Re: Java

[Paul Prescod <address@hidden>]

Steven Richman wrote:
> 
>...
> 
> You just don't like the fact that Java allows you to maintain any number of
> current working directories, while Posix only maintains a single one with
> chdir/getcwd?

No, I don't like the fact that my operating system has a native concept
of getcwd and Java hides it from me. And my operating system has a
concept of environment variables and Java hides it from me. And my
operating system has its own GUI but if I use it, I'm in "violation of
Sun's purity standards." (their words, not mine) And my operating system
has a component model but when Microsoft tries to give me access to it
from Java, Sun cuts off their Java license. etc.

> If the limitation makes you happy, then you can easily roll your own
> crippled FS interface.

getcwd is pervasive. It effects system, the intepretation of relative
paths, the interpretation of relative URIs, etc. Anyhow, it is the least
interesting of the many OS features Java refuses to give me access to. I
just happened to bump into it the day before yesterday so it was fresh
in my mind.

> ... Even
> though it's undesirable, you can always download a library that does
> whatever globbing/str replacing/crippled FS interfacing/native env stuff you
> want. You can't download a little library that gives you tail calls or a
> reasonable memory model.

In the context of "lightweight languages" I saw globbing as being more
relevant than those kinds of issues. On many of those deeper issues Java
is *better* than the so-called lightweight languages. Therefore I can
hardly use them as reasons that Java is not lightweight. "Java isn't
lightweight because its multithreaded memory model is only somewhat
superior to Python's rather than massively superior to Python's." That
doesn't make much sense to me!

 Paul Prescod