Thursday, November 25, 2004

Re: GNU Classpath

Did you know about this project? Apparently it's associated with Red Hat. These guys are developing the Java API from scratch. Since Sun isn't making it open source, they are doing the next best thing.

I guess the rational behind this project is that the JCP doesn't really listen to the "small guy". Only big companies have a voice. So with this anyone can include their 2 cents.


Its understandable that some guys want a FREE modifiable version of Java. But personally I think it will harm the language as it will definitely break WORA.

Gnu guys have a lot of good software. But Gnu Classpath will not work as there is no industry support. You'll just have a bunch of ultra geeks coding in it for kicks. Check out Gcj. This is one of the compilers
in the Gnu platform which allows Java code to be compiled to native binaries directly.

Sun is not making Java free for modification. But almost all the source is open. At this link you can download the entire source of the Sun JDK. So not only are the Java API's open but also the JDK which is really really amazing.

Any small guy can make himsself heard if it is really sensible. There are so many open source projects which are causing changes in the Java API because the ideas are really good. But no one is really interested in Gnu Classpath.

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