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-- Jeroen van Bergen in JW Blogs
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Closing the Hood
<em>JavaWorld</em> columnist bids farewell to longtime column
After one and a half years, the time has come for me to close the hood. This month's article represents the final installment of Under the Hood. I am saying farewell -- for a while.How Under the Hood got started
For some reason, I tend to buy Economist magazines in airports. That's about the only time I buy them, and sitting on planes is about the only time I read them. Back in October 1995, as I was flying back to the Bay Area and thumbing through an Economist I had bought at the Denver airport, I came across a one-page article about a cool new programming language for the Internet. That is how I first heard about Java.
It's obvious that in those days I didn't have my finger squarely on the pulse of the Internet: Java had been out almost half a year before I even heard about it. At that time, I was busy working on software contracts, immersed primarily in the world of C++, MFC, and Microsoft Windows 3.1. When I first read about Java in the Economist, I was quite intrigued by it. As I read more about Java by surfing the Web, it became clear to me that Java would be my next step; it was the direction in which I wanted to go. I decided that after I completed the C++ project I was then working on, I would try to find a way to focus on Java.
One day in February 1996, as I was again surfing the Web looking for more information about Java, I came across a page that gave me an idea. A new Webzine named JavaWorld was about to be launched and was in need of authors. Having always harbored a secret desire to write novels, I thought to myself, "Self, this could be your big break." I figured I could get into Java, and get some writing experience to boot, by writing about Java. So I e-mailed Michael O'Connell, JavaWorld's editor-in-chief, and asked if a C++ person who is planning to learn Java could possibly write for his magazine. Michael said that providing we could find a suitable topic for me to write about, he'd be happy to give me a JavaWorld assignment.
My next problem, then, was figuring out what to write about. I kicked several ideas around in my head and bounced a few off of Michael. Eventually, he and I decided that I would write about the Java virtual machine (JVM), and the Under the Hood column was born.
I wanted to write about the Java virtual machine because I was interested in Java internals. Though it's a bit embarrassing to admit, my interest in Java internals wasn't some grand career strategy. It simply arose out of my own excitement about the technology. I thought Java was really cool, and I wanted to understand how it worked.
The origin of Inside the Java Virtual Machine
Although writing a monthly column presented quite a challenge for someone accustomed to writing software, before long I decided to go even further -- to take the big book-writing plunge. A literary agent looking for Java book authors read one of my JavaWorld articles, e-mailed me, and I ended up writing a book proposal. The proposal was accepted by McGraw-Hill, and I was then faced with the task of writing an entire book about the Java virtual machine.
- The book The Java virtual machine Specification, by Tim Lindholm and Frank Yellin (ISBN 0-201-63452-X) http://www.aw.com/cp/lindholm-yellin.html
- The book listed above is part of "The Java Series," from Addison-Wesley. It's the definitive Java virtual machine reference. http://www.aw.com/cp/javaseries.html
- An online version of my book Inside the Java Virtual Machine (ISBN 0-07-913248-0) is currently part of McGraw-Hill's Beta Books site. http://www.betabooks.mcgraw-hill.com
- An online copy of the Interactive Illustrations Web Site, which is delivered on the CD-ROM that is included with Inside the Java Virtual Machine is posted at my Web site. This site contains simulation applets that illustrate the concepts presented in the text of the book. http://www.artima.com/insidejvm/applets