[5860] in java-interest
Re: Why use java?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Mike Paluka)
Thu Feb 29 22:20:36 1996
Date: Thu, 29 Feb 1996 16:39:11 -0800
To: Glenn Lewis <ga_lewis@postoffice.utas.edu.au>
From: Mike Paluka <mikep@exmachina.com>
Cc: java-interest@java.sun.com
At 12:39 PM 2/29/96 +1100, you wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I was wondering if anyone knows where I can get some documentation
>explaining the advantages and disadvantages of the java language. Any
>information at all explaining reasons why certain design decisions were
>good or bad would be greatly appreciated.
>
> If you have personal opinions on design of java then I am
>keen to hear them.
>
>(I already have the documentation from Suns java site.)
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Glenn.
>
Here's some random thoughts of a developer with 15 years experience:
THE GOOD
--------
- Code can be written ONCE, and automatically run on any supported
platform.
- There's only ONE API to learn. Try moving from Win95 to Unix
to OS/2 to MacIntosh in one lifetime; try learning OLE in one
lifetime (IAdviseStink!).
- Instant internet! Wow! No need to spend six weeks learning
the Microsoft WSA*** library (or six hours to learn the Unix
socket library).
- Automatic garbage collection. You don't have to worry about
'deleting' objects. This improves stability by eliminating (???)
memory leaks.
- Lots of useful classes. Look at the "Date" class. Somebody
finally DID IT RIGHT (the date/time library).
- Other than a simple wrapper, the same code can run as an
applet, and as a stand-alone application.
THE BAD
-------
- Where are the enums? If you want to index arrays with constants,
you have to number them yourself; this increases the chance of
error.
- No typedefs, as such; you'll need to define classes to accomplish
much the same thing. Actually, this isn't such a bad idea, as I've
often done similar things in C++.
- Since all objects are referenced by pointers (just like Delphi),
you'll
have to instantiate each MEMBER object. This has a penalty: instead
of an object being allocated in one block of memory, if it has 20
object members, it will take 21 separate memory allocations to
hold it.
- There are some damn-damns in the API definition: "=" applied to
strings
tests identity (not equality). The wrappers for the primitive types
(eg, Integer) are not considered very usefull by most people on this
mail-list. How come "main" is declared as "void"??? What if I want
to get a return code from a child process?
THE UGLY
--------
- Java after Microsoft gets ahold of it. I love the MSVC 4.0 IDE, but
Microsoft doesn't understand Java or its goals. They'll ruin it by
FORCING OS dependancies into it, such as OLE. Because of their
marketing muscle, they will splinter Java into a million pieces
(which may be their true goal).
--
*************************
Michael J. Paluka
Software Engineer
mikep@exmachina.com
-
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