From e0c6872cf40896c7be36b11dcc744620f10adf1d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info>
Date: Mon, 2 Sep 2019 13:46:59 +0900
Subject: Initial commit

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+\title{Java, Java}
+\author{Malcolm Clark}
+%\newcommand\BV{Baskerville}
+%\newcommand{\url}{\texttt}
+%\newcommand{\TUB}{\textsc{Tug}boat}
+\begin{Article}
+%\section{Java}
+\noindent
+January 30th, Queen Elizabeth \acro{II} conference centre, just off
+Parliament Square,
+high security at the door, thousands of suits
+(so that's what happened to all those delayered \acro{IBM} guys),
+few women, even fewer
+pony-tails. We start 20 minutes late (surely not technical
+difficulties? no, it appears we're letting the late comers
+get through security and up to this floor). Dry ice in the hall,
+synchronised flashing lights (is this a disco, or an awards presentation?),
+sub-Star Wars music. The audience of a thousand are reverentially
+hushed except for the bleeping
+of personal telephones. The lights go down, the music up;
+Robert Young-Johns (one of Sun's \acro{VP}s)
+bounds onto the stage, wearing the Java uniform --
+a cute black shirt with all the right logos.
+Good move: they are clearly not suits, but  still projecting
+an `acceptable' corporate identity. He apologises for the
+hype: `Java will not cure all known ills', but appeals to
+our imagination, citing an examples from home banking (yawn),
+Dolly Parton and Jupiter.
+
+Sun now score a small point by managing to convince
+the Minister for Science and Technology (did you know we
+had one?), one Ian Taylor \acro{MP}, to start the conference off.
+Apart from an interesting political incorrectness (perhaps
+understandable, he is, after all a Tory minister), he was
+adequate. At least he seemed aware of the Internet, and
+he was also aware that the digital revolution needs to get
+out to rural areas too, citing the freeing up of radio
+spectra which could offer \acro{ISDN}-like data transfer rates.
+He was also looking forward to a future of smart cards
+and kiosks (and even interworking between government departments).
+He stayed for the next talk then strode off with his
+apparatchik hot on his heels.
+
+Bob Sproull next: this is more like it. This man is seriously
+worth listening to (Newman \& Sproull, Principles of
+Interactive Computer Graphics). We knock through a wave diagram
+(the waves are mainframes, minis, pc plus proper user interface, and
+the network: they are as much focus shifts as waves). The man
+says `paradigm'.\footnote{You can
+easily identify those who flowered in the 60s and 70s: they
+know how to say `paradigm', and aren't afraid to.} I like him.
+He tackles some of the worries: does the Internet  have stable funding?
+In his view it has more stable funding than some of the governments
+who once funded it. They could disappear tomorrow, but the Internet
+would still be there. What's wrong with the Web?
+He cites its lack of
+interactivity (sic), extensibility, and security, but lauds its
+`publish once, read anywhere' democratisation.
+What's the answer? Java of course. Java applets (little applications)
+can be downloaded and can provide the interactivity we long for.
+The interaction is at the client end, so we aren't shipping
+information backwards and forwards from client and server.
+Ah you say, I don't like the idea of downloading a program
+over the Internet to run on my machine; that's just asking for
+trouble. Obviously the Java team thought about this. What happens
+is that the applet runs on a Java virtual machine. You get your bit
+of code (platform independent) and the Java virtual machine interprets it.
+That way you can insist that the applet has access to only a very
+few facilities: it should `do no harm'. For example, applets cannot
+write to files on the client, and cannot access arbitrary bits of
+memory or files (your credit card details are safe). There's a bunch
+of other stuff to ensure that this is going to be secure, some
+bound in the structure of the programming language, and some
+in its operation. The Java language specification is, in normal
+Sun style, open: the specifications are published. They intend
+to offer `compatibility' tests and performance guidelines
+(claiming along the way that interpreted Java can be as fast
+as compiled C++). In this way they hope to avoid the Balkanisation
+that is Unix (his phrase). Later, I asked Sproull how confident he was
+that a similar `Balkanisation' would not dismember Java, wondering
+what would happen when Netscape or Microsoft decided to add their
+own extensions (think of \acro{HTML}, for example). He said he was optimistic
+rather than confident, but that there was clearly an advantage to
+a level of \textsl{de facto} standardisation brought about by
+a high level of interoperability, really hoping that
+the momentum was sufficient to prevent too much deviation.
