Re: [lajug] [OT] PG - "Java is the SUV of programming tools"

Java is at a cross-roads. The blog from Greenspun (see link below) is 
just right-on about Java. What has happenned is that the engineering 
theoreticians at IBM, Oracle and Sun co-opted Java into a complex 
environment. Great if you believe that industry and purchasing managers 
are always willing to pay for expensive, hard-to-find, propeller-headed 
engineers to work on the full spectrum of engineering problems.

OK. What to do? There really needs to be a new initiative for Java.

Something akin to an interpretive container for GUI and Web apps which 
uses mostly reflection for dynamic instantiation of well-known java 
types for database binding and presentation. The common tasks of EVERY 
application.

And, interpretive languages for Java ARE out there. What will it take to 
move the Java engineering community into endorsing and embracing 
Java-based interpretive environments and building on them? What will it 
take for a group to build a general-purpose application execution 
container with a cool GUI builder using an interpretive, semi-typed 
language?

Lane


Somerset M. wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> Here comes another blog post (bashing, if you like) about Java, this 
> time from Philip Greenspun - 
> http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/2003/09/20#a1762.
>
> A lot of people probably won't agree with him, but it may be a threat 
> to Java, if one agrees with some of his points.
> If we follow the analogy, "Can SUVs remain fashionable when only 
> unfashionable people drive them?"
> Replace "SUV" with "Java" above.
>
> At my company we have a rather small Java team doing a client-server 
> app. In terms of code, the client is where the action is, the server 
> mostly wraps some C/C++ pre-existing code. Some heavy GUI (Open GL, 
> Swing/AWT, etc.).
> We have an opening there that hasn't been filled in months. The team 
> leader is saying that it is hard to get people who know Java GUI (yes, 
> I know, probably more people know Java on the server, still Java is 
> Java, OpenGL is not obligatory, its hidden behind a class already).
> (I have to mention that some other factors that contribute to this 
> problem I suppose, are that our pay levels are only average and we are 
> not the hottest company around, but still... the market was/is rather 
> bad too).
>
> Just something to get the morning more exciting ;-)
>
> Regards,
> Simeon
>
>
>
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-- 
Lane Sharman
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