Re: Write once, run anywhere?
"JT" <jtlinux1@oohay.ca> wrote in message
news:467d6b0c$0$4316$9a566e8b@news.aliant.net...
Mark Space wrote:
[...]
But none of you have really answered my question. Without using the
specific case of the CD drawer (which I was only intending as a
for-instance), my question boils down to this:
Isn't it true that the JVM has a limited amount of what it can do based on
the commonality of all the different platforms. If someone is writing a
program, don't they have to know all the places it's going to be running
so that they can avoid coding things that just won't work? And if this is
true, doesn't it break the mantra of "write once, run anywhere"?
Write once, run anywhere refers to writing a Java program, which if it runs
on a standard Java VM on Windows, it can be expected to run on a standard
Java VM on Solaris, or Macintosh. Certainly if you start using
platform-specific extensions, it won't run just anywhere anymore.
With more complex programs, the reality is more like "write once, debug
everywhere". But the Java VM does insulate the Java developer from the more
capricious variations between operating systems than, say, a C++ developer.
With Java, you can run the same object code (classes or jars) without
recompiling, whereas C++ portability (without a VM) requires at least a
recompile.
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