+
+
+The history of Java is interesting: it was not envisaged as
+an Internet killer app, but as a way of controlling domestic
+appliances from toasters to \acro{VCR}s. Or maybe even your doorbell
+(if I go back to a talk I heard recently by Andy Hopper of Olivetti
+Research Laboratories). In passing you can begin to see why those potential
+4,294,967,296 \acro{IP} addresses start to look limiting. We don't need
+one for each individual on the planet: we need one for each connected
+device on the planet (or off the planet: no doubt Galileo could have
+had an \acro{IP} address, just as the Shuttles do). It was designed to be a
+language for embedded systems,  imposing the constraint that it
+had to be pretty compact. Sun have been maintaining
+that the network \textsl{is} the computer for some time. The network really is
+essential to the workings of this computing. Given its platform independence
+(or `neutrality', as the current term seems to be), Sproull could claim
+that we were moving to a `write once, run anywhere' range of apps.
+
+After coffee (I would have prefered to say `a steaming cup of Java',
+but no, imagination did not stretch to the caterers), Oliver Morton
+of \textsl{Wired} took the stand.
+
+This was a surprisingly erudite, literate and interesting
+talk. I hadn't really expected a journalist (even one at
+\textsl{Wired}) to be like this Pony-tail. He talked about something
+I understood -- the Cambrian period. His suggestion was that
+there is a parallel between evolution of lifeforms and evolution
+of programs. He suggested that it was back in the Cambrian when
+diversity exploded, and that we date biological variation
+from then. He suggested that the parallel `event' now is networking,
+which will lead to the same sort of explosion of riches and exploitation
+of `niches'. I don't really buy argument by analogy (a viewpoint
+which goes back a long way), but the talk was emminently enjoyable,
+plausibly relevant, and the \acro{AV} work was excellent! Instead of
+fixed `slides' prepared in some PowerPoint-clone, where the
+excitement lies in the dissolves and fades, this was a slick (non-perjorative)
+presentation, where the text on the screen moved around in a way
+which contributed and enhanced what he had to say. It wasn't really
+multimedia, but it showed a real quantum leap from `ordinary'
+presentations. Of course, this stuff is a blow to me. Usually
+I scribble down what's on the slides and then go back to listening
+to the talk. Not possible.
+
+Matt Reid, another Sun manager took us on `The Java experience',
+bringing to the podium specimen Java developers. This array of talent
+included Charles Ashley (Matrix Publishing), Alan Slater (Orbital
+Technologies), Per Gunnar Osteby (Applet UK), Alan ?? (Knowledge
+Media Institute -- the Open University's newest venture) and Gary
+Bullock (Parallax). A good range of things in there, from Web
+enhancement through to good interactive applications, telepresence
+and the word `Javatise'. Then we wheeled on a star: Miko Matsumura from
+\textsl{Hot Wired}. He told us he had  already addressed audiences on
+Madison Avenue and Silicon Valley, so we knew he thinks he's good:
+he probably is too. There is something about these assured
+20-something year olds, so completely in control, and at the leading
+edge which makes me want to retch. Envy I think it's called.
+The example he showed included an `avatar'. That's interesting, since
+it suggested he'd read Neal Stephenson's \textsl{Snow Crash}, which
+I predict is an excellent predictor for much cyberspace development.
+He ended by telling us he is the first Java evangelist. I reached
+for my bell, book and candle.
+
+The afternoon split into three streams. I took the stream
+which contained my first jolt of Java and more Bob Sproull.
+Simon Roberts, from Sun's Educational Services taught
+us how to write an application in the Java language in
+just 45 minutes. No, that doesn't mean it takes only 45 minutes
+to learn Java. It just means he led us through it,
+assuming that we were happy with C++ already (I wish!). Java
+borrows its syntax mainly from C++, but just to confuse there
+are some syntactic differences: it is largely object oriented,
+and where it differs most from C++ is in any part of that language
+which lets you effect strange and unsocial things -- like
+pointers and overloading of operators. It also simplifies by
+permitting only single inheritance. I ended up more confident
+that Java was quite coherent and had a lot of thought hours
+behind it. It also seems to be the programmers' revenge on the
+Internet. Let me explain. In the good old days, the Internet
+was the preserve of the hacker (again, in a non-perjorative sense);
+you had to know a bit about networks, be able to incant in Unix,
+have a smattering of some obscure programming language (C, C-shell,
+grep, Perl or whatever). This was when the Internet was free and
+easy, when the Acceptable Use Policy said `no commercial use',
+when people shared programs, and all was sweetness and light (this
+is a nostalgic view). Then along came the Web with its trivially
+simple \acro{HTML}. Anyone could use the Internet, and anyone could provide
+information for it. And at the same time, it exploded into commerce,
+politicians started pontificating, and frankly, it
+got rather non-elitist! Along comes the next step (apologies to
+Steve Jobs!) -- Java. This will separate the men from the boys. Only
+the traditional propellor heads will be writing the code, but yet,
+it's what the Net needs. Control has been restored to the anarchists.
+Well, maybe. In fact I suspect we'll see application environments
+where most people can create Java applets without getting their
+hands dirty. But for a while the programmers will be leading.
