No Java Announcement Sun's EmbeddedJava platform delayed By Alexander Wolfe, EE Times San Jose, Calif. -- In a real-time turnabout, Sun Microsystems Inc. has scrapped long-standing plans to unveil its eagerly anticipated EmbeddedJava platform at this week's Embedded Systems Conference West here, EE Times has learned. "We won't be announcing at the conference," said a spokeswoman at Sun's Javasoft subsidiary (Palo Alto, Calif.). "There are a few more things we want to work out with our partners to perfect the first release." Sun now hopes to premiere EmbeddedJava by the end of the year, she said, but added that it might not be ready until next spring. The delay could put more pressure on Sun to ensure that EmbeddedJava quells the technical debate that has been brewing in the real-time community over Java's performance. Currently, engineers appear to be split into two distinct camps. One group believes Java suffers from inherent performance problems that stem from the interpreted nature of the programming language. The second camp acknowledges that Java isn't as fast as assembly language, but says "So what?" and points to a host of performance-boosting Java compilers now in the works. One real-time expert said there's nothing nefarious behind the EmbeddedJava delay, despite the fact that hints from Sun had raised expectations of a high-profile launch at this week's conference. "They're working on getting PersonalJava [Sun's platform for set-top boxes and Internet devices] done first," said the source. "They really want to get it shipping already. From what I've seen, it looks like they're real close." "It was thought we'd have something to be working with by now, so we're expectantly waiting," said Peter Dibble, senior scientist at Microware Systems Corp. (Des Moines, Iowa). "But you have to remember that coming up with a [platform] takes a lot of work. I'm very respectful of the job Sun is doing. I believe EmbeddedJava will be a good product." However, it could be well into next year before Sun ships actual code to the real-time operating-system (RTOS) vendors that have licensed EmbeddedJava. Indeed, many of those licensees have talked a fair amount about their plans for PersonalJava but far less about EmbeddedJava. According to a source close to Sun, the biggest challenge facing the team working to complete EmbeddedJava is fitting the platform--consisting of a Java virtual machine (JVM) and a hefty set of software libraries--into a tight memory footprint of less than 500 kbytes of RAM and 500 kbytes of ROM. Indeed, the source said that Sun is already "beginning to hit the limits of shrinkability" with PersonalJava, which is a cousin of EmbeddedJava. The Sun engineers are also at work on new algorithms to speed garbage collection--the freeing up of memory locations that an application no longer needs. However, Sun is expected to steer clear of the enormous performance boost that direct compilation can provide. Though the technology speeds execution by converting applications straight into native machine code, it can also destroy Java's promise of platform-neutral software that runs equally well on a PC, Mac or Unix machine. "Compilation is one of the alternatives we have to examine for increasing performance," said Alice Farrelly, senior product manager for EmbeddedJava at Javasoft. "But there's some fragility introduced into the [embedded] device if there's a problem with the compiler. So the ideal approach is to get performance considerations addressed in the core application-programming interfaces as much as possible." If EmbeddedJava is to succeed, it will need support from RTOS vendors. A good number of them--including Geoworks, Microware, QNX and Wind River Systems--are already on board, according to Sun, which last week disclosed its roster of EmbeddedJava licensees. Chorus Systems Inc. (Campbell, Calif.), recently acquired by Sun, is also in the fold. Outside the RTOS world, communications powerhouse Lucent Technologies is a licensee. In technical terms, the license agreement means that the RTOS vendors will be able to integrate the EmbeddedJava binaries into their operating-system environments. "They will take the technology, combine it with their real-time kernels and take it to market," said David Spenhoff, director of marketing at Javasoft. "You need hardware and you need an operating system to go under EmbeddedJava," explained Microware's Dibble. "EmbeddedJava provides the JVM and, more importantly, a set of software libraries. Even though the libraries are a subset of what you get with [full-blown] Java, there's still lots of functionality." Still unclear is just whether the EmbeddedJava JVM will be equipped with a conventional Java interpreter or a faster technology such as the Hot Spot optimizing compiler. "You can do a lot to improve the performance of interpreters, but all the work you do adds significantly to memory consumption," said Vladimir Ivanovic, technical marketing engineer at Microtec Research Inc. (Santa Clara, Calif.), which has licensed PersonalJava. "If you go to a just-in-time [JIT] compiler, you'll end up using up a lot more memory. If you go to the Hot Spot technology, you'll use up huge amounts of memory. So if you're restricted to an embedded device, you'll probably have to stick with the straight Java interpreter, which is maybe 10 to 30 times slower than regular C." But RTOS vendors are expected to use a flexible approach to adapt Sun's technology to the demands of the embedded world. For example, Microtec plans to offer both a Java interpreter on top of its VRTX RTOS as well as directly compiled Java for applications that require higher performance. (Next article) (c) 1997 CMP Media, Inc [This article comes from EE Times in a joint cooperative effort with the Motley Fool. For more articles like it, please look at Fool's Gold every weekend or simply go to the Fool's Gold Mine and page through our back issues, which all have clever and cool EE Times articles in them.]

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