day 64

tiny beans conquer world 1

It was used in rituals, financial transactions, and for daily nourishment. One publicity-happy English major called it "happy money," and until people became more educated, it was slurped down instead of eaten like cake. In fact, it was called chokola'j by the Mayans, which literally meant "to drink chocolate together." In "The True History of Chocolate" (Thames & Hudson, 1996), authors Sophie and Michael Coe describe the discovery of tiny, mysterious beans by conquistadors upon arrival in "New Spain." Chocolate beans, that is. Passing from Cortes, Richelieu, Louis XIV, Charles II, Oliver Cromwell, and Marquis de Sade, to Everyperson, chocolate beans have conquered the world. Will another tiny bean conquer the world of computing? Java is rapidly becoming more than mainstream -- it is becoming an industry. In fact, it has Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, Apple, Borland, Sybase, and just about everyone who is anyone looking in the rear view mirror. Java and, more threateningly, Java Beans are getting closer all the time. Will the Java industry steamroll over the slow-starter giants of the software industry, or will it fizzle? Many moons ago, Stewart Alsop said, "Let's get real. Java will not meet these expectations, [because] your average marketing-dweeb-turned-webmaster isn't going to be mastering Java and its C-like syntax any day soon." (Infoworld, Dec. 18, 1995, p. 114). Nine months ago, Alsop pointed to Macromedia's Shockwave and Director as the right choice, and likely successor to boring Visual BASIC from Microsoft. Today, nobody knows what Shockwave is, but everyone is learning Java. I hate to be square, but Java is inevitable.

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