On Java
For those who don’t know, I recently switched jobs. I’m now working for Mapquest in the B2B Tools department. The next big move for us is from the AOL Server and Tcl to Tomcat and Java under the Spring framework. I’ll save the description of my new job environment for a later date. Suffice to say that I like it quite a bit more than my old job. I feel like I’ve graduated boot camp.
Now, I’ve never been a big fan of Java. I’m not sure there’s many Mac users out there who are. In my experience Java applications have been slow, buggy, and, frankly, butt ugly. Even on Windows I’d rather use a native application over a Java one. They just don’t seem to have the fit and finish of native applications, and they definitely don’t look good compared to native OS X programs. In other words, JEdit will never be as nice as Notepad++, let alone TextMate.
But if the bossman says we’re using Java, I’m gonna use Java. My main complaint with Java, the butt ugliness of Java applications, is negated when you put it behind a web application. And in this scenario, it’s actually pretty good. Compiling an app to bytecode and then running from there makes them scale really well, even if initial startup takes a bit. (My supervisor started a Java-based CMS and it took 39 seconds to get going.)
But there are a couple other complaints I’ve got with Java. First off, it’s statically typed. Groovy solves this problem, but we’re not using that. Also, when developing in Java, like with ASP.NET/C#, you have the extra step of building the application before any minor changes show up. And with some changes, you have to wait for the server to compile the Java to byte code before you can test the modifications. And all this means more developer time spent waiting for the computer to think about what it’s going to do. I don’t mind being paid to sit and do nothing, but it’s a wonder management lets this happen.