Java

Java was originally designed by Sun to be a portable "small C++" that could be used in embedded applications. The idea of running little applications in a web-page really captured people's imaginations, so the language caught on quickly. It turned out that Java wasn't just suitable for embedding animated banners in web pages --it was a downright nifty little language for application programming! The "virtual machine" nature, garbage collection and lack of pointers made it easy to make bulletproof apps that didn't crash and had no resource leaks.

While not an official "sequel" to C++, Java borrows very heavily from C++ syntax. It dumps many of the more difficult C++ features to reveal a rather compact and easy-to-learn language. Unlike C++, Java enforces object-orientation with a heavy hand. Writing a non-OO app in Java is as difficult as writing spaghetti-code in Pascal.

Advantages: Binaries are portable to other platforms. Apps can run embedded in web pages. The included class library is reasonably standardized and extremely robust. Automatic allocation and garbage collection all but eliminates resource leaks in applications. Zillions of code examples on the web.

Disadvantages: Uses a "virtual machine" to run portable byte-code rather than native machine code, so apps are slower than true compilers. There are technologies (like "Just In Time" compilers) that greatly improve the speed of Java, but the speed will likely always lag behind true machine-code solutions. Early features like the Abstract Windowing Toolkit were not well thought-out and, while officially abandoned, have to hang around for backward compatibility. Is very high-level, which makes dealing with any low-level machine features very difficult. Sun is pretty slow in adding new "blessed" features to the language.

Portability: The best of the lot, but still not what it should be. The low-level code is very portable, but a lot of the UI and newer features are wobbly on some platforms.

Games Written in Java: Lots of little applets in web pages, but only a couple of commercial offerings. Several commercial games use Java as the internal script language.

Resources: Sun's official Java page has some good info. IBM also has an excellent Java page. The JavaLobby is the best place to go for news about Java.

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