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> First, the excitement is overblown - at least from a business perspective. At the moment Java is expanding into a vacuum. It allows you to make cool web pages
by resonious 4y ago
> First, the excitement is overblown - at least from a business perspective. At the moment Java is expanding into a vacuum. It allows you to make cool web pages, and that is a very attractive thing for people. It gives programmers something new to learn, book people something new to sell books on, software tool companies a way to issue new development tools etc.
This is a pretty interesting take, and it feels relevant to this day with respect to both frontend and backend frameworks. I always thought of frameworks as just fads where people simply enjoy to try new ideas and are just having fun. I've always agreed with the overall sentiment that, for example, no one will be going out of business just because their frontend isn't React, but it's interesting to consider that people also profit off of these "fads" by selling books and tools, resulting in a sort of perpetual motion machine.
- jbverschoor 4y agoHe’s right.. this is what BASIC used to be
- pototo666 4y ago> no one will be going out of business just because their frontend isn't React Yes. But one is more likely to go out of business if their frontend is still using JQuery. It's harder to maintain and iterate, harder to recruite good engineers. I would ask for more money if the company hiring me uses JQuery and doesn't use TypeScript/React. And if the company somehow hires me, I would be less productive because I can't use TypeScript and a modern framework.
- midhhhthrow 4y agoI’ll take jquery over react any day of the week and ask for less money because it’s more productive
- irrational 4y agoWhat if they use typescript/Vue? I work for a fortune 100 company that uses Vue. We have found that people familiar with react can pick up Vue very quickly. That hardly seems like a reason to ask for more money.
- wruza 4y agoMy experience with True React Frontenders is opposite, except for more money nuance. I don’t even feel that “no one will be going out of business” vibe, really (but that must depend on a type of a business).
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- bitcharmer 4y ago> It allows you to make cool web pages, and that is a very attractive thing for people This is the most misinformed take on what Java is used for I have seen on HN. Today Java is used by FAANG and other tech shops. It's employed in the enterprise, science and finance. What it is almost never used for is creating "cool web pages"
- pavlov 4y agoIt’s a quote from 1996.
- return_to_monke 4y agoI was also puzzled by this one. Does he mean Java applets maybe?
- midasuni 4y agoThat’s exactly it, and led to activex in response.
- mtrower 4y agoYes, they were a really big deal at the time, before security concerns came along and sunk them.
- kaba0 4y agoThere was nothing inherently unsafe about Java Applets that could not have been fixed, security was simply not that important in the era for browsers.
- sangnoir 4y agoBrowsers didn't even have sandboxes then: fixing would have taken decades, and we still get sandbox escape vulns.
- 72deluxe 4y agoI remember applets being used for roll-over buttons on web pages and always knowing that an applet was being used because Internet Explorer 4 hung when loading the page, waiting for the JVM to fire up (with much disk churning). Kind of nostalgic for it!
- steve1977 4y ago> it's interesting to consider that people also profit off of these "fads" by selling books and tools, resulting in a sort of perpetual motion machine. The machine is called IT.