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comment by rob05c
rob05c  ·  3784 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The Worst Programming Language Ever

    Java’s designers were consciously designing a product for people not as smart as them. – Paul Graham

That's Java's fundamental problem. Full stop.

    Its versatility and power pull me in

Java only looks powerful because it has a comprehensive library. Common Lisp is powerful. Ruby is powerful. Java is not powerful. Clojure and Scala both offer more expressibility on the JVM.

briandmyers hits the nail on the head: Java is the new Cobol. It's the current industrial language for legions of mediocre programmers. If you become a Java expert, you'll never be out of a job. I don't know about you, but unfortunately, that's not how I want to spend my life.





caelum19  ·  3782 days ago  ·  link  ·  

It's not THAT bad... There are a lot of better langauges to get jobs done in, but I'm thankful there is a new Cobol, so we don't have to use Cobol.

It's better these jobs are being offered to Java experts rather than something much more low level, I'd rather buy odd shapes wheels then invent them from scratch over and over again.

rob05c  ·  3782 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I didn't say it was bad; just weak. In fact, Java is an excellent language for mediocre programmers. It prevents them from doing bad things.

    invent them from scratch over and over again.

As well as making trivial errors and unreadable constructs. Java's weak and rigid system helps prevent all these things.

    It's better these jobs are being offered to Java experts rather than something much more low level

Absolutely.

That's also not to say there aren't great programmers using Java. I just wish I knew why.