Re: bindings and assignments (was: Re: continuations)

[Scott McKay <address@hidden>]

At 3:06 PM -0400 8/21/03, Guy Steele - Sun Microsystems Labs wrote:
>
>
>With all respect, I think you underestimate the difficulty
>of getting a radically new programming language accepted.
>
>We did look beyond the user feedback, and at it, and made
>what we still regard as a reasoned pragmatic choice at the time.
>

I probably don't underestimate it by much, having spent
a good portion of my life having failed, even though what
I have had the good luck to work on has been quite good.
I still think, based on what evidence I am able to collect,
that Java did not achieve acceptance based mainly on the
features it has (or does not have).  It was accepted because
Sun expended a huge amount of effort (not to mention money)
promoting Java and the things built from it, and wisely
positioned it against the nightmare that is C++.

There is no convincing evidence I have seen that leads me
to think that Java would have been more, or less, widely
accepted had its glaring faults and omissions been addressed.