Re: [Jmol-developers] About 'required' JVM

[mth <mt...@mt...>]

> Miguel asked about raising the required JVM version to 1.3.
...
> But, this should not mean that we can not use more advanced stuff...
>
> This is my proposal:
>
> For at least one year I want to keep the applet 1.1 only. If their are
> good  reasons to have Java 1.2 stuff or higher, we should use this, but
> in this  manner:
>
> 1. the default is 1.1 only (i.e. for the applet classes)
> 2. patches will be made/distributed that 'enhance' Jmol with 1.2+ stuff
> to  increase performance/features etc...
>
> Ant can apply patches, so the build process can be adapted to either
> build the  applet distro (without the patches) and a application (with
> or without) the  patches...
>
> How does that sound?
Summary
=======
 - I agree that we need to maintain jvm 1.1 compatibility for the applet
 - I have introduced code which is *not* jvm 1.1 compatible
 - I will fix it over the next few weeks
 - I will try to come up with some techniques to make it easier

Discussion
==========
I have been thinking about this and doing a little research for the past
few days. That is why I have waited to respond.

Although I have done plenty of software development over *many* years, I
am relatively new to Java development. I did some Java coding in the
mid-late 90's, but only for fun. Therefore, I have not kept up with all
the version changes and political battles over the years. So I had to go
back and do some research to understand the implications of what "jvm 1.1"
means.

I must say that I am disappointed about having to code to jvm 1.1, but I
guess everyone else is too. Nevertheless, I agree that it is important
that we support the browsers with their native virtual machines.
Therefore, I reluctantly agree that we need to maintain 1.1 compatibility
with the jmol applet.

Over the past couple of weeks I have introduced quite a bit of code which
is *not* 1.1 compatible. I need to correct that, and will do so within the
next week or two. Because of the changes I made to DisplayPanel I need to
work on applet/DisplayPanel anyway.

Also, I have some ideas on introducing some wrapper classes which may make
it easier for us to generally code to 1.3 while maintaining backwards
compatibility with 1.1. I'll experiment with them and if it works, then
I'll check it in.

Miguel