Who's Using Java?
Survey Results
by David Belson
The Webmasters' Guild polled over 200 of its members to find out if and how they were using Java. Here's what they had to say.
On January 23, 1997, a brief survey about Java usage was distributed to the
members of
the Webmasters' Guild announcement mailing list, and responses were
collected through
the end of February. Questions posed to the Guild membership included:
- Are you using Java for anything on your Web site? If so, what are you using
it for?
- If you aren't using it, why not? What issues need to be resolved before you
will begin
using Java?
- As Java becomes more ubiquitous, what impact do you think it will have on
either the lone
Webmaster, or the Webmaster team? Will people need to be added to the team?
Will the
roles of existing team members change?
RESPONSE
Out of 201 usable responses, 69 (34.33%) Guild members said that they were
using Java
on their Web sites, while 132 (65.67%) said that they were not. Respondents
that are using
Java frequently noted that they were using it for 'bells and whistles' like
scrolling text,
animated graphics, and navigation bars. Members of the non-Java camp cited
reasons
including speed, security, lack of time to learn, no pressing need, and the
ability to do the
same things with CGI scripts. Lone Webmasters, already swamped with
responsibilities,
are looking towards programmers for assistance, while other Guild members
see an
expanded role for the programmer on the Web team.
THE CUP IS HALF FULL
Michael Bohlmann, Webmaster for CollaTech, Inc. noted as one of the first
survey
respondents, "We use a few simple Java applets on a few pages just for some
extra flair,
but we don't use it for any major applications." Michael's comments were echoed
repeatedly in responses from other members, as over 30 respondents stated
that they were
using Java for 'bells and whistles'. Several others said that they were
just using 'simple
applets', without offering any detail.
However, other Webmasters are in what marketing guru Geoffrey Moore calls
the 'early
adopter' and 'visionary' stages, using Java for more than flair: developing
applications that
add value to their Intranets and external Web sites. (For an interview with
Geoffrey Moore,
see the January 1997 issue of Internet World.) Martin Jackson, a Senior
Systems Engineer
with ROW Sciences, has used Java to implement applets including an on-line
phone book
where users can make live corrections, a system that handles bibliography
queries and
submissions, interactive graphing of scientific data, a Web site map, and a
database data
and data structure explorer, as well as two data collection applications
for enzyme and
blood analysis.
STATMAN Information Systems, according to Jay Wasack, has "developed Java
applications to display both live sports events and replays of prior events
with the ability to
choose particular stats display screens of interest or see leading scorers,
etc." Ferris State
University is using Java to provide a virtual campus tour, and is also
using it to display
graphs of institutional data explained Dale Hobart, Manager of
Instructional Technologies.
Bentley Systems, Inc., according to Webmaster Bill Rowley, is implementing
a Java-based
chat program that will allow customers to chat with a technical analyst in
real time. Rowley
notes, "There is also a feature that will allow our analyst to 'drive'
their computer or for
them to 'drive' the analyst's computer...to see exactly what the customer
is doing."
Edward Barry, Manager of MCI's Infolink Applications Development, said that
they are
using Java to implement a Video Bulletin Board application, which displays
messages of
significant network events in their Network Management Centers and Field
Operations
Terminals.
Interfacing with a database was another use of Java listed by several
Webmasters. "Instead
of using multiple form submissions to CGI, the Java applet version of the
UI allows us to
maintain state and communicate with a database without leaving the page,"
said Faisal
Siddiqi, a Web Applications Developer for Policy Management Systems
Corporation. He
underscored the value of Java for interactivity, commenting, "We havefound Java
applicable to almost all of our interactivity requirements in Web
applications. We find
ourselves resorting to trickery and shortcuts using plain HTML/JavaScript
and CGI to
attain simple targets such as state maintenance and data validation without
getting much
benefit of reusability. We hope to change this with increased Java development."
