Slashdot Mirror
The "Return" of Java Discussed
An anonymous reader writes "Following on from the marvelous recent James Gosling interview highlighted in Slashdot last week, it would seem that a renewed momentum is building up for his cross-platform creation, if this editorial is anything to go by. It's called 'Java is Back!' But did it ever go anywhere?"
despite entry level PCs now having specs along the lines of 2.5GHz processor and 256MB of RAM, lots of people on such sites are obssessed with perceived bloat
That's a bad argument. Firstly, you can't claim the bloat is perceived if at the same time you list relatively hefty machine requirements. Computer resources are finite. Yeah, there are more now than before, but what does Java really give you that is worth tossing all your resources into a glorified emulator?
lots of (but by no means all) people dissing Java are actually sysadmins, rather than programmers, and do all of the coding that they do do in perl, shell script, and similar
As a programmer, I can tell you you're dead wrong. A developer with any depth will look at Java and then look at the languages before (and after) it and properly judge it on what new benefits it brings to the table. Java really brings nothing new or technically interesting; you've been duped the Sun marketing department.
A modern PC spends almost all its time waiting on user input or IO bound anyway.
And yet the user also spends almost all their time waiting for computer to operate on their input. It can't go both ways. The reality is that people do burst processing. When the user is sitting idle, the machine is usually sitting idle; when the user is doing something, the machine can't finish fast enough! For what it does, Java is still a big pig and the users know it. A developer that gives a damn about their users won't force them to use a Java app. Java is not "back" because it never fulfilled the promises it originally made.
It doesnt "look" good at all
Let the Flamebaiting begin:
Azureus is cool. What are you using Windows? You desserve what you get if you complain about it and you use Windows....You certainly sound like a Windows XP user or something. Java has its own original look and feel that is difficult for Windows buffs to accept. If you are clever you will focus on how it works not how it looks.
Well that fucking proves it, I guess. Case closed... we can all go home now that you have proven Java's light weightedness, leaving no room for doubt.
Why are you letting these clowns ruin our country?
It's too fragmented, there are too many flavors! Speed/performance be damned, hell we can all just buy more ram and faster processors right? That seems to be the mantra of many posters.
.NET application, I know for a fact that any machine with the .NET framework will run, I don't have to worry about which java vm/linux distro they're running, nor do I have to pick and choose between a crapload of library add-ons just to get basic gui functionality. .NET also easily interops with all the other popular microsoft products, exchange, office, etc right out of the box which allows me as a developer to do some cool stuff without much effort. This is important because selling an application is always easier if it adds value to applications already in use.
.NET gives you is a fast, stable, secure (I don't know wtf a previous poster was saying when he said .NET isn't secure, that's an ignorant lie if there ever was one, I can't even recall hearing about a framework exploit yet), and consistant development environment. It is astounding how fast you can put together an enterprise application in .NET. Plus with Mono 1.1 you can now run these apps on OSX and Linux, so don't cry about being tied to the windows platform.
.NET is way lower than java, and Microsoft Visual Studio is the best RAD tool on the planet, hands down. THAT is why Java is going to lose ground. It has enough followers to be saved, but can they pull together enough to compete with .NET etc? I don't think so, but they could surprise me.
Fragmentation is why Java and Linux, though worthy concepts and definately have a place in the world, will never topple microsoft.
Microsoft has a plan, they have total control over their specifications. When I compile a
What
The best way to grow a language is to make it attractive to new developers. That means a lower learning curve and better tools. The learning curve in python, php, and