The last chapter showed how Java's architecture makes it a useful tool for developing software in a networked environment. The next three chapters take a closer look at how Java's architecture accomplishes its suitability for networks. This chapter examines platform independence in detail. It shows how Java's architecture enables programs to run on any platform, discusses the factors that determine the true portability of Java programs, and looks at the relevant tradeoffs.

Why Platform Independence?

One of the key reasons Java technology is useful in a networked environment is that Java makes it possible to create binary executables that will run unchanged on multiple platforms. This is important in a networked environment because networks usually interconnect many different kinds of computers and devices. In a typical enterprise environment, for example, a network might connect Macintoshes in the art department, UNIX workstations in engineering, and PCs running Windows everywhere else. Although this arrangement enables various kinds of computers and devices within the company to share data, it requires a great deal of administration. Such a network presents a system administrator with the task of keeping different platform-specific editions of programs up to date on many different kinds of computers. Programs that can run without change on any networked computer, regardless of the computer's type, make the system administrator's job simpler, especially if those programs can actually be delivered across the network.

In addition, the emerging proliferation of network-enabled embedded devices represents another environment in which Java's platform independence is useful. In the workplace, for example, various kinds of embedded devices, such as printers, scanners, and fax machines, are typically connected to the internal network. Network-connected embedded devices have also appeared in consumer domains, such as the home and car. In the embedded world, Java's platform independence can also help simplify system administration. Jini technology, which aims to bring plug and play to the network, simplifies the task of administering a dynamic environment of network-connected embedded devices for both consumers at home and systems administrators at work. Once a device is plugged into the network, it can access other devices attached to the network, and other devices can access it. To achieve this ease of connectivity, Jini-enabled devices exchange objects across the network, a technique that would be impossible without Java's support for platform independence.

From the developer's perspective, Java can reduce the cost and time required to develop and deploy applications on multiple platforms. Even though historically, many (or most) applications have been supported on only one platform, often the reason was that the cost involved in supporting multiple platforms wasn't worth the added return. Java can help make multi-platform support affordable for more types of programs.

On the other hand, Java's platform independence can act as a disadvantage as well as an advantage for software developers. If you are developing and selling a software product, Java's support for platform independence can help you to compete in more markets. Instead of developing a product that runs only on Windows, for example, you can write one that runs on Windows, OS/2, Solaris, and Linux. With Java, you can have more potential customers. The trouble is, so can everyone else. Imagine, for example, that you have focused your efforts on writing great software for Solaris. Java makes it easier for others to write software that competes in your chosen market niche. With Java, therefore, you may not only end up with more potential customers, but also with more potential competitors.

But perhaps most significantly for developers, the fact that Java code can run unchanged on multiple platforms gives the network a homogeneous execution environment that enables new kinds of distributed systems built around network-mobile objects. APIs such as object serialization, RMI (Remote Method Invocation), and Jini take advantage of this underlying capability to bring object-oriented programming out of the virtual machine and onto the network. (More information on Jini is given in Chapter 4, Network Mobility.)