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🍵 How Java Was Born — Two Fails And A Win
The history of Java programming language is surprising in every aspect. The language you’d not bet on, just like on NFT’s actually made it through for a very good reason only some people believed in for many, many years
The Study Project
James Gosling was most likely studying at Carnegie Mellon University when his professor wanted to run Pascal apps on the lab’s DEC VAC computers.
To accomplish it, he wrote a virtual machine that was able to do it. The idea was to simulate the underlying system, so that the Pascal app thinks it’s running on the proper machine, while in fact, the machine is simulated by another system.
It was at that time when Gosling realized that if there was a unified virtual machine, an app would be able to run on any system that implements that virtual machine.
Years later, these experiences influenced what Java became.
Java & Interactive TV Fail (I)
Java was conceived by James Gosling, Mike Sheridan, and Patrick Naughton in June 1991 (or 1994 depending on the source)
James Gosling was working at that time for Sun Microsystems.
Initially, Java was designed for interactive TVs. We all know it was a failed idea, but in 1998 it seemed interesting, because interactivity was just about to find its place. From the start, the interactive TV idea didn’t have rizz:
The real question is how to make a show like Friends interactive," said Kaldor. "Does the audience want to be able to throw a pie in Monica’s face? — Sean Kaldor, vice president of Consumer Devices for International Data Corporation (IDC) (source)
Java creators had trouble to find an application for the promise of something we’d call today a cross-system support out of the box.
The angle for TVs failed and could take Java with it.
There was a need for a pivot, and Sun Microsystems was already up to something.
