Java’s Alternatives and the Limitations of Java when Writing Cross-Platform Applications for Mobile Devices in the Medical Domain

In this paper we discuss alternatives to Java ME when writing medical applications for mobile devices across multiple platforms. The Java Virtual Machine, which runs Java programs, is not available for the majority of handheld devices, such as Palm PDAs, Windows Mobile based devices, or the Apple iPhone. As well as this, we conclude that full GUI interaction, such as the interaction provided by Java programs, is not an absolute requirement to make a program useful, and we developed an HTML-based medical information application to illustrate this. This program displays various sample patient parameters to the user in graph form, and was tested on multiple platforms and operating systems to demonstrate its platform/OS independence and usefulness.