Okay. Let's get one thing clear right away. I am not writing (or better yet, dictating) this on a Java-enabled PDA while sitting on the bus on my way to work - a fact that I find somewhat disturbing, and more than a little annoying. Perhaps not as disturbing as my fellow passengers wou...

My hype meter has been revved up lately, and what has pegged it is Web services. Who is hyping up Web services? Hmm...Microsoft, Sun, IBM, HP, BEA, SilverStream, Ariba, BowStreet, webMethods...my aunt Judy. I'm expecting to see this e-mail soon: 'Quit your job and make $100,000 a year ...

As an advocate for Java and Java developers, I've never been a more persuaded or passionate believer in the deep value of the Java platform and philosophy. For me, however, advocating this Java vision neither implies nor requires a pro-Sun outlook in any way. I admire Sun and respect m...

The advent of J2EE (Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition), a market-revolutionizing industry specification that standardizes the way that application servers work, sets the stage for a collision of two markets: content management/personalization and back-end data access/transactions.

It seems to be the month for celebrations. Not only is it the fifth JavaOne, but it's also the second anniversary of this column. Both are still going strong, so hurrah! on both accounts. Long may it continue!

The Internet is amazing. In just six short years it has spawned thousands of new businesses and generated billions of dollars of wealth. Dot-com fever has captured the hearts of America's technologists and entered the lives of many Americans. In the midst of all of this, it's useful to...

Today marks the beginning of British summer time. Hurrah! I prefer the winter myself, but having experienced the extreme temperatures of New York on a January weekend, I have to reevaluate my climate preferences. Now that the office heating has been turned down (I wonder if they'll not...

When Edison invented electric lighting, his company was simultaneously selling generators, switches and lightbulbs. At the time he invented it, there was no preexisting infrastructure for electricity, so he had to sell his customers every component of his direct-current electricity sys...

Speaking of responses, I'd like to take this opportunity to redress the balance here. Over the past couple of months I've received some very abusive e-mail from disgruntled readers, shouting the odds about a number of things. First of all, I have no problem receiving e-mail from reader...

Java has emerged from its own hype relatively unscathed and is now showing itself capable of matching the lofty predictions made for it. The two main indicators of this rite of passage are standardization and evolving best practices — developments that are bringing corporations mu...

When I sat down to write this month's column I tried desperately to come up with something. I was beginning to panic, as nothing seemed to come to mind. Then I took a wee walk and munched down on some pizza. Suddenly, BANG! The whole month's activities came flooding back to me. So kick...

Why Open Standards? When you consider the dynamic connections and just-in-time integration resulting from today's networked business relationships, it's easy to appreciate how keeping standards proprietary is clearly the strategy of the last computing generation. As e-business ente...

Java and Linux should have been a natural: on the one hand we have a language that can run on any OS; on the other, an OS that can be custom tailored to a vast range of computing needs.

For many years I was the world's greatest parent. Then I had kids. Before my kids were born, I knew all the answers to successful child-rearing. And as the self-appointed expert I was quick to impart my wisdom to friends and family. Things sure were simpler then, and best of all I neve...

Welcome one and all to this month's dose of nonsense and trivia from the world of Java. December was a rather fun-filled month, with many things happening that will affect us all in the near future. I'm sure you've all heard about the controversy with Sun and IBM. But more on that late...

When all is said and done, I hope you're reading this column ­ the first in the new millennium ­ in familiar surroundings. With any luck, the prophets of doom around the Y2K problem have been proved wrong and the world didn't stop spinning suddenly in a haze of apocalyptic fireworks. I...

When I was a lad, I tell my kids, life was hard. We had to walk everywhere, for instance. And not only that, we had to carry our own data. On things called floppies. Back then, we had to manually move information from one computer to the next. We did all this work by hand.

Well, here we are again, decking the halls with boughs of holly, fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la, and all that sort of nonsense... The time of year when the opportunity to steal a kiss from the secretary isn't an actionable offense (assuming, of course, that you catch her - or him - under t...

This has been a busy and bizarre month. A number of weird and wonderful things have happened, and I'll take you through them one by one.

What a month this one has been! Life has this wonderful way of letting you know that no matter what you're feeling at any given moment, you just can't predict what's going to be round the next corner. One of our chaps is at this precise moment lying flat on his back, bored senseless, i...

