//sun.misc.Signal ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// Signal code is mostly copied from classic vm, signals_md.c 1.4 98/08/23
/*
* This function is included primarily as a debugging aid. If Java is
* running in a console window, then pressing <ctrl -\\> will cause
* the current state of all active threads and monitors to be written
* to the console window.
*/

I’ve checked. It works. Pressing Ctrl-\ during the execution of a Java program will dump a lot of debugging information on the various threads running in the VM (like the garbage collector etc.)

I currently have 8 books somewhat related to the Java platform and I don’t remember reading this somewhere (of course, I may be mistaken)

I don’t mean this is a very useful feature but this gives us a glimpse of what we might gain by having access to the source code.

Avinash: Many people do not realise this, but .NET is backed by a plethora of products and services. Products, as in custom components, and services, as in consultancy. Just because you do not see open-source contributions to .NET does not mean that people do not write for .NET. If you look in enterprises, you will see that .NET thrives. My company, Infospace, is migrating from Java to .NET to standardise all our platforms. We do this because we know we are backed by a strong company (Microsoft) and can easily find experts if we need to.

I laugh whenever someone (not you!) says that Ruby will kill Java. Ever tried sending a client SSL certificate to a web service for authentication in Ruby? Or PHP for that matter? This is why we have different classes of programming languages. Java and .NET are enterprise-class; Ruby, unfortunately, is not. Hopefully, as you say, JRuby will be able to dig in Java’s vast class library.

Granted, .NET is more or less what J2EE is… (except for this “small” opensource thing )

But Java has something that .NET lacks : a very bright and creative community who is always trying to push the envelope. I’ll just take two examples, Spring and AspectJ.

Mind you, Java is not perfect (for example, the Java programming language is tooooooo verbose (and so is C#)) but this is not a major issue (for me) as I am waiting for JRuby to become mainstream

Don’t get me wrong, I like open-source software, but Microsoft is not going down that easily. Not with Microsoft Vista on the horizon, and the beautiful .NET Framework 3.0.

Mind you, I am not taking any side — I use Windows XP at work by choice, Mac OS X at home with another Windows XP install running in a virtual machine. Windows is too ingrained in the society for it to be removed easily.

Maybe the day you long for will come when we start seeing “Made for Linux/whatever” badges on computers from Dell and HP, but that day is still far away. The closest we have come to “Microsoft is the past” is the Microsoft/Novell deal, then again, Microsoft holds the cards.