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Friday, August 31, 2007
Hubris
Sun’s CEO Jonathan Schwartz opines on Java:
Sun’s CEO Jonathan Schwartz opines on Java:
It's one of the few technologies that may outlast the century.
Comments on “Hubris”:
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Patrick:
Jonathan made that statement yesterday, in 2007. Which means, depending on how you figure it, that will last to 2096 or 2101.
Ok, we can move on now.
Jonathan made that statement yesterday, in 2007. Which means, depending on how you figure it, that will last to 2096 or 2101.
Ok, we can move on now.
I saw that comment and had the same reaction. What unadulterated hubris.
However, after a bit of thought, I think he might be right. Cobol is still in active use, and it's nearing the half-century mark. With the great swathes of code written in Java right now, some of those same projects could conceivably still be chugging along, maintained by despondent zombies a hundred years from now.
(Did you know Cobol can generate EJBs? Who knew...)
However, after a bit of thought, I think he might be right. Cobol is still in active use, and it's nearing the half-century mark. With the great swathes of code written in Java right now, some of those same projects could conceivably still be chugging along, maintained by despondent zombies a hundred years from now.
(Did you know Cobol can generate EJBs? Who knew...)
@peter
You're assuming that something like Groovy or Scala don't come along and swallow up all the old Java code.
You're assuming that something like Groovy or Scala don't come along and swallow up all the old Java code.
It's a reasonable assumption. Mostly because sun brands everything they own with the 'java' brand. Not just the language, but the JVM, the security model, their desktop environment, and now their stock ticker.
For example, even if Robert's prediction that Scala is finally seen for the beauty that it is comes true, we still have a JVM running the Scala code.
Of course, the singularity will come in 20 years or so and make this entire idea moot, but, hey.
For example, even if Robert's prediction that Scala is finally seen for the beauty that it is comes true, we still have a JVM running the Scala code.
Of course, the singularity will come in 20 years or so and make this entire idea moot, but, hey.
As an engineer friend of mine once put it, "You can interpolate until the cows come home. But don't you dare extrapolate." A company that turned 25 this year claiming a language that just turned 13 will live for another 93 years, in an industry that hasn't quite reached 60, isn't even hubris. It's just plain stupid.
Yes, there might be some crazy enthusiast running Java on her Virtual Binary FSM as a historical lark in the year 2100, but if she does it for her Senior Project, it will be for her BFA in History.
Imagining that we might still be designing software primarily in four dimensions by the time I retire crushes me with black despair. I cannot bear to imagine what life would be like if we let 100 years go by, programming in straight lines the whole way instead of clouds of curves full of nets.
Good heavens! We still mark time by sloshing wads of electrons back and forth in a piece of rock. You think our great-great-grandchildren will still have a use for a language that runs on hardware that uses this crap?
Yes, there might be some crazy enthusiast running Java on her Virtual Binary FSM as a historical lark in the year 2100, but if she does it for her Senior Project, it will be for her BFA in History.
Imagining that we might still be designing software primarily in four dimensions by the time I retire crushes me with black despair. I cannot bear to imagine what life would be like if we let 100 years go by, programming in straight lines the whole way instead of clouds of curves full of nets.
Good heavens! We still mark time by sloshing wads of electrons back and forth in a piece of rock. You think our great-great-grandchildren will still have a use for a language that runs on hardware that uses this crap?
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