Is Java dead? Or dying?
O’Reilly have just published a book called Beyond Java and the blurb includes this:
If you are agree with the book’s premise–that Java’s reign is coming to an end–then this book will help you start to build your skills accordingly
I don’t follow the Java community at all, so I’m quite surprised to see things like this being said. What has happened? Are people finally realising what a horrible language Java is?
As a Sun Certified Java Programmer, I’d say that Java has got a long way to go before it dies, simply because there are so many people with a vested interest in it now: programmers with Java skills, existing code that needs to be supported, etc.However, I’d say that Java has become way too complicated. (It wasn’t when I learned it in 1997). There’s just too much crap floating about in there, too many “standards”. What Java would benefit from is for Sun to officially lay down the law on “This is *the* technique for database access”, etc., and be done with it.As a language, with a good IDE it’s actually very nice to develop in. I know people say it’s a bit verbose, but (in my view) it makes it more clear what’s going on when faced with code that’s been written by a moron.Bottom line: Java won’t die any time soon, but it needs a good clean-out. Perhaps a sort of colonic irrigation.