Lars Svoldgaard wrote:
> Amiga is so efficient because it's so slow. There's not a lot of
> horsepower available, so the programmers have to optimize the software
> to make it run at an acceptable speed. An amiga just isn't fast enough
> to run Java at an acceptable pace, plus not many users have the amount
> of ram required.
I don't quite follow that reasoning. Amiga hardware is slow by today's
standards, I agree. Amiga software is often optimised to compensate,
but you cannot compensate for the difference between 500MHz and 50MHz
by twiddling with the code. The whole architecture of the OS is far
slicker than many others. And yes, before 100 people point it out,
some of that it because it doesn't have many of the newer features.
People therefore write programs that do not contain the slowest
features, or arrange that the majority of usage is channelled through
the faster systems. Change the algorithm rather than optimise the
code. As the Amiga falls further behind this becomes more and more
difficult to achieve, but by no means impossible in relation to a Java
engine.
Most people want Java because of the internet sites that use it.
Features (many would say pointless) to enhance the look and feel of
the site. Buttons, menus, tickertape strips... How much processing
power do you think this takes? A JVM is effectively a special kind of
emulator. Much of the slowdown is related to the arbitrary IO system
it implements to allow it to display in windows, browsers, etc.
David Gerber has written us a shockwave system, which does require a
lot of continuous heavy processing. I recall him pointing out that
there is a significant speed loss due to the way it interfaces with
the browser. But it does work and it does run on a 68K Amiga. I can
quite well imagine similar naysaying occuring before he created that.
A Java applet which only occasionally renders a menu or button will be
far less obviously slow, and also less critical in it's speed anyway.
But I digress. My point is to say that just because even on PC's
JVM's are regarded as a bit too slow to be useful, this does not
instantly mean it is impossible to make a useable Amiga version. If
optimisations such as you describe and which exist between the
effective performance of, say, V versus Netscape, can be transferred
to a suitable JVM then things will run along nicely. If you want to
use it for less frivolous tasks than internet prettiness, then yes, I
agree the speed is unlikely to be adequate. The majority of people
jumping around wanting it, though, are simply wanting their favourite
websites to work properly.
> Then there's the situation of actually writing an interpreter, but
> that's another story alltogether...
And there you do indeed put your finger on the sore. It may well be
possible to write one, but who is going to do so? IIRC there is a JVM
available for Amiga, a direct port of some open source code or
something similar. What it doesn't yet provide, of course, is the
browser interface. Maybe some genius will create one, maybe someone
else will code a new system from scratch. I must concede though, that
I can't see it happening in a sensible timescale. :(
Regards,
Ian
===
_____________________________________________________________________
Voyager Mailing List - http://v3.vapor.com/
Voyager FAQ....: http://faq.vapor.com/voyager/
Listserver Help: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Subject=HELP
Unsubscribe....: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Subject=UNSUBSCRIBE
