Sponsored Links
PalmPilots ubiquitous at JavaOne, despite device's current decaffeinated status
3Com offers Conduit Development Kit (Java Edition), but what about JVM?
- Feedback
- Discuss
Conference attendees were welcomed to JavaOne with the gift of a handsome signet ring containing a Dallas Semiconductor chip embedded with Sun's Java Card 2.0 technology, capable of computing a digital signature, transferring business card information, and encrypting the data.
Java Rings served as an apt introductory example of the plethora of unconventional computer devices demoed at JavaOne. Pavilion exhibits showcased lead-encased portable warehouse-tracking devices; remote controls; flat, textbook-sized, hand-held network computers; Java SmartCards and SmartCard-readers; cash and financial transaction machines; Java-enabled Web phones; oscilloscopes; and even a fully-automated coffee factory.
The original intent of Java was to provide a seamless operating system and development environment for smart gadgets, appliances, consumer devices, institutional technology systems, and embedded devices. Then, for a couple of years, the advent of the Web sidetracked -- and at the same time advanced -- the development and acceptance of Java through the use of Java-enabled Web browsers. But the proliferation of Java-enabled computer devices that don't follow the conventional desktop PC model seems to have brought the use and potential of Java full-circle in this regard.
One gadget that stood out at this year's JavaOne was the 3Com/Palm Computing Inc. PalmPilot personal digital assistant (PDA). While I won't venture a guess of the percentage of conference attendees toting a PalmPilot, observation at the show indicates this popular PDA has crossed the threshold of trendiness and technostatus into the realm of cellular phones and pagers as a convenient business tool.
Comprising 66 percent of the global handheld device market, the PalmPilot -- now called the Palm Computing Platform device by 3Com -- may very well be the most successful PDA on the market. Easily fitting into the palm of your hand without sacrificing the readability of text or icons, the PalmPilot boasts a base of 10,000 developers and hundreds of applications, both commercial and freeware/shareware.
Besides running someone else's application on your PalmPilot, the PalmOS allows you to construct your own app -- right on the handheld PDA itself. Right now, you can write C/C++ code on the device (though inputting characters directly via the stylus on the Graffiti handwriting-recognition writing area can take time), compile it, and run it immediately. For this reason, the PalmPilot is a hot ticket item for developers as well as business executives.
The PalmPilot is compatible with Java, but its Java support doesn't measure up to its C/C++ support because of the nature of Java development coupled with the physical limitations of such a small consumer device. 3Com released the Conduit Development Kit (Java Edition) (CDK-JE), which allows you to design a Java application (JDK 1.1x-compliant and JDBC-accessible) on the desktop, transfer the data from the application to the device through a specialized pipe (the "conduit"), and access the data via an application present on the Palm.
- Feedback
About Us | Advertise | Contact Us | Terms of Service/Privacy
Copyright, 2006-2008 Network World, Inc. All rights reserved.