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Trouble Ahead for Java
Jeremy Geelan writes "The editor-in-chief of the world's largest journal devoted to Java wonders whether, with the arrival of Microsoft's C# programming language on the scene, Java perhaps has only 5 years or so left to live. Javaland has erupted! This is a little like Bill Gates wondering out loud whether to send Scott McNealy a Christmas card. But is Alan Williamson right? Read this short article and decide for yourself."
Microsoft's C# entry will only cause more competition in the market, and the consumers and programmers are the ones who will benefit. I'd love to see Sun loosen some of their restrictive Java liscensing practices in response to C#, and I think that is just what will happen. Open source wins the day yet again.
-atrowe: Card-carrying Mensa member. I have no toleranse for stupidity.
haven't they said something like this before?
the problem with C++ was that exactly zero of code was reused, even though it was supposed to be made simpler. Java code actually reuses itself pretty darn well, and last I checked J2EE library just keeps growing and growing, and largely its success is in that.
as for C#, i doubt anyone except Microsoft is interested in seeing more packages of it. it becomes pointless to have non-object code in C# if you are planning to devise a framework for other people to work with.
anyways, if Java only has five years life in it, why would you stake your life on C# of all things? wouldn't you expect that in five years people would be switching to something newer than the love-child of Java and Microsoft that didn't overtake its predecessor and hardly had any advantages except probably back-doors into the Windows kernel?
just my two cents...
I was thinking of how to intentionally fail my drug test... It would make a good memoir story someday.
Myth #6.
Despite the hoopla over Mono, its not likely that
Myth #7 Java needs the desktop to succeed
Not so. Java's greatest success to date has been on the server, powering servlets and
Myth #8.
Um, well yeah, as long as they are singly-inherited languages that don't have pointers and don't support any unique features, I guess that statement is true. Otherwise you are really looking at a bunch of languages whose features are the same and only differ by syntax(unless they don't support all of
Java is five years ahead in this game, has widespread corporate acceptance, and the deciding factor is the server, where Microsoft is still way behind. If this is a horse race, my money is on Java.
No, Thursday's out. How about never - is never good for you?
One example of the author's cluelessness is that he touts the Halcyon solution - which is implemented in Java. This is supposed to show Java's vulnerability how?
The rest of his "myths" are just as insightful..i.e. a bunch of crap. ;-)
Where was SWT in this discussion for instance? Where was the discussion regarding millions of Java-enabled devices in the marketplace? Where was the discussion of Javas total dominance in application servers right now (perhaps .Net will make a dent, but it remains to be seen).
Then the author gives forth with:
"We have a beautiful language here in Java; it has achieved industry-wide support and is pushing forward with great velocity. What can we do to support it?"
For a start, perhaps NOT writing clueless, FUD-filled articles that completely exaggerate the threat of C# to Java... Many, many Java users are going to be very slow to move to a Microsoft proprietary solution...and make no mistake about it, .Net is Microsoft proprietary. Only the C# language and the CLR runtime have been submitted to ECMA and those make up a tiny subset of .Nyet (sorry, couldn't resist doing that at least once!).
Galileo: "The Earth revolves around the Sun!"
Score: -1 100% Flamebait
Produced? Yes... supported? Maybe... I wonder what percentage of the Java code written in the last five years died with the series of dot com failures we've witnessed.
That said, of course you're correct: COBOL is still in use, and Java will last much longer than five years.
But the language of choice may be something else in five years. Java hasn't been around that long, and scads of people were saying it would never overtake C or C++ when it was first released. And really, C hadn't been around that long when Java was first introduced.
He looked at me and said, "Kid, we don't like your kind, and we're gonna send your fingerprints off to Washington."
IBM has done a LOT more for Java GUIs than Sun ever has IMO.
I installed the latest version of Eclipse and I was amazed at how fast the GUI ran. It is the first Java application that I've ran that didn't frustrate the hell out of me by running slowly. Sun should incorporate whatever GUI widgets IBM made into the next JDK.
"For a successful technology, honesty must take precedence over public relations for nature cannot be fooled." -Feynman
I started learning Java during the great Java hype (1997). Then I went back to school to learn C. My initial impression was, why would anyone want to program in this unweildy language where your executables crash with weird errors like "Segmentation Fault" and "Core Dumped". I did not like all that pointer crap and the fact that you hade to declare your variables before you did anything else.
... each have their own attractions and turn offs. C# is something I haven't approached yet. But like dating, it just broadens your outlook (not to mention the fact that it is fun).
Four years of college and several programming languages later Java is still my best girl. But I have learned to appreciate the beauty of C and its need to be a control freak in some cases.
To solve the debate, I am going to quote the words of one of my professors. "A programming language is a tool in a tool box". There are several things wrong with that analogy. I tend to think that a programming language is like a woman and learning one is like dating.
Im my 5 year 'dating' life I dated more languages than girls. Perl, Python, Tcl, C
There should be not be fear of a new programming language. It is the new girl in town. It is true that one has to be wary that C# is a Microsoft baby. If it turns out that you cannot use C# without paying MS big bucks and the returns are not justifiable there are always other alternatives to look to.
When I was a sophomore, I was scared when some senior started talking about C++. I thought, another language. Oh no. But once you have mastered the basics of what I referer to as the dating game, you can romance almost any girl. Even if it was the girl with red hair and pierced ears (Perl) or the one that you can't take your eyes off of (Scheme).
Actually, I'm not so sure I buy into this. From where I'm standing, it is still very hard to get clients updated quickly to the latest bleeding edge Java (no thanks to Microsoft's desktop dominance), so I don't see how Java is not moving as fast as it could be. Are you keeping track of all the specs and extensions they churn out? RMI, EJB, CORBA, JDBC, XML support, Servlets and JSP, JDO, Mail libraries, JNDI libraries, LDAP libraries, 3D graphics support, now they even have a serious Java Gaming push! Java seems to be moving very fast to me.
Just wanted to quote that because I wholeheartedly agree. C# is primarily a migration path for *MS developers* to step into a world which until now J2EE has been the sole citizen. Of course MS is going to hype it if it can detract from Java, but that's just extra. And frankly, I'd rather see MS software written in C#/CLR (which is actually a decent architecture, with security, etc.) than C and C++.
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