Re[2]: What makes Java so special?

[Buck Calabro <mcalabro@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

[snip]

>> The Redbook on writing Java applications spends a lot of time describing
>> the Visual Age development environment and how to write applications
>> that use Data Queues, etc. on the AS/400. Since data queues are only
>> supported on the AS/400 how will these Java applications really be
>> platform independent? A Java application that is 100 percent Java on the
>> client but not on the server is of questionable value, I would think..
>
>Well, yes and no. 
>
>First, there are a couple of reasons for the Redbook to spend a lot of time
>on Data Queues, one being that it is a topic you are not likely to find
>covered elsewhere. Another reason that Rochester would like you to pay
>close attention to those areas is ... so that you'll need an AS/400!
>
>But this is not quite the same as platform dependance (it's just close)..
>The application you are writing will not need to run on an AS/400, it will
>just need one around to talk to. 
>
>What you are given is a way to talk to an AS/400 in a native fashion. If
>you have an AS/400 and you want to write to it's data queues, you can do
>that with Java. But you don't have to. What would be a big mistake is for
>IBM to NOT have a way to talk to AS/400s via data queues, as this is the
>fastest way to converse with your AS/400. 
>

Chris,
        This is more than a mere semantic difference.  This means that
I cannot transport my Java client to other platforms without re-work.  This
utterly defeats the much-touted "portability" gain.  
Why should a development house write a killer Java app twice?  Once 
for all the PC platforms and then again for the AS/400.  Clearly, the
PC market is way bigger than the AS/400 market for such software.  
Remember, we're not talking about Java for the AS/400, we're talking
about Java that runs on my Win95 PC.  If it uses DTAQ's to talk to the
AS/400, I'm not going to be able to pick it up and re-use it to talk to my 
Engineering division's Unix box unless I re-write the C/S 
communications over.  Did I overlook something?

Buck Calabro
Commsoft

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