Qondio
Front
Intel
IntelMart
Shares
My Qondio
Account
frenstemichele > Intel > jPhone?

qondio.com/8kZW PRINT EMAIL

jPhone?

Paul Krill reported that Sun has looked at the iPhone SDK and thinks that it can port Java to the iPhone. It will be placed up on AppStore as an application, so I wonder what the user experience will be for apps that actually run Java, especially for the first time on a phone that doesn’t have it installed.

Don’t get me wrong, I want Java on the phone, just like I want full RubyCocoa, PyCocoa, CocoaJS, and any other language that you fancy.

Background Processes

So, the iPhone doesn’t allow background processes:

Only one iPhone application can run at a time, and third-party applications never run in the background. This means that when users switch to another application, answer the phone, or check their email, the application they were using quits.

This makes me worry about Java too. Startup has never been a good point of the JVM. If I flip to a Java app am I going to have to wait for the bugger to startup? Is there going to be a way to load one VM and keep it loaded (doesn’t seem like it).

It seems like this is just a guideline and not a firm issue:

I’m a programmer and I just tried it [using the iPhone SDK] and you can keep your app running in the background in the normal way ApolloIM and iFob do it. I.e. overriding applicationSuspend.

Even more worrying though is this part of the developer agreement:

3.3.2 An Application may not itself install or launch other executable code by any means, including without limitation through the use of a plug-in architecture, calling other frameworks, other APIs or otherwise. No interpreted code may be downloaded and used in an Application except for code that is interpreted and run by Apple’s Published APIs and built-in interpreter(s).

Although it has been suggested that this is to stop non AppStore code, it seems to go a lot further than that.

Open source and the iPhone

Also, Mark Pilgrim has written up thoughts on whether iPhone apps can be GPL:

Since all iPhone apps must be distributed through a third-party (Apple’s “App Store”), that would make Apple the “distributor.” Which would mean that Apple — acting as the distributor of GPL-licensed object code — must provide source code or a written offer to provide source code. It’s analogous to a Linux distribution — they distribute binaries of upstream GPL programs, so they need to host the source code as well.

Contributed by frenstemichele on April 3, 2008, at 9:27 AM UTC.

Reactions

No reactions yet.

Rate This Intel

Please login or sign up to rate this intel.

Comments

Please login or sign up to add a comment.

Share

Copyright Notice

The copyright for this content entitled "jPhone?" has been specified by the contributor as:

All Rights Reserved

This content may not be copied, distributed or adapted by anyone under any circumstances.

Login Here with
Any Email Address
Any Password
No account? Sign up.

Intel Contributor
This intel was contributed by frenstemichele

Qondio Archive
May, 2012
123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031


2008
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2009
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2010
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2011
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2012
January, February, March, April, May

Sign Up
Not a member yet? Qondio is a powerful network for making it online. If you have a website to promote, we can help. Sign up and get in on the action.

About Qondio
Welcome to Qondio! Discover the awesome power this network can deliver by going to our About page. Or you could skip straight to the Sign Up form.

ABOUT
SUCCESS GUIDE
FEATURES
FAQ
ADVERTISE
CONTACT
USAGE POLICY
PRIVACY POLICY


TWITTER
FACEBOOK