Myth: Java widely used in the browser
Yes I aspire to be a MythBuster, don't we all? For a while now there has been some concern over Apple's apparent lack of love for Java. Lately the debate has shifted over to the iPhone and the Java blogosphere is doing its best to send a message to Apple. While I am far from a supporter of the policies and practices of Apple, I do think they are right in determining Java as legacy or an anomaly on the web of 2008. A sniffing bot It turns out it's hard to find concrete evidence of how widespread the use of Java client technology is on the internet. What we can do however, is simulate a web user, randomly browsing around and taking note of how often we bump into Java. The first issue is, how can we come up with truly random URL's? Three different approaches comes to mind: Use some existing randomizer service Methodically run through IP ranges Screen scrape Google results I actually implemented all 3. Of those both item 2 and 3 potentially raises some ethical questions, c