Many people complain that Java is far too slow to use in most applications that are traditionally written with C/C++. Well, this is probably never going to change unless Java allows itself to be completely compiled instead of bytecode, but IBM is trying to make the state that Java's in better. Now, IBM has released a Java 6 SDK that has increased performance over Sun's Java SDK.
It's amazing what open source can work. Although the idea of it making money seems ridiculous, just look at some of the more-successful applications created with this. Mozilla Firefox for example, has brought in billions of dollars. And so Java will likely do so, even though it's free.
This new version of the Java SDK from IBM includes data sharing between virtual machines, which in theory reduces the amount of memory needed because applications can share the data. Revamped documentation will allow users to get better information.
Quoting from IBM's website, here are the platforms supported:
- Linux® on x86
- Linux® on PowerPC® 32-bit
- Linux® on PowerPC® 64-bit
- Linux® on AMD64/EM64T
- IBM AIX® on PowerPC 32-bit
- IBM AIX® on PowerPC 64-bit
I wonder why Windows and Mac aren't listed ;).
Java is getting better day by day. Maybe someday I'll actually start using it, but I'm certainly very interested. I'm hopeful that a compiler that compiles Java into machine code will be created eventually, which shouldn't be too hard, given that fact that Java is open-source.
Way to go, Sun!