Re: EGL, Java and PHP

["Dr. Syd Nicholson" <sydnic@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Thorbjoern

No obfuscation. Straight forward Java Classes.

Initial analysis indicated that there was a problem somewhere in the 
storage of data. Not sure exactly where the problem was. The software 
worked on some versions of OS/400 and not others. It depended on release 
level and also PTF level. I didn't waste time trying to find out why and 
create different versions, that wasn't worth the effort. The quickest 
approach was to eliminate the Java.

Syd


Thorbjoern Ravn Andersen wrote:
> Dr. Syd Nicholson skrev:
>   
> > Difficult to be specific, most problems occurred a number of years ago. 
> > Recent problems happened in two products of mine.
> >
> > 1. A back up product that used the Java zip class to compress savefiles 
> > into files in the IFS. It is about 7 years old. A recent Java update has 
> > caused this to fail. I still need to fix this, probably with the 'tar' 
> > process.
> >
> >   
> >     
> Ah, a _product_.   My guess would be that this particular product has 
> been obfuscated, and that one or more of the obfuscation tricks does not 
> work with the stricter Java Byte Code Validator which came around some 
> versions ago.  I have seen code fail due to that.
>
> If that is so, then the blame does not as such go to Sun but to the 
> company doing the obfuscator.
>
>
>   
> > 2. I have a product called Fortress/400. A system i security product. 
> > This maintained a cache of objects in memory to avoid excessive 
> > repetitive I/O and to avoid the requirement for files to be permanently 
> > open. Somewhere a Java update caused this to fail ( a hash table problem 
> > I think). To avoid creating different versions for different customers 
> > on different i5/OS releases and PTF levels I removed all Java. The cache 
> > was replaced by a series of user spaces, user indexes, and RPG service 
> > programs. This is more reliable and faster.
> >
> >   
> >     
> A rather radical measure, but probably worth it.
>
> I'm a bit puzzled.  Caches are common and HashTables are VERY common in 
> Java.  Could IBM really ship a Java version where  hash tables were broken?
>
>
>
>
>   
> > In problem 2. above, I originally used Java because it was easier and 
> > had a shorter development time. In hindsight perhaps I should have 
> > stayed with RPG.
> >
> >   
> >     
> Well, you always throw a prototype away anyway.  Good you wrote it in an 
> easier language with a shorter development time :)
>
>   
> > I agree that Java is good language when one gets to know it, and can be 
> > quite productive. It is the unreliability over the long term I have 
> > issues with. I find it quite disconcerting that software I created that 
> > has worked flawlessly for several years, suddenly fails for some 
> > unexpected reason over which I have no control.
> >   
> >     
> Well, that happens to everybody.  Just see what happened with V6R1 where 
> old programs that has worked for thousands of years, suddenly do not 
> work anymore and for reasons out of your control.   Just hope you still 
> have the source :)
>
>