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In case you haven't already noticed, I'm very heavily involved with Java development. As part of this, I like to make as much of my software freely available as possible. A lot of this java development comes from book writing where developing the book also provides a lot of applications for general consumption.
URN : Uniform Resource Name You are probably highly familiar with the URN's sibling the URL. URLs specify the exact location of a resource. URNs are, depending on you viewpoint, a much more advanced concept from the URL. The idea of a URN is to name a resource without telling you exactly where to find it. When you try to access the named resource, all of that tracking is done under the hood. Sound strange? Well there is not much different between a domain name - say www.vlc.com.au - and a URN. Somehow, both have to be turned from some abstract representation into a concrete item, all of which takes place under the hood.
URNs are quite an interesting beast. I'm working within the
Internet Engineering Task Force
URN Working Group developing URNs into a
tool for all applications. As part of this, I have released a Java
implementation of the whole URI family that replaces the
JSDT: Java Shared Data Toolkit JSDT is part of Sun's Java Media Framework initiative. I've been using JSDT and it's predecessor JSDA since mid 1997 when it was first released. During that time I've been active in not only testing and deploying applications based on the API but also improving the capabilties available through close associations with the Sun development team. What does JSDT do? It provides a level of abstraction to provide realtime collaborative applications. What this does is allow you to create a shared object where all users see exactly the same view of the data. Based on the standard event listener pattern, this makes it perfect for building anything from simple applications like shared whiteboards right up to complex video and audio conferencing sessions. As you can guess, JSDT is quite a favourite of mine in my toolkit. There are many ways you can find out more about it. Apart from the homepage mentioned above, I maintain the JSDT FAQ. In my book Java 2 Networking there are three chapters devoted entirely to JSDT - that's around 100 pages. Also, you can check out the JSDT Author's JSDT page. Finally, you can look through my pages on JSDT and some of my software that has been released to support it.
Java3D: 3D Extension API for Java Java 3D is anotherpart of Sun's Java Media APIs that is geared towards providing 3D graphics. J3D, as it is commonly known, provides a realtime 3D programming interface. You've probably heard of OpenGL that is another, very similar API. There are many different 3D APIs now available for the Java language including bindings for OpenGL. The difference is that J3D comes as part of the standard extensions from Sun and provides better integration with other media forms such as 2D and audio. Java3D is probably my latest interest in java (although Jini is rapidly catching up). I'm a co-author of the Java3D FAQ and active in many different areas of the API. For example, we're developing various applications with it at work. Also, I've done a lot of work on the VRML Browser written in Java3D. Finally, I'm also in the process of writing a couple of books on the subject. Read on for more
VRML: Virtual Reality Modelling Language Finally, the stuff that got me started is VRML. I owe a lot to the VRML community for getting me established in many senses. These days, I lead most of the charge in the integration of Java and VRML. Firstly this came through the leadership of the VRML Scripting and Event Model Working Group as Chair (no longer in existance). Also, I'm Chair of the External Authoring Interface Working Group. As part of this work I am also the author of a current ISO Committee Draft specification for the EAI. All of these involve a lot of java work. Finally, I was also co-chair of the Next Generation Scripting Interface Working Group Apart from all this heavy involvement at the working group level, I've also developed a lot of code for libraries and applications that deal with VRML. Perhaps the best known of these is JVerge, a set of classes that implements all of the VRML nodes in any environment. These tools are still very popular and have had a great ability to smooth the integration of VRML and Java together for the average programmer. Today I am no longer involved in any VRML related efforts. I still answer the odd question on it, but it is no longer a prime focus.
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