Where did Java come from? Who's Duke? Why does he look like a tooth?
Being good technologists, we're usually focused on the future of things rather than the past. But I find it nice to pause every now and again and look back to see where things came from and how they became what they are. For instance, it's interesting that Java technology started out in the lab in futuristic prototype consumer device, but then in its first releases was known mostly as a browser technology (that's what the public and press understood in 1995), but is now back in the consumer world with a vengeance (for instance, running on several credit cards in my wallet, and on my mobile phone and my PDA).
There are a few charming narratives of Java platform history hidden around Sun's sites and the Internet. Some favorites are:
Java Technology: An Early History (1998) - Stories of early development starting from 1991, including some neat pictures of the *7 remote controller.
(http://java.sun.com/features/1998/05/birthday.html)
It's Duke's
Birthday, Too! (1999) - A fun history of Duke, the Java platform mascot, with some early pictures.
(http://java.sun.com/features/1999/05/duke.html)
The
Duke Gallery (1999) - More pictures of Duke.
(http://java.sun.com/features/1999/05/duke_gallery.html)
The Java
Saga by David Bank in Wired
(http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.12/java.saga.html)
