but I think I know who cares. The “enterprises,” that’s who. “Enterprises” being large businesses with a collection of programmers assigned to making customized bits of software to make their businesses do things in a certain manner. In short: Make the program perform the process (in order to make a profit … but that’s another story).

As such, Java seems to be well-suited for making programs with specific requirements in complex environments. Like any choice, many folks will argue all day long (like technical sports fans), debating .Net’s vs. Java’s advantages, but in reality, there are really myriad ways to solve a problem, but either way, you’ve got to solve it correctly and hopefully, easily. While results are “what matters,” in business, I think that the more pleasant the journey, the more enjoyable the result - no pain to gain is fine by me.

Fill me in on what i’m missing.