During my 25 years in software development, I lived through different trends in programming and usually changed my primary programming language every five years or so. While teaching students to program in whatever language was hot at the time, I kept warning them, “Do not fall in love with any programming language as it’s just a tool”. But here I am, living with Java for eight years. Isn’t it time for a divorce? The short answer is no. As of today, there is nowhere to go. Java was a really well crafted and MARKETED language. I do not know how Sun Microsystems was able to pull it off, but it just happened.
Most importantly, Java puts bread on my table. I am a professional programmer, and can not just jump up when I see a group of kids praising a new programming language. This might sound rude, but show me the money. If the language XYZ is the best thing that happened to the world, why dice.com does not list jobs asking for the XYZ skills?
The market is not there yet? See you in a year or two.
When people discuss programming languages, they often fight over specific features that this particular language has while Java does not . So? Java does not allow for dynamic objects, closures and continuations. So? Who cares? Just go to dice.com and type the word Java. You’ll get 15 thousand jobs.
Is Java the primary language that pays my bills today? Hell, yes. Are there other languages/technologies I work with? Hell, yes. Am I happy that Java is trying to add new features to the language? Hell, no. Someone proposes adding closures to the language. There are some attempts to introduce data binding to Java Beans. Get real guys, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. When I hear about all these additions to Java, I see an aging woman that keep coming to her doctor for another Botox injection. These doll-looking faces do not trick men anymore. The same applies to Silicon (not as in Silicon Valley). Are these boobs real? Keep Java simple, let it age gracefully! It’s a very robust platform for enterprise and mobile applications and let’s leave it right there. Fine-tuning of the JVM is fine, but I do not need new language features. Id’ rather use some other modern language that can be easily integrated with Java EE.
Sun Microsystems has excellent engineers who can craft a brand new language in a year or so. May be creating a new language is better than trying to add patches to Java here, there and everywhere? Just come up with some cool language, while Java is still strong.
If James Gosling will get together with Guy Steele, they can come up with a new practical language for enterprise software developers, and I’m sure that this new language will beat crap out of other languages/tools/technologies that became popular by coining a catchy acronym or were born on the railroad.
Java is here to stay for another ten years, at least on the server side. But I do not wish Java to be around for the same reason as Cobol, which is still with us because there is no money for the funeral: too many Cobol applications were written and deployed in production.
I'll keep looking around and use other languages or technologies that can compliment Java EE applications, but I’ll remain loyal to Java for another three years or so with a hope that something’s gotta give.
tags: java
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"Java Does Not Need Botox"
