a case for reconsidering JEP 398: Deprecate the Applet API for Removal

[Eric Bresie]

Is this a case where an alternative would be a possible migration path? Something like https://openwebstart.com/ ?

Eric Bresie
Ebresie at gmail.com (mailto:Ebresie at gmail.com)

> On April 15, 2021 at 6:59:55 PM CDT, Mario Torre <neugens.limasoftware at gmail.com (mailto:neugens.limasoftware at gmail.com)> wrote:
> Unlike the options available to the previous generations with other software, in 2030 you’ll still have the option to add back applet support and compile your own JDK if you need to support a 20 years old - never updated - application.
>
> Cheers,
> Mario
>
> —
> Mario Torre
> Java Champion and OpenJDK contributor
>
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> Twitter: @neugens
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> > On Thursday, Apr 15, 2021 at 23:13 (x-apple-data-detectors://7), <mark.yagnatinsky at barclays.com (mailto:mark.yagnatinsky at barclays.com) (mailto:mark.yagnatinsky at barclays.com)> wrote:
> > And answer came there none?
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Yagnatinsky, Mark : Markets Pre Trade
> > Sent: Tuesday, April 6, 2021 10:14 AM
> > To: Remi Forax <forax at univ-mlv.fr (mailto:forax at univ-mlv.fr)>; Mark Rotteveel <mark at lawinegevaar.nl (mailto:mark at lawinegevaar.nl)>
> > Cc: jdk-dev <jdk-dev at openjdk.java.net (mailto:jdk-dev at openjdk.java.net)>
> > Subject: RE: a case for reconsidering JEP 398: Deprecate the Applet API for Removal
> >
> > > Java loads classes lazily, so depending on how the application is
> > > coded, it may not an issue at all
> >
> > I think the usual pattern is
> >
> > class MyLittleApp extends Applet {
> > public static void main(String... args) {
> > invokeLater(some runnable that creates the main window);
> > }
> > }
> >
> > And I think here Java has to load Applet eagerly because Applet might have a static init block.
> >
> > And yes, I agree that this is not an issue until 2030 or so.
> > But if I wait until then to speak up, the response will likely be:
> > "Why didn't you say anything when we were making these decisions? You had a whole decade."
> >
> > And yes, writing an agent would work if the application is popular enough.
> > Lots of things are possible for applications that are popular enough.
> > But there's a long tail of things that are not popular enough.
> >
> > In my first email I included as an example some Java code that some professor wrote as a companion to a book on computational geometry in C.
> > (Yes, the book was about C; the Java code is just "bonus content".) I expect that once that professor retires, this code will have zero maintainers.
> >
> > My concern is for this "long tail" of combo desktop apps / java applets that are not popular at all, but still appreciated by their few users.
> >
> > Thoughts?
> >
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