Posted on: August 19, 2005 in Coding

Java gives way…

Java guru Jason Hunter has a good post on how Java is loosing mind share to “good enough” solutions like Ruby, and although he doesn’t mention it, I think PHP could be on the short list as well.

“It’s been 10 years since Java started beating C++ in the mindshare game. Sure, C++ is still widely used, but it’s mindshare is small compared to Java. JavaOne this year they celebrated Java’s 10 year anniversary on stage with a big cake. It reminded me that C++ itself was 10 years old when Java came on the scene. Remember back: Java wasn’t as “good” as C++. It did less; it ran slower. Its sole advantage was simplicity — a language easier to write and deploy — and over time it got more featureful and faster. Ruby on Rails today looks poised to eat Java’s mindshare on the web tier. If not Rails, then something else. Empirically 10 years seems like the right point.”

3 Responses to “Java gives way…”

  1. 1
    Uwe Hermann Says:

    My New Drupal-Powered Music Podcast

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  2. 2
    chiggsy Says:

    Check out Groovy… Ruby is dog slow, and not a great glue language… nice ideas though. With Groovy, you can have ruby/python/php/perl style RAD, but for the heavy hiting just use a java class like:

    ddef list = [1, 2, 'hello', new java.util.Date()]
    assert list.size() == 4
    assert list.get(2) == 'hello'
    assert list[2] == 'hello'

    it’s nice, takes the suck out of Java. Java’s biggest mistake was aiming for the omfg huge enterprise market… instead of the php approach, aiming for the quick hitting long tail market. Groovy brings that RAD , while giving scripters access to the huge java class libraries available… only the CPAN rivals that.

  3. 3
    chiggsy Says:

    Check out Groovy… Ruby is dog slow, and not a great glue language… nice ideas though. With Groovy, you can have ruby/python/php/perl style RAD, but for the heavy hiting just use a java class like:
    ( correction )

    def list = [1, 2, 'hello', new java.util.Date()]
    assert list.size() == 4
    assert list.get(2) == 'hello'
    assert list[2] == 'hello'

    it’s nice, takes the suck out of Java. Java’s biggest mistake was aiming for the omfg huge enterprise market… instead of the php approach, aiming for the quick hitting long tail market. Groovy brings that RAD , while giving scripters access to the huge java class libraries available… only the CPAN rivals that.

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