tom whittaker satellites & education conference xxvii madison, wi usa july, 2014
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FROM JAVA TO FLASH TO HTML5 – CHASING
TECHNOLOGIES TO CREATE APPLETS
(WEBAPPS)
Tom Whittaker
Satellites & Education Conference XXVII
Madison, WI USA
July, 2014
Interactive Applets
Does NOT mean clicking a button to move from static page to static page
Does NOT mean clicking or typing in answers
DOES mean:Students use buttons, sliders, click-and-drag
objects, etc. to change thingsStudents can explore ideas, concepts, limits
My work with Steve Ackerman He is a teacher and an advocate He is a techie-geek kind of person He likes to try new ideas He had a need to help students
understand concepts in weather
What we needed
What software does “every” computer have?
What do we need to do to accomplish “interactivity”
In 1998, what software development environment claimed:
Write Once, Run Everywhere
The first one: Java
Started small “Native Widgets” – buttons, sliders, etc Conceptual hurdle – Object Oriented Applets run on the browser
What went wrong
“Native widgets” Ever growing and expanding runtime Some bad publicity about “security
issues” Memory limitations “Native widgets”
So long, Java, it’s been nice knowing ya… Why?
Widgets, widgets, widgetsMemoryVersions keep changing rules
Who do you turn to in the mid 2000s? Adobe and ActionScript3
Widgets look and feel the sameNo memory issuesOops – no multi-threading……..
Meanwhile….
Flash runs on 98% of all computers in the world…until…
Apple unleashes the iPad…Students start buying and using themSchools start buying them8 year olds start buying themSteve Jobs: “No Flash and No Java”“…but we have a solution….”
The HTML5 revolution
Just what is “HTML5”? A stack of technologies:
HTML version 5CSS version 3JavaScript
Most important for us: the “canvas” element
CSS helps regularize widgets JavaScript allows “programming” Very efficient runtime
The “only” problem
HTML version 5 is still not approved by the W3C…
…but everyone (even Microsoft) has jumped on the bandwagon
Oh, and these are called “WebApps” now and not “Applets”
JavaScript grows up
JavaScript has been around since the mid 1990s
It is not Java, but was influenced by the Java syntax
It was submitted for standardization in 1996 as “ECMAScript”
○ “JavaScript” is now a Trademark of Oracle Corporation
Browser makers did not always agree on function names, use, etc.
Why use it now?
Quite standardized Not “owned” by anyone Lots of support libraries Easy development Runtime engines are very fast (compile
to native code) Might be around for a few years
What are the issues?
A few cross-platform issuesTesting on PC/Mac browser vs.Testing on Tablets vs.Testing on phones
HTML5 requires latest browsers No standards for “touch” devices – but
most browsers now use Apple’s approach
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