Re: Eiffel and Java

[David Hanley <david@netright.com>]

Jean-Michel P. Decombe wrote:
> 
> In article <550sm2$sn1@buggy.news.easynet.net>, Sacha@easynet.fr (Vincent
> WEBER) wrote:
> 
> > different). So... Why don't Eiffel and Java merge ?? Maybe it would be a grat
> 
> I believe that Java is not the death of other languages. Java demonstrates
> that it's possible to write a language which is really
> platform-independent and "distributed". Nothing prevents Meyer from
> writing a new version of Eiffel, totally portable and based on a Virtual
> Machine, then port this VM on a large number of platforms, including a
> JITC, etc. With the promise of a true platform-independent language, I'm
> sure a good number of people would be willing to try it, including myself.
> The only problem that remains would be a possible inclusion of this VM in
> major browsers. But I believe most browsers will become very customizable
> and won't be restricted to Java in the future, plus they will eventually
> merge in the OS anyway...

	I suppose this would work, but I think it would make a lot more sense 
to simply compile eiffel to java byte codes.  If he were to do this, he
could,
with very little work, have eiffel available on a large numer of
platforms
(os/2, windows, unix, mac ) immediately, and take advantage of a lot of
work
alredy done by other  people.

> 
> Java is just the beginning of a new era, but it's certainly not the
> language who will necessarily win in the end. For now, it's the only one
> to do what it does, thus it's the "current" winner...

	Sure... But it's smart to leverage on the gains it has made.

	dave