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Java on Intel-Based Apple

I have a question about the coming Intel-based Apples. Will they be the end of the Apple specific SDK? Will it now be as simple as pulling down an x86 version of a jar and just getting to work? Or, will Apple still slow things down by making me wait for a SDK from them?

This Post Has 8 Comments

  1. Sam Pullara 27 Dec 2005

    Are you asking if you can run the Windows or Linux x86 version on Mac OS X just because it is running on an x86? No you can’t. However, I think the releases will be faster because the only work they really have to do is for the graphics stuff instead of having their own Hotspot, etc. Lately, they have been much much better about it and the Java SDK releases are coming fast and furious for those who are developers.

  2. Charles Miller 27 Dec 2005

    You’ll still have to wait. The JDK still has to talk to the operating system, probably more so than it has to talk directly to the hardware.

    Presumably more work has been done to optimise the JDK and JIT for Intel than has been done for PPC, and Apple users might benefit from that, but that’s only a wild guess on my part with no real knowledge to back it up.

  3. Erik Weibust 27 Dec 2005

    Howdy Sam and Charles,

    Thanks for the quick response.

    I was really hoping I could just hit java.sun.com and download anything they’ve marked for Linux on x86. I guess that isn’t the case.

    I’m still not sure that I understand why not… 🙁

    Erik

  4. Jesse Wilson 28 Dec 2005

    The APIs for things like I/O, UI and printing are different on each operating system. For example, the windowing on Linux is X, wheras Macs use Quartz. Java’s value is adapting these OS specific interfaces to a platform independent one.

  5. Ugo Cei 28 Dec 2005

    Would you expect to be able to run the Windows JDK on Linux x86 (or Solaris) or viceversa just because it’s all x86? It’s going to be the same with OS X: different OS, different JDK, even if it’s the same CPU.

  6. Dalibor Topic 28 Dec 2005

    Kaffe has been ported to darwin-x86 since August 2004, so you can get as current as GNU Classpath gets on intel-macs without waiting for Apple.

    cheers,
    dalibor topic

  7. Erik Weibust 28 Dec 2005

    Great points by everybody, except me… I guess this was a dumb question.

    Erik

  8. Erik Weibust 28 Dec 2005

    I’ve started a new thread on this subject. See my latest blog post for further comments.

    Erik

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