A lot of people I've spoke to think Java is just for writing applets, but not suitable for writing serious stand alone applications. Do people agree with this ?

-- Andrew Mackie (amackie@citynetworks.co.uk), November 22, 1999

Answers

Not at all true. Compiled java bytecode runs a good deal slower on a PC/Mac etc. than any code which has been compiled to machine code for a specific platform eg C/C++, but its stil plenty fast enough for everything bar games and graphically intense applications. And its getting much better all the time. If you take a machine which runs Java bytecode as its native code i.e the JavaStation, even though i have never seen one in operation - it's goinng to be every bit as quick as a C++ app on a similarly specd PC.

If you dont believe me or your friends dont believe you when you tell them, got to borland.com and dowmnload their JBuilder Foundation IDE. Edit and compile some stuff in it. It's great and its fast and its free and its totally Java. Then have a look at suns HotJava web browser - its cool too. And it so much easier to write bug free stuff in Java than C++.

James.

-- James Connolly (jjconnol@tcd.ie), March 27, 2000.

No, Java is not just for applets, but it is generally used for applet programming.

If a programmer wants his work (stand alone application) to be platform independent, Java is the best bet.

One can also write programs which are applets as well as applications.

-- Akeel Nazir (akeel@onebox.com), September 14, 2000.