Java Most Common Language for Web-based Apps
Strategic Focus (Milpitas, Calif., www.strategicfocus.com), a market research and software evaluation firm, announced the results of a study on the "Trends in Web and Java Applications Development Markets." The survey focuses on the growing number of Windows NT Java-based Web applications being built.
One of the key findings in the study is that in 2 years, 34.8 percent of all Web-based applications developed will be written in Java. "This represents a 138 percent increase in Java-based Web applications being developed," says Jay Prakash, president and principal consultant, Strategic Focus. "The number one reason for the spread of Java is that the language’s universality and portability have caught the imagination of users," he says.
The growing number of tools being built for Java-based Web applications is another factor. "There are many more products now than there were 6 months ago that ease the deployment of Java apps," Prakash continues. For instance, Oracle Corp.’s Oracle 2000 2.0 and Netscape Communications Corp.’s Applications Server now support Java.
Of course, there are detrimental factors to the growth of Java. Two Java camps currently exist that are battling over whether Java will ever be one standard language or there will be different versions. "With one camp, clearly the growth rate would be faster," says Prakash. "But Java is here to stay. IBM’s behind it, and many other major players are too."
Another interesting point brought to life in the study is that in 2 years HTML will still be used by more Web developers than Dynamic HTML (DHTML). Indeed, 29.4 percent of the respondents said that they will be using HTML in 2 years. "People don’t know enough about Dynamic HTML yet. It’s out there and people are saying it will be the next-generation HTML, but its share as measured by the apps built for it will grow slowly," says Prakash.
"Trends in Web and Java Applications Development Markets" was conducted to explore the trend of Java-based applications coming to market in the next two years. The result are based on a mailed survey of 200 MIS managers and application developers at large corporations.