The Java TV API holds the promise of Java-based interactive television using set-top boxes.
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Taking Notes on Java
Edward Tanguay sings the praises of a very important language.
The
Bluffer's Guide to Java
Can't tell your Beans from your Applets? Wondering
if a Servlet is a small server waiting to grow up? Read our compact guide to Java
and you'll soon be dropping JAR, JVM and JSDK into casual conversations along
with the best of them. Nobody will bother listening to you, but they'll still
be mightily impressed.
Java: Coming
to a TV near you!
The new Java TV API holds the promise of Java-based
interactive television using set-top boxes.
Java
vs Other Web Application Technologies
(The JavaBoutique) Selena Sol, author of JavaBoutique's
Introduction to Java, gives an in-depth comparison of Java and other development
languages such as dHTML, ASP, and Perl.
Agent
Communication
Agent technology is becoming more prevalent as the availability of network access,
and the demand for the end-uses of agents, become greater.
Java Web
Server in Brief
A simple, dependable, and inexpensive ecommerce solution for small businesses
is proposed.
JSP: The Back Door into Java
Edward Tanguay discovers JSP, and finds it finally allows him to put his theoretical knowledge of Java to use, and hence, get a foot into the Java programming world.
Building
Java Server Pages
A detailed look at building JSP pages. Should you
use JSP or servlets? It depends on the ratio of markup to code. Here you'll also
find a guide to the different varieties of tag, and details about the main tags
such as <jsp:useBean> and <jsp:setProperty>.
Site User Logon with XML, Java Beans and JSP
During this tutorial we will use XML and Java Server Pages to verify a user's logon - and then store the results in a session Java Bean for easy access.
Serving
Dynamic WAP Content with Java Server Pages
Here's how to create dynamic content for WAP-enabled
mobile phones using the Wireless Markup Language (WML) and Sun Microsystems' Java
Server API. Our Java Server Pages application displays regularly updated appointment
data for someone on the move, such as an appliance engineer making house calls.
Object
Persistence Made Easy
With object serialization, your Java applets and
applications can save and load the state of objects to disk or over a network.
In this article, we'll examine the benefits of object serialization, and how to
implement it in your own programs.
Servlets
Intro
to Servlets
Java servlets are making headlines these days, claiming to solve many of the problems
associated with CGI and proprietary server APIs. In this article I will describe
the overall servlet architecture and what you need to develop your application
with servlets. I will use several code examples to show you how to use the Servlet
API, and compare it with CGI and proprietary server APIs where appropriate.
Internationalizing
Servlets
How to use the Java Internationalization API to build server-side code that alters
its output based on the location and language of the user. We demonstrate the
use of the API by building a simple method which displays a product entry for
a shopping cart application.
Using
the HttpSession object of the Servlet API
The Java Servlet API represents an elegant and powerful way to shift processes
from client to server, and offers a number of advantages over CGI. These advantages
have certainly been enumerated so that most developers are aware of the servlet
advantage. However, some of the details of the servlet architecture may at first
seem daunting. Here's a short introduction on one aspect of writing servlets:
the HttpSession object.
Improved
Performance with a Connection Pool
Establishing a connection once and then using the same connection for subsequent
requests can dramatically improve the performance of a database-driven Web application.
Since Servlets can keep information between requests, a database connection pool
is a straightforward solution.
Imagine Java applications running on your
television set. Sound far fetched? The new Java TV API promises
to allow applications access to all the functionality of digital
television sets, which will run the PersonalJava JVM.
October 6, 1999
Okay. When I first read about the Java TV API last year, I thought
the idea of Java running on set-top boxes was quite amusing. After all,
we've all had the experience of slow loading applets running inside
Web browsers, that amount to little more than eye-candy for the easily
amused. Certainly, there are some serious Java applets out there, but
they're few and far between, and with cross-browser compatibility
issues, limited in their audience reach.
Then the enormity of it hit me - while the number of computers in
households is still small, and the number of Internet users even more
so, the number of people with television sets is MASSIVE. This
one concept has the potential to introduce the word "Java" to
hundreds of millions of people world-wide. Digital TV may be slow to get
a foothold, but it's almost a certainty. Now imagine all those
people running Java applications (or applets) right from their
television. High bandwidth HDTV or cable connections could be integrated
with interactive Java content, ranging from simple games, stock tickers,
and online shopping. The scope of the Java TV API is very big indeed.
The Java TV API is designed to allow Java applications access to the
functionality of the television host on which it runs. Through the Java
TV API, which will provide access to television programming content
(de-multiplexed on-the-fly), content selection (program guides), and
control over the television screen appearance. Applications can run on a
Java Virtual Machine (JVM) designed for set-top boxes, televisions, and
real-time devices. The underlying hardware details are abstracted away,
leaving developers free to concentrate on developing interactive
content, not porting it from one system to another.
Java TV Overview
Here's where Java technology comes into its own. Not only is it
portable, not only is there an existing code base to work with and
familiarity amongst developers, but it will be easy to move applications
from one system to another. That means consumers (and cable companies)
won't be left with antiquated systems that can only run a small range of
software.
Integrated with the Java TV API will be other related technologies.
For example, Java already has support for decoding and processing
multimedia content, through the Java Media Framework. New decoders for
television content can be added, as well as existing mechanisms such as
MPEG. Imagine a high speed cable network that allows audio playback of
MP3 music! As new content streaming formats are developed, applets can
gain access to decoders as they are added to the JMF. This means that
set-top software doesn't need to be manually updated - new formats can
be downloaded on-the-fly.
The Java TV API has the potential to revolutionize the Java
landscape. Sure, Java has made inroads into browsers, and is having
increasing success in the server-side market, but imagine the potential
of set-top boxes all around the world running Java. That's a big market
for Sun, for cable and television companies, and for software
developers.
For more information on the Java TV API, you can follow its progress
at Sun:
