THE FEEL OF JAVA

Java evolved out of a Sun research project started six years ago to lo ok into distributed control of consumer electronics devices. At that t ime, the priorities of the consumer electronics industry were quite di fferent from those in the computer industry. Whereas five years ago th e computer industry's mantra was compatibility, the consumer electroni cs industry considered security, networking, portability, and cost far more important. The buzzwords that have been applied to Java-distribu ted computing, architecture neutrality, and so on-derive directly from this context. This article provides a firsthand account of some of th e design decisions underlying Java and the rationale behind them.