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COMPUTING

From...
InfoWorld

Sun looking to heat up Java performance

January 12, 2000
Web posted at: 12:12 p.m. EST (1712 GMT)

by Michael Lattig

(IDG) -- Hoping to boost the performance of client-side Java, Sun is planning to leverage its HotSpot performance engine in the next release of Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE).

Officials at Sun confirmed Monday that the forthcoming version of J2SE, version 1.3 which is expected to be available in March, will ship with the Hotspot compiler as the default Java Virtual Machine (JVM).

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The HotSpot compiler, introduced last April, is designed to increase Java performance through the use of Sun's adaptive optimization process.

By making the feature, which can currently be added to a browser via a simple plug-in procedure, its default, Sun will be able to reduce the memory footprint of Java on the client as well as the startup time.

The bottom line, according to Rick Schultz, product line manager for Java 2 Platform Products at Sun, will be a better user interface for the new class of Internet applications currently being written.

Another way in which Sun will look to boost performance with J2SE version 1.3, Schultz said, is through improved applet caching, which will allow those running Java applets to cache those that are frequently used, thus eliminating the need for repeated downloads.

The company is also looking to release a Linux version of J2SE this summer, to make sure that it is prepared with an offering to meet the ever-growing numbers of Linux adopters.

While there is little doubt from Java followers that the enhancements in version 1.3 will provide welcome performance boosts, the question may be whether it will be worth the time and effort likely to be necessary for large IT shops to upgrade their users' browsers.

"IT managers already face the problem of how to disseminate updates of JVM's, so the real question is going to be whether Sun can make it is easy to swap them in and out," said Dana Gardner, a research director with the Aberdeen Group in Boston. "It's one thing to make it the default, but [another] to get people to implement it."

One possible solution, Gardner said, would be for Sun to develop an automated update path such as the one Microsoft already offers in its browser. Otherwise, the reach of the HotSpot technology could be limited to new Java implementations and to large server updates.

According to Schultz, however, Sun could be saved by the fact that the majority of J2SE implementations are on corporate Intranets, where IT managers maintain a good deal of control over users' desktops, and could easily implement changes.


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