FRAMINGHAM (12-01-95) - Netscape Communications Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc. are out to animate the Internet with the announcement next week of JavaScript, a cross-platform, ob-ject-oriented scripting language for crafting more active Web sites.
JavaScript should make it easier for developers to popu-late World- Wide Web pages with audible and animated interactive screen elements, according to sources at both firms. Today, programmers must use the Java language itself, which lacks an easy-to-use development environment.
The scripting tool, jointly developed by the two companies, will be distributed royaltyfree by both to encourage its adoption, sources said. Up to two dozen companies, including several competitors and content providers, are expected to endorse the technology this week.
Among those planning to implement JavaScript support are Informix Software Inc., Oracle Corp., Intuit Inc., Digital Equipment Corp., Macromedia Inc., Open Market Inc. Silicon Graphics Inc., The Santa Cruz Operation Inc., Verity Inc. and Illustra Information Technology Inc.
JavaScript came about when Netscape adapted its fledgling LiveScript technology, announced in September, to be compatible with Sun's Java.
Both developers liken JavaScript to Microsoft Corp.'s Visual Basic as a quick interface building tool.
But Sun and Netscape's JavaScript plans contrast with Microsoft's plans for using Visual Basic and its Blackbird development kit to build similar applets atop its fledgling Web servers and clients.
And while Oracle has licensed Java, it has also embedded a Basic run- time version in its new PowerBrowser for distributing simple applets across the Web and linking clients with back-end Oracle applications.
Java-enabled browsers can download Java applets from Web sites designed with Java, and users can run those applications on their local systems. Likewise, JavaScript can animate elements of an HTML-constructed Web page, which will react distinctively and individually to a Java-enabled browser, including Sun's HotJava and a pending update to Spyglass Inc.'s Mosaic. The Netscape 2.0 browser already supports Java.
"JavaScript enables developers to associate behaviors with 3D objects on a Web site, and the objects execute locally when they come in contact with a Java browser," explained a member of Sun's development team. "Three- dimensional images on the Internet have been static until Java."
JavaScript's debut comes less than a week after Microsoft unveiled V- Chat communications, a Virtual Reality Modeling Language technology that supports two- and three-dimensional environments. It lets users represent themselves as on-line icons, which Microsoft calls "avatars," and control their animated gestures through a toolbar at the client.
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