Wizard API updated!
Tim Boudreau has released a new version of the Swing Wizard library (version 0.997) that fixes the WizardException bug reported in JavaWorld's recent Open Source Java Project profile. The article's examples have been reworked to test out the new, improved WizardException. Thanks, Tim, for this helpful fix!
Open Source Java Projects: The Wizard API

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Sun releases scripting technology for Java

Jacl promises more power for Java

By Cameron Laird and Kathryn Soraiz, JavaWorld.com, 12/01/97

Houston (October 25, 1997) -- Sun Microsystems Inc. has released alpha code of a new Java scripting language that it hopes will become the high-level scripting environment of choice for Java developers. The language, called Jacl (JAva Command Language) is a 100 percent Java implementation of Sun's Tcl scripting language. It has been released along with a Tcl extension called Tcl Blend, which will allow developers to write new Tcl extensions in Java rather than C or C++, according to Sun.

If you haven't heard of Jacl or Tcl Blend, don't be surprised. It was announced in a rather low-key e-mail to interested developers last Wednesday. In that e-mail, SunScript team leader Raymond Johnson called the technology, "early fruits of a new project at Sun Laboratories to integrate the Tcl and Java programming languages in a way that brings more power to each language."

A plethora of technologies -- CORBA, JavaBeans, DCOM, XML, PowerBuilder, visual programming, object orientation, and others -- already promise to assemble Java pieces easily. Why introduce more? The goal of SunScript (articulated by the team as "script once, run everywhere") is to realize John Ousterhout's vision of scripting as "programming for the 21st Century." Ousterhout, the original author of Tcl in 1988, is currently the project leader of SunScript.

Taking Java development to a higher level

Java has certainly revolutionized marketing and litigation. Development models for Java programmers, however, have settled into familiar patterns. Leading vendors often "re-purpose" existing utilities first targeted for Pascal, Smalltalk, or C. Application teams most often aspire to a kind of incrementalism that yields conventional-looking applications. Java makes the process a bit safer and more portable.

Ousterhout's flavor of scripting touches a higher paradigm. "The second wave of Webmasters -- they're not the hard-core developers -- already use Perl, Frontier, and Hypercard," explained Johnson, in an interview. More and more developers are ready for a "high-level," easily understood language which lends itself to prototyping and rapid development. Just as Visual Basic exploded because of its success reusing OCX components, SunScript is on a mission to permit programmers to assemble Java-coded components. Jacl and Tcl Blend deliver that ease in scripting with higher-level functionality no other language possesses.

The higher-level functionality of Jacl can be seen in comparing it to other Java development offerings. VBScript, for example, offers both client and server aspects of scripting; Jacl, though, is transparently mobile across all boundaries between client, server, and middleware hosts. JavaBeans present another example of a Tcl advantage. While JavaBeans package Java functionality for reuse, TclBlend uses reflexivity to reach directly into existing Java objects *at runtime* -- there's no packaging required. With Wednesday's announcement, SunScript reinforces its claim that nothing links Java better than Jacl and Tcl Blend.

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Resources
  • "Jacl and Tcl Blend," October 1997 announcement by SunScript unit of Sun Microsystems http://sunscript.sun.com/
  • ScriptingHigher Level Programming for the 21st Century, May 1997 white paper by John Ousterhout, project lead of SunScript http://www.sunlabs.com/people/john.ousterhout/scripting.html
  • The Relationship Between Tcl/Tk and Java, July 1997 explanation by SunScript unit of Sun Microsystems http://sunscript.sun.com/techcorner/java.html
  • "Sun reverses course on Tcl products", August 1997 SunWorld coverage of 1997 Tcl Workshop http://www.sun.com/sunworldonline/swol-08-1997/swol-08-sunscript.html
  • "Choosing a scripting language," October 1997 SunWorld cover story http://www.sun.com/sunworldonline/swol-10-1997/swol-10-scripting.html
  • "Commercial releases reliant on Tcl:" Cameron Laird's index to the suitability of Tcl for serious applications http://starbase.neosoft.com/~claird/comp.lang.tcl/commercial-tcl.html
  • "Personal notes on Jacl:" Cameron's page of updates and commentary on this article http://starbase.neosoft.com/~claird/comp.lang.java/jacl.html