Q&A: James Gosling, the father of Java

IT PRO spoke to the man who created Java about where it came from, its status today and what direction the language is headed in.

By Maggie Holland, 16 Mar 2007 at 11:36

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I've seen the same since I've been here. People are stuck with such and such a version and they need a software pack from vendor X but that package is tied into a particular version, which the vendor is happy to sell them. The package would work but if they don't upgrade the vendor claims it won't support it. So they have something that takes five minutes and costs them $25 million and they're left feeling really abused.

Your current role at Sun is as a research fellow looking specifically and software development tools and you seem to travel about quite a lot having been in Malaysia last week, London this and headed towards Paris next week. Have you noticed any similarities or differences as you globe trot?

I tend to have this weird butterfly-like life where I flit back and forth to this and that. I have a 'To Do' list that is so long. It's a big issue.

The software development community is different to most others because pretty much everyone lives on the internet these days. So wherever you are on the planet, you can have access to the latest and greatest everything.

The differences tend to be more about the local business [trade] of that country.

Malaysia is a remarkably modest Asian country and Kuala Lumpur could be the set of a science fiction movie. London and Malaysia have so many similarities. It's pretty consistent as the developer community doesn't have any national borders.

Finally, many people talk about what they'd like to come back as if they had the opportunity of a real second life. If you could be brought back as any type of computer program, what would you be and why?

If I were reincarnated I'd come back as software for some jet propulsion laboratory (JPL) space mission because it would be so different.