Comments on Too Much Code: Why Java lost its mojo, and what Sun is doing abou...

For what it's worth, I built cross-platform code i...

2007-07-16T15:31:00.000-07:00

For what it's worth, I built cross-platform code in C++ for several years before transitioning to Java.

Of course, whether Java compares favorably to C++ is a matter of opinion. For me the killer feature is garbage collection, and the fact that Java eliminates many classes of errors one can make in C++.

Maybe it's time you learn C++. Java never compared...

2007-07-09T07:58:00.000-07:00

Maybe it's time you learn C++. Java never compared favorably to C++. They're totally different languages.
C++ is a language that provides low-level access but allows the building of very high-level abstractions on top of them, which could in some cases actually be considered to be domain specific languages.

For example, you can still have the same interface and efficiency as Fortran vectors just with a library, while Fortan has dedicated support for array programming in the compiler.

No other language provides that kind of functionality.

Java is just a simple high-level language focused on OOP.
What you can do with it is very little.

You're citing that Java 7 will get support for closures and type inference, but C++ always had support for those for example.

Great job, balanced blog entry. Just wanted to com...

2007-06-04T14:04:00.000-07:00

Great job, balanced blog entry. Just wanted to comment on the other comments ;-)

I don't want this blog to turn into a trolling gro...

2007-06-03T06:35:00.000-07:00

I don't want this blog to turn into a trolling ground, but I'll respond once. The article never says Java sucks, and in fact implies Java is better than C++. Of course, this doesn't mean we can't create a better language, or that we can't make Java better with closures or other ideas.

I also added an update indicating I actually don't think Java sucks to remove any confusion.

I really thought I left a comment on this post. Ob...

2007-06-03T02:50:00.000-07:00

I really thought I left a comment on this post. Obviously somebody didn't like that...

Trying it again....

"Java is dead, Java sucks, Beyond Java, Can we Fix Java, Everything is better than Java, We need a replacement for Java...

yawn"

It depends on where you're coming from. To a C++ ...

2007-05-31T16:04:00.000-07:00

It depends on where you're coming from. To a C++ developer who has never built a major system in another language, the fact that Java eliminates huge classes of errors can create a lot of mojo. The problem is, as I mentioned in the article, Java is no longer being compared to C++.

Java never had any "mojo" to begin with! It was de...

2007-05-31T09:33:00.000-07:00

Java never had any "mojo" to begin with! It was designed as average language for average programmers; the results speak for themself, and always have for the last 7-8 years. Considering the amount of time and money that has been wasted trying to "fix" this trainwreck, it amazes me that people only now realize the depth of the hole they dug themselves into. Sorry guys: no shovel for you!

When did Java have a mojo? As long as I can reme...

2007-05-31T09:29:00.000-07:00

When *did* Java have a mojo? As long as I can remember, Java has been used in boring B2B shops, typically paired with a big-iron database, stuck behind in cold&dark server rooms. :-) Since when THAT was cool? Sure there are lots of Java jobs out there, because majority of software development is exactly like this: boring "data pumping" from one table to another.

Most *exciting* new software (as always) has been developed using C/C++ or, in some cases, Python, think OSS projects on Linux, games, new compilers/interpreters, etc. Heck, everything I (and probably you) use every day was NOT written in Java.

When I think of Java, only Eclipse comes to mind as far as software is concerned. That's it: one goddamn thing.

"But how are they handling the drift towards FP ta...

2007-05-31T05:31:00.000-07:00

"But how are they handling the drift towards FP tat you can see in .NET?"

Scala has features of functional and object oriented languages and it compiles to Java bytecode. It is very cool, I wish I had time to learn it.

Scala language

But how are they handling the drift towards FP tat...

2007-05-31T03:41:00.000-07:00

But how are they handling the drift towards FP tat you can see in .NET? Is the JVM going to support efficient tail calls? (it's interesting to note that Ruby currently doesn't, afaik, so that isn't going to help push things).

I agree with your assessment. At RailsConf Tim Br...

2007-05-31T02:18:00.000-07:00

I agree with your assessment. At RailsConf Tim Bray put a pie chart up that effectively broke down into 3 pieces: 1. the JVM 2. the Java API's and 3. Java the language
Then the next slide broke the pie chart up a little differently: 1. the JVM 2. the Java API's 3. multiple languages (Ruby, Python, Java, etc...)
You are right Sun is taking notice.
Thanks
Matt