Re: Java to die in 2003

Sybrand Bakker <gooiditweg_at_nospam.demon.nl> writes:

> On 27 Dec 2002 08:23:12 -0600, Galen Boyer <galenboyer_at_hotpop.com>
> wrote:
>
> > If the J2EE guys could just think of the database
> >as one big static class offering up methods then we would all be
> >okay. :-)
>
>
> So far I have yet to see the first piece of robust, *documented*, J2EE
> driven software, not using hardcoded literals everywhere.
> It looks like J2EE guys first need to learn to *think* rather than to
> rush ahead and start hacking
>
>

Exactly! I think most of the "problems" with java are not due to java itself, but rather the wealth of APIs and the basic simplicity of the language (compared to things like C/C++ etc) which allow anyone who has read an introduction chapter on Java to start madly coding without thinking about the problem domain and how to best use the tools at their disposal. When you come up against a problem due to poor design, the java developer seems to look around for some API call or some other plugin solution rather than re-thinking the problem and design. There never seems to be any consideration of the differences in the dev and production environments and issues relating to efficiency, resource use etc.

Funny, I seem to remember saying something similar about the impact of visual basic and the quality of developers it appears to encourage. This would seem to further support the argument it may not be the language itself which is at falt, but rather the standard of the developers who are attracted to these languages, which in turn is possibly a result of programming becoming more accessible. While I'm all for it being more accessible, it would be nice if the time saved by using simpler languages which have extensive APIs could be put towards learning better analytical, diagnostic and design skills (even just improved understanding of algorithms and data abstraction would be a start.)

Tim

-- 
Tim Cross
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