Webmasters currently using Java are forming the core of a group that will
quickly grow to
critical mass, seeing widespread usage of Java on Web sites. Michelle
Arney, a Principal of
the Meeker Group, insightfully comments, "Like most truly brilliant and unique
developments, Java is ahead of its time for most of society (geeks
excluded). The fact that
it is not being used on every Web site does not mean that it is not useful.
Its usefulness will
be shown when the corporate world's need (or recognition of the need) for
platform
independent applications exceeds the activation energy for developing these
applications in
Java."
Like the photocopier, Java may be a solution to a problem that doesn't
readily present
itself. However, ever-resourceful Webmasters are searching for these
problems, as Scott
Brooky, Associate Editor of ACP Online points out, "We'd use Java in a
second, if we
were suddenly confronted by the 'killer applet' that our
users -- physicians -- would find
useful. This is bound to happen soon."
THE CUP IS HALF EMPTY
"Java is like sex: everyone is talking about it -- and writing books about
it -- but no one is
using it," comments Paul Thurrott, Webmaster at Big Tent Media Labs.
Why is it that the adoption of Java has been slow among members of the
Webmasters'
Guild? Could it be because "Perl is better," as Sean Brunnock of Server
Corporation
believes? Or possibly because there are no clear advantages over existing
methodologies,
and no clear indications that using Java produces a return on investments?
Concerns about
speed, stability, browser compatibility, learning curves? Whatever it may
be, respondents
to the survey gave many well-founded reasons, and were certainly very
vocal, about why
they've decided not to implement Java on their Web sites.
The hype over Java may have gotten the better of it. E. Forrest Carpenter,
an Interactive
Designer with Inline Design, comments, "We simply feel that far too many
denizens of the
Web, both old and new, are jumping on the bandwagon of an unproven and
overhyped
medium we refer to as 'the toaster-programming language that somehow
escaped the lab.'"
Thomas Smailus, a Research Associate at Louisiana State University,
concurs, "... it is just
an overhyped tool that doesn't need to be used by everyone just because it
exists and is a
buzzword." "Java = lots of steam and no beans," says Todd Schacherl,
Webmaster at
Storage Dimensions. With its promises of platform independence and new ways of
thinking about interactivity on the Web, it apparently still has a way to
go in convincing
Webmasters to believe in it, much less use it.
While the caffeine in a double mocha cappuccino may speed up those that
drink it, Java
applets are doing little to speed up the 'World Wide Wait', as the Web is
commonly called.
Many Webmasters are working on sites whose audiences are primarily modem
users, and
over 20 Guild members specifically cited speed and bandwidth issues as ones
that need to
be resolved before they will begin using Java. Matt Etling, Webmaster at
TEC Direct, feels,
"Speeds need to be faster so that when an applet loads, it loads. No
pauses, no delay."
Additionally, many Webmasters understand that their users are not likely to
be using 200
MHz Pentium Pro workstations to surf the Web, and E. Forrest Carpenter
notes, "...it
seems that there are few programmers who can create an app that doesn't bog
down a
processor are few and far between," and points to a possible lack of
efficiency in Java.
Even though Java has been around for a number of years in its various
forms, it is still a
young language, with only a handful of wizard-level programmers. As
programmers get
more experience with Java, writing tighter code, and as object and code reuse becomes
more common, applets will become progressively smaller. Companies like Sun and
Microsoft are also aware of the need for speed, and are constantly
releasing new versions
of their Java Development Kits (JDKs) and Java Virtual Machines (VMs),
which promise
faster Java applets with each release.
On the hardware end, greater
availability of high-
performance machines, along with ever-increasing modem speeds, will help to
mitigate
Webmaster concerns about lengthy download and execution times.
David Belson is an active member of the Webmasters'
Guild.
He is an Internet Sales Engineer for BBN Planet, and is pursuing a Master's
Degree in
Technical and Professional Writing at Northeastern University in Boston, MA.
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