Re: Oracle and Java. Does Oracle know something some of us don't?

Rob Mitchell wrote:
> Being in the software development business for over 16 years now, it seems
> to me that languages come and go but the overall technology seems to be
> quite cyclical. We went from mainframes to minis to workstations to PC,
> from central processing to distributed processing and (with J2EE) back to
> central processing. We went from proprietary communication technologies (big
> and small) to non-proprietary (small and fast) and back to message oriented
> communication (verbose again).
>
> Languages are just that, languages. Mostly hype, IMHO. Sure, they get the
> job done, but they'll only be around for a few years before morphing into a
> new language.
>
> Its important for us technologists to keep focusing on solving problems and
> innovating solutions.
>
> OK, back to coding now.
> _______________________________________
> Rob Mitchell
> Base Class Technologies, Inc.
> Java, WebSphere, Domino, Oracle, Web development
> rjmitchell_at_attbi.com

With over 45 years in the software development world, I have to agree with you. Just like teenagers today are reliving the 70s, technology gurus are saying the same things I heard in the past. How many times have we gone through the centralize/distribute cycle? Even Ellison wanted to get in the act with his smart, non-Windows terminal (did he ever sell any?)

It's easy to think that some new technology will last forever because it's so very *important* today ... but one thing is constant ... change. When the internet has lost its luster and has been replaced by something bigger and better, what will we do with all our web-based, Java front ends?

I like technology ... love it, in fact. That's why I came back out of retirement. But I'm not fool enough to think that anything in this field is permanent ... Java being one of them ... but maybe it will live as long as Fortran or Cobol ... or maybe it'll morph like Pascal did to Delphi ... or maybe it'll die like PL/1 or ADA.

My 2 cents rant. Received on Fri Jan 24 2003 - 10:33:07 CST