+
+Back to Sproull: he's talking about Commerce and Security. To be honest,
+he isn't really into commerce, but he dutifully covers the areas
+he thinks are going to develop by breaking commercial
+uses of the net into four areas:
+selling and advertising (for example, find the product: this can be
+exemplified by the use of directories); make the sale (here there is great
+weight on the security of transactions and the confidence with which payments
+may be made); fulfillment (where orders might be filled entirely
+digitally, and where standing orders might also be arranged entirely
+automatically); customer service (which might expand into relationship
+management where the supplier advises the customer of other related products
+or services, or upgrades, enhancements, etc.). In other words we are looking for
+added value, as we would expect.
+
+%The Web browser can provide images, forms and (now) secure sockets, but the
+%incorporation of Java applets can take this further to give active content,
+%uniqueness and to control the presentation far more. In fact, Sproull seemed to
+%be hinting that the retention of corporate identity (or brand differentiation),
+%one of the banes of the Web, could be achieved through Java applets. He didn't
+%exactly say it, but he implied that applets could ensure that pages looked the
+%way that their designers intended (as Acrobat will do).
+
+Security is one of the major issues on the Internet. There is a lot of loose
+talk about how insecure it may be, usually based on anecdotal evidence which
+evaporates when tracked down to its source.
+%People who happily provide their
+%credit card details over the telephone are often the first to tell you how
+%insecure the Internet is. They should know!
+But taking it further, to the prospect
+of downloading an applet to run on your machine, needs careful thought.
+As I have commented already, considerable thought has gone into Java to make it
+secure. Sproull identified a number of areas that we think about within the
+general heading of security. We think of `benign' programs: those that `do no
+harm'. The language restrictions of Java are supplemented by the fact that the
+Java virtual environment checks the byte code of the downloaded applet to
+ensure that it has not been tampered with en route. Add to this that an applet
+can only call another applet from the  server which provided the calling
+applet, and, in fact, may only contact that source server and no other. There is
+also a security manager on the client which restricts access to the client's
+resources. If you are dealing with a `trusted' server, the browser's\slash
+client's policies may be relaxed. For example, if you were running an Intranet
+within a department or enterprise, you could conceivably allow the applet to
+read files and ship the details around. Spreadsheet applications or other
+databases could be candidate applications. But in an `open' environment like
+the Internet, you would be less likely to take this option.
+
+Privacy on the net is of course possible, essentially through encryption based
+on secret keys. This makes key management an issue. If you have various plastic
+cards, each with their own \acro{PIN}, you will know how difficult it can be to
+remember each one. Many people will resort to writing down the \acro{PIN}s or
+keys, with the result that security is compromised. However, this is a
+reasonable human response to an unreasonable expectation. With public key
+cryptography, whose details are well-known, though whose implementation is the
+subject of \acro{US} government restrictions, we may encrypt with a
+public key and
+decrypt with our private key. Provided the key is big enough this is pretty
+secure (unless your adversary happens to have access to a supercomputer or a
+farm of workstations). In any case it is possible to attack these schemes,
+principally by replay attacks (where, for example, you copy the transaction to
+buy a Porsche over the net, replay it, and intercept the second delivery),
+the man in the middle ploy (where you pretend to be the supplier and therefore
+acquire the essential information which is then used surreptiously), or perhaps
+by analysing the traffic very carefully to identify useful information which
+is then sold or used. Much of current communication depends on trust: that
+does not mean that the transactions have to be completely accurate: provided
+we have reliable and well-understood remedies for mistakes, we are usually
+happy. In general terms we have to balance the risks and the security:
+high levels of security usually involve high levels of inconvenience.
+At present Java tends towards security.
+
+So there. What's it got to do with us? It is not inconceivable that \TeX\
+itself could be written in Java. But who would want to ship that behemoth
+around just to run through a document? Had \TeX\ ever been modularised, this
+might have been viable, but its monolithic structure militates against this.
+What then of the helper applications -- the viewers or the printer drivers?
+Possibilities. Remember that the `applet' (more like macro-applet) need only be
+written for a single virtual platform. This may be more difficult in the first
+instance, but in the longer term it has to be worthwhile. Future proofing is
+in-built. I go back to the notion my avatar promulgated in \BV\ 5.3 --
+distributing \texttt{.dvi} but this time having a Java applet be the viewer or
+printer. Use once, discard. Not an issue for us, since we all have a good
+viewer, but useful for the disenfranchised. The drawback lies in the fonts, but
+as suggested then, Adobe's Multiple Masters will do nicely.
+
+Did I mention that Java won't run on Windows\,3.x? or on Mac
+\acro{OS}6? You need Windows\,95, \acro{NT} or the Mac's Copland. So
+throw away those slow old machines. But wasn't that always the story?
+
+\end{Article}
-- 
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