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The fact that people keep naming the same few well known examples (eg Jane Street Capital) plus a few extremely obscure projects whenever this question comes up
by ShardPhoenix 16y ago
The fact that people keep naming the same few well known examples (eg Jane Street Capital) plus a few extremely obscure projects whenever this question comes up essentially demonstrates that functional programming hasn't really caught on yet. By contrast, if someone asked you "who uses Java/C++/C#/etc.?", there are so many well-known answers you wouldn't even know where to start.
Don't get me wrong, I like what I've seen from functional programming so far (currently learning Clojure), but at the moment it's a niche thing at best.
- 10ren 16y agoWhat's a new project in Java? Last time this came up, the only examples given were five years old (note: "new" meaning newly launched, not just those that are active). Not bashing Java; this is a genuine question.
- yummyfajitas 16y agoI think Hadoop is less than 5 years old.
- ShardPhoenix 16y agohttp://www.playframework.org/ http://www.playframework.org/ is a good one, but the discussion isn't just about public projects, but overall usage. Java is still hugely used in the enterprise space for projects old and new (and for better for for worse...).
- 10ren 16y agooh I see; I should have side "aside/tangent:". I was trying to validate one of the assumptions for my startup ("Java will remain in wide-spread use"), not argue within the discussion. I believe it will, but with so much negativity about java, I'd like to confirm it with facts. Some facts are that many java jobs are advertised; but this doesn't really confirm where java is going... are they for new projects or maintaining old ones? Also, technologies typically peak just before being replaced, so it doesn't tell us either way. "New projects" would be factual, except that non-public ones are hard to measure, and there is a genuine fall-off in new public java projects. For example, github lists a very small proportion of Java projects - 5% (of course, github historically favours ruby) http://github.com/languages http://github.com/languages; but Java is top on http://sourceforge.net/search/?words=java&type_of_search=soft&words=&search=Search http://sourceforge.net/search/?words=java&type_of_search... [EDIT some language popularity trackers: http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.... http://lang-index.sourceforge.net/ http://lang-index.sourceforge.net/ http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/anton/comp.lang-statistics/ http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/anton/comp.lang-statistics/] Trying to extrapolate: Some weak points of java (verbosity and static typing) actually can be benefits to large companies, who want things to be clear and stable. Once a language gets established, it's difficult to dislodge because of infrastructure (tools; libraries; standards; trained workforce etc). One way dominant technologies can get replaced is to be disrupted, especially by a lower level. One disruption that is currently happening is "cloud computing", and there are initiatives within it, like Service Component Architecture, to try to minimize language dependence. Java suits this space quite well, so it's unlikely to be disrupted by it. Sun is gone, but its light lives on: the network is the computer.
- ww520 16y agoI've just started developing an Android couple weeks ago, using Java. I know it's an absurd answer, but fitting for an absurd question. Sorry.
- baguasquirrel 16y agoWell, the thread is also about 3 years old.