There are many reasons for Java's success. Although heavily debated and discussed, the "Write Once Run Anywhere" aspect of Java is one of the reasons. A sometimes less-heralded reason is Java's superior object-oriented implementation. I don't view myself as an OO expert, but ...

Every time I come around to writing this, I have this fear: What the hell am I going to write about? Then I sit back and have a think of what has happened in the last month and what is likely to happen in the forthcoming month and something usually presents itself. Fortunately, Mother ...

Write once, run anywhere" is probably the single-most repeated description of what Java is supposed to be about. It has been one of the cornerstones of Java's massive edifice of hype. However, like all hype, there's both truth and fiction to WORA.

Over the past year significant momentum has grown behind the unique intersection of two core Web platform technologies, Java and XML. Clearly, with Java emerging as the predominant Internet-system programming language and XML emerging as the dominant model for Internet data, these two ...

I don't know about you, but these months are shooting by at a tremendous rate of knots. Here we are again, into the latter half of the year...and I was just getting used to being back after Christmas. It's all very exciting, racing up to the day that dare not speak its name: yes, the b...

Thirteen ­ or as I prefer it ­ 26 over 2. Yes, this is article number (26 over 2) in the series, and the more superstitious of you will know this isn't the luckiest of numbers. So with fingers crossed, let's delve into this month's rants and raves and see what pops out.

Can you believe it? I know I certainly can't. This column is officially celebrating its twelfth issue, and being the mathematical genius that I am ­ and since this joyous magazine is printed on a monthly schedule ­ I can safely deduce that our first year anniversary is upon us. Fanta...

A lot has been said and written about Java's "write once, run anywhere" (WORA) capability. There have been both supporters and detractors (e.g., "write once, debug anywhere"). Java's statement of WORA raised expectations about Java to the highest possible level and ...

In the swirl of events around the announcement last year of the upcoming CORBA 3.0, the attention centered on the upcoming CORBA Component Model. While CORBA has existed in some form or another as an adopted technology of the OMG's open, neutral, standards-setting process since October...

Is it me, or are the months flying past? It seems like only last week I was sitting down writing this column, hoping to bring a little happiness into your lives. This month, fortunately, I have a lot to tell you about the wonderful world of Java as seen through the eyes of a European ...

Just in case you don't know, I love Java. This month was a good month for loving Java. Some months, I have to confess, one does curse the little guy, but this month he was standing tall. Nothing of particular note happened in the media world, but it was something we did that made us s...

Welcome to your monthly dose of controversy - the part of the magazine where I ask you to push back the keyboard, stop debugging that Java class that has been bugging you for the past couple of hours and get your shot of caffeine as I invite you to take a look at this crazy Java univer...

The application server category is one of the more confusing markets to understand. In addition, the market changed rapidly during 1998, with a number of companies being acquired. This article aims to clarify the situation.

Here we are again - a couple of pages telling you how it really is. What an interesting and varied month this has been! And a good month for Java. Lots of different things have been happening.

HALT! Just stop right there! You've probably stumbled across this column while merrily thumbing through this magazine, and you're now wondering what this lump of words is all about. You may have noticed this column in previous issues but couldn't be bothered to read it. After all, who'...

Until recently, Java reminded me of the talented kid in school who keeps getting C's and B's instead of A's. "He's bright," the teacher says, "but he's not working up to his potential." So far, most Java developers have used this brilliant language in a tactical rat...

This month I'm going to go down the route of employment, because here at N-ARY, we're going through the painful process of recruiting. As usual, I'm going to analogize my findings with a human personality trait - this month I'm going to go for loyalty. But I'll come back to that in a m...

It's that time of year again - the time when we all pretend to get along with one another for a few weeks. It's the time for families to come out of the woodwork, for getting out that knitted pullover from the Auntie whose name you can never quite remember. I can't wait until the New Y...

As we approach the end of the second millennium, history teaches us that the only thing that's certain is change. Both natural history and human history consist of changes that occur in waves. Like ocean waves pounding the seashore, transforming rocks and cliffs into sand, so the waves...

Morning or is it afternoon? It could even be evening. Whatever it is, welcome. Another month has rolled in and we're now sailing dangerously close to that Christmas mark again. Goodness, where has the year gone? I've no idea. This is my wee corner of the journalistic minefield of the c...