Java Kecil 2x

I gave a presentation on Pervasive Java, which includes some consumer Java APIs like BD-J and OCAP Java, to NJCCPS (New Jersey Chinese Computer Professionals Society), one of the largest Chinese associations in the east coast. I took the tack of more pictures and demos, less code, which is always a good thing, especially since many in the crowd were not coders.

The response was pretty enthusiastic, with the host having to stop the questioning after the 10 minute time alloted for questions had run past into the 20s, and with some people asking that a SIG be formed to focus on these technologies. One thing I noted was that many were more interested in the Sun SPOT sensors, probably because I had brought some with me to demo. You can find the slides here.

Pretty freaking sad that this language that was hyped to be the usurper and premiere Java-killer turned out to be just another ho-hum scripting framework whose advantages are quickly being assimilated by Java. I posted earlier about RIP: Ruby Hype. Now, the newest sign that the Ruby hype is slowing or decreasing is the flattening (and decrease) in the Tiobe index of this language.

Click thumbnail above for detailed image.

I cannot honestly say I’m sad about this. When I first met these Rubyistas last year they surprised me by their vehemence and scary obsession. The Jesus freaks have nothing on these guys, and if they honestly think people think they’re cool because they somehow know just another web framework, then I suggest the blu pill (or even the red one) to wake them up.

Some other old posts of mine about these nuts:

• R-U-B-Y is M-A-D (April 7, 2006)
• Ruby on smartphones and PDAs (April 1, 2006)

Ok, on to stuff that actually matters - Grails, JRuby, and Java FX

ADDENDUM: In response to some emails that have come my way (I had been disabling comments), NO i never said anywhere that Ruby is DYING. However, the hype about Ruby is certainly leveling off, as it would have no matter how much the hype anyways. This could be due to several factors, including the fact that there really is no large job market for it, it really IS just another language and web framework (nothing radical there), and the rise of Grails/Groovy, JRuby and JavaFX in Javaland might be taking away some of its thunder. In the end, RoR will continue to cater to a middling size crowd, but honestly folks, did anyone with at least half a mind actually think that it would usurp the role of Java?

I haven’t been keeping track of what those mono morons have been doing lately, although by the lack of news you gotta figure the niche they’ve dug for themselves is still a literal niche. However, that unholy partnership between ol’ Microsoft (whom I’ve been having fond thoughts of lately now that their threat to Java seems to have passed) and Novell seems to have borne some bitter fruit.

It looks like the hype about Ruby has gone down the drain, which is pretty much what I expected given that RoR really has nothing going for it beyond the hype (and that Tate guy who’s all over the book circuit). It’s interesting that around a year ago I came back on the blog scene and was inundated with raving Ruby lunatics after I inadvertantly slighted the language.

Now, there are more and more people starting to wonder whether RoR has peaked.

Interestingly the bloom seems to be off the rose for Ruby, but feel free to tell me if I am wrong. - Bill Roth of JDJ

Ruby on Rails - Has the Hype Ended? Since the beginning of the new year I have had trouble finding good, generalized content pertaining to Ruby on Rails. The past three months really haven’t seen much activity about Rails at all - Teej at my.9rules

It doesn’t really help RoR that JRuby, Grails, and Groovy seem to be making strong inroads into the Java community mindshare, with Grails beating RoR handily in a recent performance benchmark.

So, bye bye RoR from the hype scene - we barely knew ya - sniff, sniff

Don’t you just love it when Microsoft is forced to use Java? I can just imagine the bitter taste in their mouth when circumstances conspire to give them no options but to throw in the towel and embrace one of their most bitter “rivals”. Shouldn’t this be in “Compact .NET Framework”?

Wanted at Microsoft: Some Java ME developers. Ugh!

Source: CNN.com

A new report from Gartner Dataquest shows Sun regaining the leadership in Unix-based servers and gaining revenue and market share in the overall market over the most recent quarter. Sun’s renewed Unix-based leadership, earning the company a 31.4 percent share, comes in a segment that is flat, due to continued weakening at the high end, a trend toward server consolidation, and the continued progress of those pesky lower-end Linux-based systems.

Yet Sun has reported that it had the highest growth among the top five vendors in the Linux-based space in terms of shipments and revenues. And Sun did emerge, according to the report, with an overall sales growth of 7.6 percent over a year ago, and now trails Dell by a scant 0.1 percentage point in the overall market.

Just think what Sun could have done if it had embraced Linux earlier!

Anyways, good news for the Java heads and Java nuts.

Source: Sun Gains Server Market Share; Linux Continues to Grow

If you’re going to JavaOne, or even if you aren’t, check out the JavaOne 2006 Mobile Conference Companion from Kallisto, a neat little app that features all the schedules for the greatest IT event, including the all-important After Dark timeline. The Nokia 3650 and Razr jars stall on my Nokia 9300 (they had not optimized it for the phone, but I had to try anyways), but worked great for my wife’s Razr v3 and my old Nokia 3650.

Note to Kallisto: Instead of a standalone app, one feature to add in future might be a way for people to upload new, shall we say, “informal” get-togethers into a server, which the Java ME app can query. Anyways, great job guys!

Honestly, we seem to go through the same cycle every year, and always just before JavaOne.

I used to try to like these geeks…REALLY….but one’s patience with adolescent, unreasonable, and generally insane people who can’t seem to figure out what Java exactly is, is really just a big waste of time.

I almost wish Sun would open source Java just so they would shut up already.

My take on why Verizon sucks. Feel free to argue with me or add points to my arguments. In fact, if you’re a webmaster and feel like I do, put up your own Sucks page, or link to the one already there. We may be ants who will make nary a difference in the big scheme of things, but at least we can say we tried.

Whoaaaa!!!!! Hooray!!!! Weeeeee R d champions, my friend! And we’ll keep on hacking till the end!!!!

Java apps won several major categories in the 2006 SourceForge Community Choice Awards, including the Best Overall app!

1. Azureus - Best Overall Winner!

   Azureus is a powerful, full-featured, cross-platform java BitTorrent client.

2. Zimbra - Enterprise Winner!

   Zimbra is an open source server and client technology for next-generation enterprise messaging and collaboration. Zimbra delivers innovation for both the administrator and the end-user as well as compatibility with exising infrastructure and applications

3. Jasper - Enterprise First Runner-Up

   Free Java reporting library. XML report templates are used to generate ready to print documents using data from customizable data sources, including JDBC. The output can be delivered to the screen, printer, or stored in PDF, HTML, XLS, CSV and XML format

4. Open Reports - Enterprise Second Runner-Up

   OpenReports is a complete web based reporting solution that provides the ability for users to view dynamically created PDF, HTML or XLS reports in a browser. It is developed in Java and uses JasperReports as the reporting engine.

5. Javagroups - Clustering Second Runner-Up

   Reliable group communication based on IP multicast and configurable protocol stack

6. TightVNC - SysAdmin First Runner-Up

   TightVNC is an improved version of VNC, great free remote-desktop tool. The improvements include bandwidth-friendly “Tight” encoding, local cursor support on the client side, enhanced GUI, many bugfixes, and more.

7. Webmin - SysAdmin Second Runner-Up

   A web-based system administration tool for Unix servers and services.