From - Sat Jun 14 21:59:06 1997
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From: jur@topdog.cs.umbc.edu (Jacqueline U. Robertson)
Newsgroups: comp.object,comp.software-eng,comp.lang.java.tech,comp.lang.java.programmer,comp.lang.eiffel
Subject: Re: Why JAVA has all the hype that it deserves?
Date: 2 Jun 1997 23:10:04 -0400
Organization: University Of Maryland Baltimore County
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In article <3392EEA9.6F96078A@oma.com>,
Robert C. Martin <rmartin@oma.com> wrote:
>Mike Anderson wrote:
>> 
>> Robert C. Martin wrote:
>> > The same thing will happen to Java.
>> 
>> Wanna bet?  I don't think industry's demands will add much to the
>> complexity of Java.  I think "industry" values Java because of its
>> portability, openness, and well-definedness, and alot of people (even
>> those in the industry) realize the value of this.
>

If this were indeed true, then industry would long ago have embraced Smalltalk
as the obvious solution - it's well defined, portable across platforms
and pretty open.  But that's not actually what's seen as important.

(And while I have used Smalltalk as my example <after all, I DO
work for ParcPlace ;-) >, the same thing goes for almost any other 
language - Eiffel, Lisp, et. al.)

Bad as C++ is (and yes, I will describe it that way), it had one very
large thing going for it - it looked like (and still looks like) C, 
a very standard and widely used language.  Guess what Java also has going 
for it ?  Looks like C, has a simlified (from the standpoint of C++)
object model.  Still has basic, primitive data types at the bottom,
meaning that a C programmer can start out in very familar territory.

Which is important, as there are SCADS of C programmers out there, and
management can easily justify the 'minimal' expense of training them in Java
(after all, it LOOKS like C !).  Thus, contract and non-contract developers
of C (and Java) are cheaper than are similar resources for other
development environments.

This is a large part of the reason that C like and Basic like development
toolsets break into the mainstream of development faster than do other 
alternatives - they look mre familiar, and are accepted more easily.


Technical merit ends up having very little to do with the end game.



James A. Robertson
email: jamesr@parcplace.com
phone: 410 952-0471

<note that I am posting through my wife's account.  I don't claim to speak for
her>













