4 ms·
Java was a one size fits all language. Nobody wants that anymore. I work for a bank, most of our applications are in Java, but like 90% of these programs are ve
by jbob2000 7y ago
Java was a one size fits all language. Nobody wants that anymore. I work for a bank, most of our applications are in Java, but like 90% of these programs are very rudimentary transactional applications: take this piece of data and send it over there.
We had a small pilot project to test replacing a Java app with a NodeJS app. The node app was a single file of about 50 lines of code, whereas the Java app had all sorts of bullshit associated with it. It needs to be compiled and the dependencies need be installed, you need a specific version of the JDK, make sure you run in with special flags... all to receive an HTTP request, pick out some data, then forward it on to a downstream server. Huge productivity gains from never having to fight a build, it was stupid easy to set up the deployment pipeline too, much to the chagrin of the devops manager. Git pull, npm install, node app.js and that’s it.
The Java exit strategy is to find the technology that serves your needs. There’s just so much bullshit associated with having a language that does it all that I think people are starting to look for solutions with common sense defaults. Why, in 2019, is it still so fucking awkward to deal with JSON in Java? Why do I have to handle so many interfaces and classes to make a simple HTTP request?
C++ is facing the same reckoning as Java, thanks to Rust. You’d be stupid to start a C++ project these days, given all the sanity that Rust brought to that ecosystem.
- tannhaeuser 7y agoAs much as I like Node.js since the CommonJS days for lightweight web backends, I think it's a crap environment for the kind of apps Java is used for. Those being complex business logic where Node.js' always-async, cooperative multitasking model is a regression not helping maintainability. And it just plain doesn't work well with even slightly CPU-bound tasks unless you're starting extra V8 isolates/processes.
- kasperni 7y ago> Java was a one size fits all language. Nobody wants that anymore. That sounds like a very opinionated claim. Can you back it up with any kind of evidence? Also, am I the only one that finds it kind of ironic that you describe how a scripting language, whose main use is creating interactive web pages, is used as a Java replacement?
- tannhaeuser 7y agoNo more ironic than using Java the original purpose of which was for developing portable interactive apps on set-top boxes ;)
- kasperni 7y agoIt is ironic because the poster claimed that no one want one size fits all languages anymore. And then he goes on to describe how they replaced Java with Javascript.
- jbob2000 7y agoJavascript is a functional programming language. Bash is a scripting language, perhaps you’re confused.
- sandov 7y ago> C++ is facing the same reckoning as Java, thanks to Rust. You’d be stupid to start a C++ project these days, given all the sanity that Rust brought to that ecosystem. The whole world disagrees[1] [1] https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&q=%2Fm%2F0jgqg,%2Fm%2F07sbkfb,%2Fm%2F0dsbpg6 https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&q=...
- jbob2000 7y agoRust came out in 2010, of course it’s not going to have the same numbers as one released in 1985.