Java Notes and Problems

Some particular implementation issues are listed below.

• Firewalls/Proxies I have installed a couple of workarounds to try to all usage from behind firewalls 1) using explicit IP addresses and 2) using a (slightly slower) HTTP communication method as a backup when the Socket connection fails. It should switch automatically to HTTP if it cant make a socket connection, but there is a choice box in the Preferences panel where this can be selected manually.

  In any case, I suspect these workarounds may only work for some firewall/proxy installations; if it doesn't work for you, I'd still like to hear about it.

• Scroll Bars. Early versions of Netscape Navigator on Windows platforms had a faulty implementation of scrollbars. This resulted in not being able to scroll over an entire panel. This has been fixed by (at least) Navigator Version 3.0 beta 6.
• Slow Loading. As of Netscape Navigator version 3.0 beta 7, Navigator accepts an `archive' option. This downloads all classes in a zip file in one transfer, which should significantly speed up initialization of applets in many cases. The current version of HotGAMS provides this archive, if the browser can use it. Hopefully this mechanism will be adopted by other vendors.
• Netscape 2.02S. I just noticed that HotGAMS is not working on the SGI's version 2.02; it appears to be checking timestamps; my class files have a higher stamp than the browser's internal one.
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 Beta. HotGAMS fails when the Just-in-time compiler is enabled on these beta releases. It does work fine under Explorer 3.0 final, and also in the beta releases with the JIT disabled. (check under options/advanced).