Hacker News Reader

Comment by taeric | Hacker News Reader

"Your choice of programming language can have a real effect on these results over time." Probably more accurate to say "Choice of programming team can have a real effect on these results over time."

I want to like Haskell. However, I have given up on wanting to dislike Java. To the point that it is painful to read such things as "you can write Java in any language."

View on HN

To be fair, that's one sentence in the second to last slide of 42 slides. The presentation, at least what I can see in the slides, is hardly Java bashing :) There are 3 mentions of Java in the whole presentation, only one of which has negative connotations: the one you quoted.

And to be extra fair "you can write Java in any language" is much more a dig at some of the bad patterns which Java has become known for culturally than anything about the language itself!

Yeah, the Java bashing I could (and, admittedly, should) have ignored. It is more the crediting the language for the success that I would rather focus on. It is a fairly strong assertion at the end, that I feel needs more support. Back when fewer teams were writing Java applications, I feel similar advantages were felt for it.

Of course, I still pine for lisp, so I can not claim to have no biases. (Well, that and MMIX)

The entire Java community pines for lisp, whether they know it or not. That's why Apache Ant was invented, it's Java's manifestation of Greenspun's Tenth Rule.

Is it confined to the Java community? Seems a bit more widespread, honestly.

Well yeah, that's why the original Greenspun's tenth rule cited "Any sufficiently complicated C or Fortran program..."

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. That is the only logical explanation for why XML even exists.

I read that rather differently. I see it as a poke at management that wants to make the move because of hype not a real understanding of what it will take, and not put the effort in training\hiring devs who have as he puts it "have taste and guidance".

Reply on news.ycombinator.com