Bringing up Java

Java will be big time-even if Microsoft hijacks it. In any event, the computer industry has no choice but to adjust to the inevitability of Java. However, Java and Java technologies like JavaBeans and IIOP (the Internet version of CORBA for Java) are still works in progress. They are half-roasted and inadequate for the task facing developers. When Java and its supporting technologies mature, the computing industry will have created an entirely new species-the Java platform, but the Darwinian forces at work in the software business may vector this evolution down the wrong path. Unless the industry makes a conscious effort to fix Java, everyone will be stuck with millions of lines of low-level hodgepodge. Our best hope is for the entire industry to evolve Java by making appropriate enhancements that will overcome its gross inadequacies and missing facilities. Unless we do, the Java platform won´t be safe for anyone. Thus, this article is a call-to-arms, a plea for help and a prescription for what to do about the “Java problem”