Programming Languages Java in Embedded Systems

For several reasons, Java is not the most obvious language for embedded systems. It requires much more memory than most other languages and even with JIT compilers, it runs a lot slower. Therefore, systems running Java applications are more expensive than systems with the same functionality running natively. In many embedded systems industries (consumer electronics, networking, etc.), each additional cost is a market barrier. Besides that, Java is an inherently non-real-time language. However, some recent developments have turned Java into an obvious choice for those software tasks that do not require hard real-time operation, such as user interfaces. From the onset, Java was intended to reduce software development cost, software distribution cost, and lead time, which, in embedded systems, are rapidly becoming the dominant factors. Besides that, digital devices are increasingly required to interoperate with other devices and network servers. These new features require platform independent software, meaning that networked devices do not need to be aware of the internal architectures of their peers. Java comes with an extensive networking library and is compiled into a standardised platform independent distribution format, making ideal for such products. This leaves the reduction of Java execution cost in embedded systems as an interesting field for Research and and a challenge for Development...