Since Oracle bought Sun and Apple have decided not to continue developing their JVM, is the write once and run everywhere model still relevant or has web services/SOA reduced it to an edge case?
Write once, run anywhere. Is it still relevant?
java;coding;cross platform
Whatever the fate of the JVM, write once, run anywhere is still extraordinarily relevant. The WAY you achieve that goal -- using a VM or translating down to a machine-specific language -- is irrelevant. In 2010 the desktop is still a VERY hot topic and apps are very much alive. What's all the buzz about iPhone anyway? They're client-side apps, and if you can cover more platforms at once -- whether you do it with Java or something like Python in Titanium (sadly, no Python for iOS, if I understand correctly) -- you save money, development time, and ultimately have more left over to buy sushi.That said, native apps have their place, [[[even if] you write:them] likeThis];Later: Since you did mention WS in this, you're probably talking about the server-side. It's still relevant: being able to change server platforms gives a technology company flexibility as prices and performance of server OSes vary through time. So many things are write-once run anywhere on the server-side now, though: Rails, PHP. But still, very relevant.