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Educators embrace Java

High marks in college signal long-term, real-world success of new programming language

By Barry D. Bowen, JavaWorld.com, 01/01/97

Early in the life of Sun Microsystems the firm realized that if it was to pioneer a new computing paradigm, or more simply, just win converts to a new type of computer, colleges and universities were important. Gaining a foothold in academia would provide Sun an opportunity to infiltrate the corporate world incrementally each year via recent graduates.

Academia was crucial to the success of Sun Microsystems specifically. It also was the vehicle that propelled the Unix operating system, C language programming, and object-oriented paradigms. Tapping the higher education arena is not only important for cultivating corporate adherents as graduates rise through the ranks, it is also a fundamental resource for delivering engineers skilled in the latest toolsets.

Going mainstream

The skyrocketing success of the Net, the Web, and now Java gives higher education a two-tier role to play. In the short-term, corporate demand for Java-literate programmers must be fed. In the long-term, the role of Java as a respectable mainstream programming language must be nurtured so that it neither fades as a passing fad nor gets relegated to a niche language good only for animating Web pages.

It appears Sun Microsystems is making excellent progress on both fronts.

"I haven't found a school or university that says they are not interested in Java," said Graham Lovell, software programs manager for Sun's Academic and Research Computing business unit. Those not ready to begin teaching or using Java generally explain that they cannot change directions too quickly, he said.

The State University of New York (SUNY) at Oswego began using Java to teach computer science (CS) majors introductory programming in September 1995.

"This was all pre-Java-as-a-cultural-phenomenon days, so we didn't think about it as something glamorous, just as a better way to introduce computer programming and engineering and science," said Doug Lea, of SUNY's CS department and the New York CASE Center's Software Engineering Lab at Syracuse University.

Lea had been working with Java in collaboration with a Sun Labs research project. He suggested using Java when the department was in general agreement that they ought to try something different. The person teaching introductory programming decided to use Java as an experiment, and in January 1996 the department selected Java for its second programming course. Java is now used in a variety of other courses, and Lea reports that some juniors and seniors are using Java for their advanced projects.

Lea has now fielded so many inquiries regarding Java in higher education that he posted his own Q&A Web page to make the information available.

Better than C++

According to David Dobkin of Princeton's computer science department, the core question was, "In which language can we best illustrate for students the fundamental ideas of computer science?"

There was general consensus that C++ was more difficult than C on pedagogical issues, so CS departments reluctantly passed on the benefits of the object model and philosophy.

 

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