Probably the biggest single supporter of Java is IBM. The largest computer company on the planet demonstrates its support with products, with research, with free downloadable code, and with open participation in the user community. IBM's Java initiative mirrors its Linux initiative. The company supports these two technologies for the same reasons: software compatibility across product lines, freedom from proprietary operating systems that IBM doesn't own, and recognition that these technologies have become a major force in IT.
IBM announced in 2000 that it would invest $1 billion in Linux, and did exactly that. In 2004, IBM announced a plan to migrate all its internal desktop PCs to Linux! This isn't “the standard is whatever we sell” IBM of a generation ago. The company is showing a new face that is lively, cooperative, and engaging. For example, to show how the Linux operating system is viable across all platforms—from large enterprise servers to the smallest embedded devices—IBM demonstrated a wristwatch-sized Linux device at a San Jose conference in August 2000 (see Figure 5-1). The wristwatch had wireless capability, and could be used to read email. It ran Linux 2.2 and the X window system!
Now, granted a wristwatch running Linux is not the big deal today that it was in 2000, but it's a measure of IBM's commitment to Linux. On the Java side, IBM has released a large amount of useful software through its Alphaworks early release research program. One Java package that you can download from Alphaworks is the Robocode software.
Robocode is an intriguing “learn Java while having fun with a game” system. Recreational software is one of the last things I would have expected to come out of IBM! The game part is shown in the screenshot in Figure 5-2. There is a troop of robot battle tanks that roll all over the window, chasing and shooting one another. The Java part is that each tank is programmed in Java. There is a library of tank actions to change speed or direction and fire the gun. Other tanks are detected and reported asynchronously. It's wonderfully easy to get started with this software. You can have tanks clanking around blasting each other within minutes of the download, and read the documentation later!
There is a simple editing and compiling environment built in so you can very quickly start programming and deploying your own robot tanks (see Figure 5-3).
It is very similar to the old “Turtle Graphics” educational software, but instead of guiding a toothless old turtle that can draw a line, you control a radar-guided tank that chases down and explodes other tanks. That's much more educational.
You can download IBM's Java Robocode software from robocode.alphaworks.ibm.com/home/home.html.
Robocode is all the work of one talented guy: IBM researcher Mat Nelson. The Alphaworks site has a community bulletin board, regular software updates, and robot competitions. What are you waiting for, General Patton? Roll those tanks!