[1159] in java-interest
Re: what is wrong with an answer that has C++ sucks in it?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (John D. Mitchell)
Fri Aug 25 04:52:39 1995
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 1995 22:47:08 -0700
From: "John D. Mitchell" <johnm@emf2-003.emf.net>
To: David.Geary@Central.Sun.COM (David Geary)
Cc: java-interest@java.Eng.Sun.COM
In-Reply-To: <9508211512.AA00419@trilby.Central.Sun.COM>
David Geary writes:
[...]
> Well, let's see. I'm doing C++ development with Rogue Wave's Tools.h++
> and ViewKit's Motif Application Framework.
>
> Will life be much better for me if I move to Java? Will I have access
> to a robust and well tested/documented class library like Tools.h++?
How much money are you willing to put out? C++ has taken 10+ years so far
and I, for one, will argue about your qualification of C++ as 'robust and
well tested'. I'll even go so far as to say it's *heavily* documented but
I'll argue about 'well documented'. Why? Because it's a harsh language.
When the C++ standards committee members can't even figure out what various
things mean then heaven help all us mere mortals. :-)
I'm really not trying to bash C++. It's just that arguments about it's
robustness and what not are pretty silly as there's *no* robust
implementations of the language or libraries for it. Come on, their's *no*
standard for it yet and if anything the standardization process has
introduced as many painful things as it has cleared up. Sure, a lot of
people use it everyday for a lot of 'serious' work. That scares me.
If you (or your company or anyone else) is willing to fork over enough
capital, there are certainly enough of us wackos out here to make lots of
excellent, robust, well performing, versatile, useful software in time
frames that make the C++ effort look as old as it actually is. Why am I
so brash in that claim? Because at this point in time, the Java language
could be defined clearly enough that people will have a solid, powerful
base from which to do so.
C++ has been around awhile so of course it will have a wider variety of
options to choose from (in whatever category). If Sun is at all sucessful
in getting Java legitimized in the mainstream and can ride this web
explosion to popularity then all that will come to Java too. One of the
questions is whether or not Sun will choke Java as they choked e.g., NeWS.
Java has to go through its lifecycle too. It will take some time to mature
and for things to develop. I'll contend that it will mature faster than
C++ (and other popular languages) because it has a more solid base to start
from.
> Will I have a host of application frameworks to choose from that simplify
> my life from a GUI perspective?
Why do you need a plethora of frameworks in C++? Mostly because so far
none of them are really all that spectacular...
> I'm still trying to find out the answers to these and other questions.
>
> It's interesting to me that _nobody_ has answered my inquiry into the
> 'suitability of Java for developing standalone apps', while everyone seems
> intent to flame C++.
Sorry, I keep hoping that the Java team folks will start particpating in
this forum again... :-(
It seems that the Sun Java team doesn't have the
time/energy/bandwidth/etc. to deal with all of the issues that they need to
address so they have prioritized their list of issues. The standalone Java
support seems to have been placed relatively low on their list. :-(
Take care,
John
-
Note to Sun employees: this is an EXTERNAL mailing list!
Info: send 'help' to java-interest-request@java.sun.com
