RE: [Aimmath-developers] why do we need jdk

[Neil S. <N.P...@sh...>]

> Does someone know why AiM need the full java development kit rather than
> just the runtime?
>
> Gustav

That's a good question.  Of course, you probably need the jdk to get a
compiler etc, allowing you to compile the servlet, but the standard AIM
distribution includes precompiled class files, so it need not include the
compiler.  Also, when we get around to implementing quiz and subject sharing
properly, we will want AIM to be able to create zip files.  Assuming we have
the jdk, we can use the jar program to do this; but there are doubtless
other possibilities.

If we can get away with the jre (= java runtime environment), that would be
good, as many people will have it installed already.  We would need to know
where to look, however.  Under Windows XP professional, I have a JRE at
C:\Program Files\JavaSoft\JRE\1.3.1  I am not sure how standard this
location
is, or how exactly it came to be installed there; in particular, I am not
sure whether every Windows XP installation has the jre installed by default.

Neil