* This message is being posted to both HP3000-L (comp.sys.hp.mpe) and
* SIGJAVA-L.  Brief followups can go to both, but detailed discussion
* should move to SIGJAVA-L.
 
As announced at HPWorld '96, a freeware port of the Java environment
for MPE/iX is under development.  We are close to releasing this port
to a small number of alpha sites for testing.  I am trying to
determine what additional activities we may want to undertake in
the next year or so in order to make Java on MPE a success.
 
Any ideas of what should be done to accomplish this are welcome;
the following list should serve to get the conversation going.
 
- Runtime performance.  The port that has been done at ths point
  had as its primary objective to get Java running on MPE.
  No real efforts have been made to tune the performance.  One
  opportunity in this area would be to move from the library based,
  'green threads' threads implementation, to a native (DCE based)
  'pthreads' implementation.
- Another way to improve runtime performance would be to use more
  sophisticated compilers; either Just-in-Time compilers or
  native PA-RISC compilers.  If anyone can do a reasonable job
  of explaining how JIT compilers work, and what sort of differences
  might be seen between javac, a JIT compiler, and a native PA-RISC
  compiler, please do so.
- Database access.  JDBC is the 'java standard' way of accessing
  databases from java.  A database access library designed
  specificially for TurboIMAGE (such as Alfredo's proposed ADBC)
  should provide superior performance, at the cost of portability.
  What are your impressions of the tradeoffs involved?
- The current port of java for MPE does not include the Abstract
  Windowing Toolkit (awt).  The only possible implementation of
  awt for MPE would be based on Motif, which has very little usage
  in the installed base.  A client/server approach to java, in
  which clients such as PC's, Macs, or workstations ran the awt,
  and the application logic and database code resides on the 3000,
  seems a better approach.  Are there compelling reasons why we
  need the awt to run on the HP 3000?
- Are there other areas where we need to integrate java with MPE?
- Are there java add-ons (such as Remote Method Invocation, Object
  Serialization, the aforementioned JDBC, Java IDL, etc.) that
  people want to see on the HP 3000?
- Is freeware java, distributed via our Jazz web server, sufficient
  (at least at this point?)  Java development is moving so fast
  that distributing Java as part of MPE releases would mean you
  would probably be several revisions behind the current release
  by the time you received a version of Java.  If additional
  support beyond the freeware/'best effort' basis is needed,
  what are your requirements in this area?
- How important is it to roll quickly to new versions of java
  as they become available?  Does every version need to be ported
  to MPE, or just major new releases?
 
Obviously, with technology this new, it's hard to have the concrete
data you'd like to have to make recommendations (such as, exactly
how well does java perform without any of the enhancements listed
above).  No doubt, all of us may change our priorities as we get
more data, and see the directions the market moves.  I'm just
trying to paint some sort of future with very broad strokes, so
I can get some sort of feel for what level of resources we need
in the next year, what kind of skills will be required, what
the likelihood might be of various types of development, etc.
 
I look forward to what will hopefully be some interesting
discussions of this technology.
 
Mike Yawn
 
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Mike Yawn                            email       [log in to unmask]
Hewlett-Packard                      HPDesk   Mike YAWN/HP6650/21
Commercial Systems Division          Voice         (408) 447-4367
19447 Pruneridge Ave M/S 47UA        Fax           (408) 447-4441
Cupertino, CA  95014
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