Java Reference
In-Depth Information
Looking Back at CLDC 1.0
CLDC 1.0 had significantly more limitations than CLDC 1.1, as you can imagine when
you consider the time in which it was developed. When developing a CLDC 1.0-
compliant application, you must consider the following limitations:
•
No floating-point operations
: CLDC 1.0-compliant virtual machines have no
support for floating-point byte codes, nor do they have library APIs that perform
floating-point math. These limitations mirror the capabilities of the processors
typically targeted by CLDC 1.0.
•
No support for weak references
: The
WeakReference
declaration is not supported by
CLDC 1.0-compliant virtual machines.
•
No support for named threads
: The CLDC-compliant virtual machines have no
support for naming threads.
•
Different uses of
java.util.Calendar
,
java.util.Date
, and
java.util.TimeZone
classes
:
These classes differ significantly from their Java SE counterparts.
Looking Toward the Future of the CLDC
Although I believe that true convergence of capability between mobile devices and
fixed devices remains a long way off (see the “Moore's Law and Mobile Devices” side-
bar), mobile devices are arguably reaching parity with desktop devices in terms of basic
usability for many applications, including data processing, multimedia, entertainment,
social networking, and user-generated content. Already, some high-end wireless termi-
nals, such as those sold by Nokia and Sony Ericsson, offer CDC-compliant runtimes
as well as CLDC-compliant runtimes. Looking into the future, representatives of Sun
have already stated that eventually the Java ME and Java SE interfaces will merge into
a single platform.
Does this make the CLDC less relevant? Certainly not, as literally billions of
devices running the CLDC are already in consumers' hands, and billions more are to
be shipped in the coming years. Instead, expect to see a filling in of the gaps between
the CLDC and the full Java SE platform, much as the transition from CLDC 1.0 to
CLDC 1.1 filled in gaps.
