There's nothing like a fever to think outside the box. While my body is fighting a virus that has been messing with it for a week now, the fever is - I have to say - very stimulating to the brain. Most of the things the brain is producing now don't make any sense at all, but that's ok - I will enjoy it while it lasts.

One of the things suggested by the memes five minutes ago is to use Spring ME on Java Card. (Trust me, this makes perfect sense compared to the other things it suggests.) I could not resist checking if that would actually work. So I dragged myself to the attic to search for the unread copy of "Java Card Technology for Smart Cards" book.

I'm now paging through appendix A, which covers the subset of Java SE covered by Java Card. Interesting read. It turns out it doesn't even support int. Doh. This puts the limitations CLDC imposes in a completely new perspective. Looking at the cover, it turns out my book is from 2000. I have little doubt that the latest incarnation of the spec supports a much wider subset of Java SE then this early edition.

Anyhow, while reading through the appendix, I'm beginning to think this could actually work. Now, it's obviously questionable if it would make a lot of sense, but it's doable, I think. If I ever have the time, I will give it a try. I have the good old Java ring, a fine piece of jewelry, so it would even possible to prototype this for real. (That is, if I find a way to connect my MacBook with a serial cable...) I filed a paper on Spring ME for JavaONE 2009. This could be nice case study. What do you think?