Re: LYNX-DEV extension languages for Lynx

[David Combs]

> From address@hidden Thu Jan  8 12:29:21 1998
> Date: Thu, 8 Jan 1998 11:48:19 -0800 (PST)
> From: Matt Ackeret <address@hidden>
> 
> On Thu, 8 Jan 1998, David Combs wrote:
> >If we rewrite Lynx from scratch, lets at least
> >do it in JAVA (assuming that java will eventually
> >work on dos -- without "windows"-display stuff.
> 
> If you have some magical Java that runs on a UNIX system with a tty interface,
> great.


Look, guys, Java does NOT have to be "magical" to run
in a tty interface -- instead, you have to GO OUT OF YOUR WAY
to make it work in a MOUSE / pop-up-window, etc interface!


It works JUST DANDY in a tty interface!

Explanation: you can write TWO kinds of "programs" in
java:

"applications", and "applets".

1: applet: an applet HAS to be run from a web browser; you
can invoke it ONLY from an HTML file.

Also, ALL the security stuff (can't write to local disk, etc),
applies ONLY to "applets".

2: "application": Just like a c or c++ or pascal or whatever
program; you can do anything you want; there are NO "security"
concerns when via "applications".

Does an application work in a tty interface.  Of course!  And you have
your debug statements via typeouts, just as in C or in any
other normal language.  You compile it by saying "javac foo.java",
and run the result by saying "java foo" -- it is BY DEFAULT
line mode (well, by default there is NO i/o until you use a
class that does it).

I just lifted this out of my emacs shell buffer: 

179 ===> cat HelloWorld.java 
public class HelloWorld {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
     System.out.println("Hello World");
  }
}
180 ===> java HelloWorld
Hello World
181 ===> 


Java is really just a HUGE improvement on C++,
with a whole lot of stuff built-in, including (most
important of all) "full true garbage collection".

The syntax is BASED on C++ -- so most of us will
have no problem learning it.  And, it is MUCH simpler
than C++.

It is simply a better language, with people claiming
anywhere  from 3 to 10 times more productivity with
it (stronger typing, no worry about memory leaks,
far more stuff built in (thus, ALL java users using the
SAME libraries, calls, etc, rather than as with C++
where some use this package, others use that one,
others some third one, .....)).

Built-in stuff includes all the mouse-window-etc stuff,
INTERNET CONNECTIVITY, etc, just a jillion things.


WHY "built into the language"?  So Sun and Ibm can
avoid interference from M$, that's why.  If it is built
into the language, and M$ wants to claim it has "java" (tm),
then M$ absolutely MUST provide ALL of that built-in
stuff "AS IS".  So that is why, and is why you will
be seeing MORE stuff being built in.

Anyway, if anyone is suggesting the gargantuan effort
of rewriting Lynx from scratch, Java is the only
reasonable way to go.  Will make it FAR easier to
get MORE of us into hacking it without worrying about
destroying the whole thing, what with its
runtime-binding of one "class" versus another.

Just my two bits -- but I truly believe that
a total rewrite in anything OTHER than java would be
a BIG mistake that we would all regret for years to come.

By the way, sun "claims" that when its java "JIT" (just
in time, ie lazy) native-code-generators comes out
in 6 months or so (?), java will be AS fast as
C++.  Well, I don't believe that, but 70% would be
fast enough!