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V. Rishi Kumar

The father of Java, James Gosling, draws lessons from the toaster on how technology ought to, and ought not to, change. And stick to the middle standard, like Java.

James Gosling

JAMES Gosling, referred to as father and inventor of Java, is a techie with a difference. Now chief technology officer of Sun's Developer Platforms group, he is credited with building a satellite data acquisition system, a multi-processor version of Unix, several compilers, mail systems and window managers. In short, he is considered a Java evangelist.

In India recently, to attend the two-day Sun Tech Days held at Hyderabad, Gosling met with the community he is close to — the developers of Java. Associated with the original design of the Java programming language, he has recently been a contributor to the real-time specification for Java, and is associated with software development tools as a researcher at Sun Labs.

Speaking on issues relating to the developer community close to his heart, estimated at about 3,00,000 in the country, Gosling referred to Java as a standard in the middle. The Java technology easily harnesses the power of the network because it is both a programming language and a selection of specialised platforms. Thereby, this technology standardises the development and deployment of the kind of secure, portable and scalable applications required by the networked economy.

Gosling, who called Java a standard in the middle and drew lessons from the toaster, feels the developer community needs to broaden its technology understanding and not just be confined to the narrow coding work they normally do when on a project.

"Whenever I think about the future, I am confronted with the image of my mother's toaster. It was a wedding present, so it is about a year older than I am. I have it now, and it still works. People in the computer business generally don't think about artefacts having lifetimes anywhere close to that. But the toaster is instructive."

"Just look at how the toaster has changed and how it has not. Lots of different styles are available. Different materials are being used in their construction. They have fancy sensors and timers now. But the basic interfaces are pretty much the same — a plug and slots for the bread. That's because, years ago, it was clear that the power of plug was a good place to standardise two metal prongs accepting AC (alternating current), another standard. The plugs are a bit different now, but not so different that I can't use my mom's old toaster. We need to think of computers and networks and all sorts of intelligent devices in the same way — and in the same kind of timeframe," he says. The Internet is the best thing that has happened to the world in terms of being a great platform for people to interface notwithstanding the bubble burst. While there were extraordinary projections about the growth of the Internet, which did not happen due to the bubble burst, there are indications to show that there is resurgence and this can only get better by the day, he feels. "As we move towards a future of intelligence in everything, we need to think about which things are likely to evolve and which are not. In terms of technology, we really want to create a world in which as few things as possible need to be stable, so that as much possible can be evolved," he explains.

"These are exciting times, where technology can change the way we live. Therefore, the message for the community of developers is to have a broader perspective of the technology landscape rather than getting confined to the narrow area of coding we work with. Half of the developer population is on the professional side of Java technology development. These are really exciting times and the 8-9 years of Internet reflects that this is getting better by the day as more devices get connected bringing issues of interoperability," he says. "The networked world is a mixture of a lot of technologies, where standardisation is missing. However, this is aimed at making life easier. For instance, when I was planning to purchase a car about four years ago, I surfed the Web and found a Volvo car to my specification located at one of the dealerships. Having decided on the car, I took barely five minutes to finalise the purchase to the surprise of the salesman. This only shows that the Internet has grown by several aspects, making it better. Developers continue to strive to make it better."

"India has a broad range of skill sets. The Silicon Valley has top Indian engineers. There is no need to go to the valley for jobs as jobs are knocking at the door back here. As excitement continues, I would strive to broaden the scope of Java technology interacting with developers," he says.

Picture by Roy Chowdhury

vrishi@thehindu.co.in

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