Here we are again - a couple of pages telling you how it really is. What an interesting and varied month this has been! And a good month for Java. Lots of different things have been happening.

HALT! Just stop right there! You've probably stumbled across this column while merrily thumbing through this magazine, and you're now wondering what this lump of words is all about. You may have noticed this column in previous issues but couldn't be bothered to read it. After all, who'd blame you, since there aren't any pictures or fancy diagrams to support it. It's got to be dull, right?

This month I'm going to go down the route of employment, because here at N-ARY, we're going through the painful process of recruiting. As usual, I'm going to analogize my findings with a human personality trait - this month I'm going to go for loyalty. But I'll come back to that in a moment.

Until recently, Java reminded me of the talented kid in school who keeps getting C's and B's instead of A's. "He's bright," the teacher says, "but he's not working up to his potential." So far, most Java developers have used this brilliant language in a tactical rather than strategic way. Java has enabled faster, easier, more flexible programming to develop traditionally structured applications within a conventional systems model.

It's that time of year again - the time when we all pretend to get along with one another for a few weeks. It's the time for families to come out of the woodwork, for getting out that knitted pullover from the Auntie whose name you can never quite remember. I can't wait until the New Year comes round again so we can go back to disliking people. Bah humbug!

As we approach the end of the second millennium, history teaches us that the only thing that's certain is change. Both natural history and human history consist of changes that occur in waves. Like ocean waves pounding the seashore, transforming rocks and cliffs into sand, so the waves of revolution and change have altered the course of human history time and time again. As a software development company, the ProtoView Development Corporation has experienced and ridden many waves of technological innovation, including the current wave of Java technology. Each wave brings with it new ideas and techniques to add to the picture - and at the same time removes things from the software landscape by way of making them unnecessary and obsolete. This happened previously with the mainframe in the '60s and '70s, the PC in the '80s, Windows, the Internet and now Java in the '90s. While these upheavals aren't pleasant, or in some cases even welcome, they are fundamental, necessary and, most of all, inevitable.

Morning or is it afternoon? It could even be evening. Whatever it is, welcome. Another month has rolled in and we're now sailing dangerously close to that Christmas mark again. Goodness, where has the year gone? I've no idea. This is my wee corner of the journalistic minefield of the computing industry. Here I don't teach about Java. I don't take you through the joys of class design or the hell of class threading. Instead I ask you to sit back, push away the keyboard, tether the mouse and prepare yourself for some gentle mental stimulation as I give you some food for thought about the overall picture, the greater goal.

The tools available to the Java developer exhibit several unifying concepts, which provide a framework to explore the next transition in Java-development tools.

Here we are again, back for another look at the underbelly of Java. Those of you that don't know what I write about, stay tuned; those that do, feel free to jump to the next paragraph. Straight talking is what we do here. We strip away all the hype and look under the cover of the Java engine to see what's really ticking. What you'll find here is something you won't read in any book or discover in any other column. I'm not out to win friends or butter up any company. I'm here to tell the truth, and I hope to get you, the developer, thinking and talking about Java.

The year isn't long, is it? Time seems to be whipping along at a tremendous pace. It seems like only a couple of weeks ago that we were at JavaOne talking over all things Java with anyone prepared to listen. We spoke to Sun, IBM and Oracle, to name but a few of the big boys. Now, Oracle...well, there's a tale to be told. But first I'd better introduce this column. I got a bit excited there.

Come, friends, family and passersby, welcome to the start of a new column, from the good old keyboard of Alan Williamson. Some of you may have read my previous column under the banner name of 'Visual Cafe.' That column looked at various aspects of the Java language, including such goodies as POP and SMTP. This column is going to be somewhat different. I intend to strip away all of the media hype and marketing stories surrounding Java, and present you with a monthly look at the real Java: Java at the frontline. We will look at the problems facing developers on a daily basis: things like playing around with classpath's, shipping releases to other platforms and database drivers. If any of you have particular problems you have come across and successfully resolved, and you feel would be worth sharing, please e-mail me. Or even if you haven't solved them yet, e-mail me anyway. I am always interested in hearing about other people's problems---there is a strange comfort to be had knowing others are suffering equally as much!

What's all the fuss about Java? Like coffee addicts, people are running about with Java in their veins, hyped up in this new euphoria known generically as Java'. Unfortunately, many, if not most, don't really know or understand what it is all about, but they are enjoying the high anyway. The great majority seem to have garnered some idea that Java represents the uprising underdog, here to fight the battle against the great evil empire of the all-present Microsoft juggernaut. So what, after all, is this Java phenomena?

Sun Microsystems Sun strongly supports the open standards process -- open access to technology is what JavaSoft is built on. Not only do standards bodies make great contributions in keeping technologies stable and accessible to all comers, they enable a viable clone market. As Scott McNealy is fond of saying, "Bare your interfaces, compete on implementations!" This is the same business model that JavaSoft follows.

When it comes to Java, the world is basically divided into two major groups: the Java technologists and enthusiasts, and the rest of the IT community. The enthusiasts are thrilled by Java. They just explore the capabilities of this new technology. Nobody has to convince them about how useful Java really is. On the other hand, there is the rest of the world. Judged by numbers, this is the much larger group. Many IT people only hear the buzz on Java, the Internet and Intranet. Perhaps this is a little exaggerated, but many people believe that Java means only ticker tapes, flashing images and Tic Tac Toe.