• Links - Rethinking Java Applets

Last update Oct 26 2008

A few ill-formed thoughts so far ...

Java is The Enterprise Language. Most Java applications are not applications so much as pieces in the jigsaw puzzle of the enterprise integration architecture. They are big and expensive.

This does not necessarily need to be the case. It can also run as a small, efficient Java applet in the client web browser, often used for graphically-intensive applications. For inference engines, this implementation option is also attractive since it pushes the bulk of the heavy CPU-memory demand off the server. In fact, the client may have as much if not more crunching capacity as shared server.

The critical factor may be in the XML request/response between the Java applet on the client and whatever is on the server, PHP, Ruby, Python. Not Java, in other words.

Json or SOAP may be the easiest route. I'm not sure if JavaFX is going to be a help or hindrance - see Sun Adds a Little Zip to Java.