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Eh... your hate is blinding you. Java was the first mainstream garbage-collected language. Not the first GC language, but the first one to get serious traction
by jdlshore 4y ago
Eh... your hate is blinding you.
Java was the first mainstream garbage-collected language. Not the first GC language, but the first one to get serious traction. It started the post-C++ era.
That was a pretty bold design decision for the time, and one that worked out. The VM was another big one, and it also worked out.
- thomashabets2 4y agoI did say "almost" every single language decision. GC wasn't a failed experiment. OOP extremism was. And the latter is a bigger Java standout than GC. Python predates Java and is still mainstream, and while (mostly) not garbage collected, but reference counted, language design wise it's not a big difference. There have been GCd Python implementations, proving that. Being successful is not really a language design choice, so I wouldn't count that. > The VM was another big one, and it also worked out. As I explain in the blog post, the VM was a colossally bad mistake. The inspiration for the VM sounds like it was better. So looks like they took the ball and started running in the wrong direction.