I grumbled a bit about the angle brackets too, but I'll live with it.

I have both 1.3 and 1.4 versions of Java here, several revisions and JDKs for each. I'm currently actually compiling Sun's current 1.4.1 source code because it's the best way to get the damned plugin working with Mozilla Firebird. The joys of using the beta version of a compiled-from-source OS. Yay. (I have only myself to blame, though the alternative would have been much worse I think..)

I seem to remember Bill Gates saying that it would be a great day when someone figures out a fast way to factor large prime numbers. *chuckle* I guess you just found the method to test such an algorithm perhaps? All kidding aside, the interpretter is about a 20% hit over native code, so I wouldn't try to use this for all the good things you'd use big primes for unless you're using IBM's JIT compiler or something.

And speaking of better languages producing compatible classes, if Jerry's not careful, I'm going to set up Jython one of these days and start handing him source code written with that. ;) It'll come in real handy about the time we start talking about recursion. Mari Good has seen "pseudocode" from me which I happen to know works because I ran it through a Python interpretter before I handed it in. ;) Of particular interest to me are the Python generators, which is a feature I have not seen matched in other languages. If you're interested, keep an eye out for Chris Meyers' Python for Programmers class. It's non-credit but definitely worth taking!