32 JAVA_VRML
Description
This article is from the Amiga Networking FAQ, by Richard Norman with numerous contributions by others.
32 JAVA_VRML
What is JAVA and VRML, and are they available for the Amiga?
JAVA is being spearheaded by SUN Microsystems,and you can check their web site for details.
JAVA is a new language for the WWW that has more power than HTML . Don't expect it to replace HTML any time soon though. JAVA is intended to augment HTML by allowing web page authors to provide programs which run on the client's machine. These programs can be anything from an animation to a full blown user interface into a remote database or application. In fact there is more than one form of JAVA: JAVA as applets, JAVA as applications, and JAVAScript.
JAVA applets run in the context of a web browser. Currently there are no Amiga web browsers that support JAVA applets, but that could change soon.
JAVA applications require an interpreter called a virtual machine (VM).
JAVAScript is more of a Basic langauage which is only supported by Netscape and Microsoft's Internet Explorer. It was developed by Netscape and SUN.
Since JAVA is a programming language, you can find tools on the new GEEK GADGETS cd rom from Cronus .
JAVA is being ported to the Amiga. Niall Teasdale has a web page on the project which is being called P'Jami.
There are also several other ports of JAVA underway. One is called Kaffe and it supplies a VM to run JAVA applications. Another is the JAVA JIT compiler.
VRML is Virtual Reality Markup Langauge which is being spearheaded by SGI. This language also augments HTML and allows web authors to add 3d graphics, or to build 3d graphics worlds (virtual reality) which can be navigated over the web or locally.
Remember Calagari? The Amiga 3d graphics package which became Truespace when they ported to the PC. Well they are heavily involved with SGI in developing VRML tools. Even if there is no Amiga port of VRML viewers, you can still get your Amiga 3d graphics objects into VRML format. Lightwave has a VRML saver. Also there are DXF to VRML converters on other platforms.
You can always use one of the web search engines to find tons of Java and VRML stuff.
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