Elektor_Mag_-_January-February_2021

96 January & February 2021 http://www.elektormagazine.com

Want to run Java on the Raspberry Pi?

Belgium-based Frank Delporte can help. His

new book, Getting Started with Java on the

Raspberry Pi [1], is an excellent resource for

both professional programmers and makers

interested in experimenting and learning at

their own pace. In this interview, Delporte

talks about the benefits of combining Java

and Raspberry Pi, as well as his experiences

as a programmer.

Programming, designing,

and writing

Abate: Congratulations on publishing

the book, Getting Started with Java on the

Raspberry Pi (Elektor 2020). I will ask more

about the book in a bit. But first: are you

happy to have all the writing and editing

behind you now? Or do you enjoy that sort

of work?

Delporte: I really love to write as you can

see on my blog [2]. But I have to admit a full

book was a lot of work. It requires not only

the writing itself, but also collecting all the

required information, research, setting up

experiments, drawing eletronic schemes,

doing interviews, re-reading, etc. But the

feeling of holding your first finished printed

paper book (Figure 1) is a once-in-a-lifetime

experience which was really worth all the

hard work.

Abate: Speaking of your writing and editing

work, we featured your home workspace

[3] on the Elektor magazine website in May

2020. Are you still working from home due
      to the COVID-19 situation?

Delporte: The situation is more-or-less

back to normal now. I still work at home

but not really for Covid. At work, we can

keep enough distance, but from time to

time, it’s still better to work home so you

can focus on a specific task.

Abate: You have an interesting background,

which includes work as a software devel-

oper, technical lead, author, and video

editor. Tell us more about yourself.

Delporte: I’ve always been interested in

technology and how things work. I was

the kind of kid that opened every coffee

machine, radio or whatever device which

was broken. I wasn’t able to fix them all,

but I learned something new every time!

As a teenager I had a radio show on a local

station and did some DJing which gave me

the possibility to experiment more with

electronics.

interview

Java on the

Raspberry Pi

An Interview with Frank Delporte

By C. J. Abate (Elektor)

You can run Java on the Raspberry Pi. In this interview, Elektor author

Frank Delporte covers the benefits of Java, his Raspberry Pi-based projects,

and much more.