Re: Java GOOD -- Fire BAD

["Joe Marshall" <address@hidden>]

I've used Lisp on the job for years.
Any idiot supervisor who does not let his programmers use
the appropriate tools for the job deserves *exactly* the calibre
of programmers he will get.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jerry Jackson" <Jerry.Jackson@sun.com>
To: <ll1-discuss@ai.mit.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2003 13:21
Subject: Java GOOD -- Fire BAD


> It's pretty easy for all of us to ding Java since we've all been exposed
> to lots of languages that are objectively better in many ways.  However,
> as someone who went from several years as a Common Lisp programmer to
> a few years doing C++, the arrival of Java came as a godsend.  Sure,
> it has lots of flaws, but it has a very special role.  It's the best
> language out there that most people will ever be allowed to use on the
> job. (Okay, let's say optimistically that "ever" is an overstatement,
> but certainly for the near term).  Somehow, the Java folks managed
> to make heap allocation, runtime type safety and GC acceptable to the
> mainstream.  I still don't know how that happened even though I lived
> through it.
> 
> Lots of people have been exposed to some new ideas and programming
> paradigms that they might never have picked up on, thanks to Java.
> It might be interesting to discuss the path to a better Java.  Given
> that it's the mainstream, what should be the next step for the
> language?  What would improve it the most with the least disruption?
> 
> --Jerry
>