I wanted to point out a great article on ReadWriteWeb today, by Alex Iskold, about the history of Java and the missed opportunities the language has had over the years. Even if you’re not a software developer, it’s still a great overview of a language that is both elegant and powerful, and the drama of free market competition.
Of course, don’t get the impression that Java is dead! It’s anything but: kiosks and embedded devices run it, along with consumer-facing websites and plenty of enterprise software. Many other technologies have been eating away at it over the years, and will continue to do so, unfortunately, for many of the reasons in the article.
Like Alex, I think the biggest issue Java faced (and got wrong) was with the web. Before there was web 2.0 (and web 1.0 was still being explored), Java applets were the way to integrate interactivity inside web pages. But applets were horribly slow, limited in their abilities, and complicated. I think if Sun were able to do it all over again, they shouldn’t have focused on placing Java applets inside web pages, but focused more closely on making Java the core of web development. Like Alex states, imagine how great it would be if we could manipulate the DOM using Java, say if it were an integrated part of the browser.
But, alas, that didn’t happen. There’s still time to reinvent how Java and the web co-exist, but for the time being, it’s being edged out in favor of new technologies and languages. So here’s to you, Java!
