5 ms·

Java was never a form of innovation.

• deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
• bawolff 6y ago
  Java was very innovative at the time, with byte code and JIT, a more clear OO design relative to C++, embeddable safetly sandboxed web apps, memory safety in a "professional" language, cross platform binaries (in a non scripting language) etc. The mid 90's was a long time ago. What was exciting then is not exciting now.
  • dependenttypes 6y ago
    Everything that you mentioned was already available at the time in other languages. This is not innovation.
    • bawolff 6y ago
      But to what extent was it available in a polished package? For example, everything in rust was available in other languages, i would still say it was innovative because it brought all that together into a polished package that made the right tradeoffs for mainstream usage.
      • gok 6y ago
        Java? Polished?
      • dependenttypes 6y ago
        > But to what extent was it available in a polished package? To a large extent. Both Smalltalk and Erlang were mature at that point in time. > everything in rust was available in other languages I am not doubting you but are you aware of any other language with affine types? I am not.
    • smt88 6y ago
      What is the single language that had all these features?
      • dependenttypes 6y ago
        Smalltalk and Erlang for everything except the "webapps" part. For that there was flash.
        • smt88 6y ago
          OK. Java did all of it, including the web apps.
          • dependenttypes 6y ago
            Yes, we know that.