Path: csiph.com!v102.xanadu-bbs.net!xanadu-bbs.net!feeder.erje.net!eu.feeder.erje.net!news-1.dfn.de!news.dfn.de!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail From: Nigel Wade Newsgroups: comp.lang.java.programmer Subject: Re: updates and so on Date: Fri, 22 Nov 2013 13:32:23 +0000 Lines: 30 Message-ID: References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: individual.net sd59UsfCqOsDwh+16KK7kwIc3WuRCp4P68m12MC1mHFBMohoC2 Cancel-Lock: sha1:N5QIjiccaQY0esUjE9BbSJ+ddHg= User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:17.0) Gecko/20130329 Thunderbird/17.0.5 In-Reply-To: Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.java.programmer:26573 On 21/11/13 01:54, Stefan Ram wrote: > Recently, Java had to be upgraded often due to several > security issues and also the procedure used to update Java > on the clients was subject to discussions. I just read this > text that was written about 1995 or 1996 in an early Java > whitepaper: > > »Operating on multiple platforms in heterogeneous > networks invalidates the traditional schemes of binary > distribution, release, upgrade, patch, and so on. To > survive in this jungle, the Java language must be > architecture-neutral, portable, and dynamically adaptable.« > > But it seems that Java today still relies on that same > »traditional schemes of binary distribution, release, > upgrade, patch, and so on«. (The »jungle« of course was part > of a text that often is given as the source for the choice > of the name »Java«.) > I think you are not making the distinction between Java the language (including programs written in the language), and Java the JVM which actually executes the compiled byte-code. The above quote I think refers to Java the language, which is still "architecture-neutral, portable, and dynamically adaptable". What does rely on, and has always relied on, "traditional schemes of binary distribution..." is the JVM. The regular binary distribution of updates/patches etc are fixes to the JVM, not the language. -- Nigel Wade