[NTLUG:Discuss] Wanting to speak the language

[Stephen Davidson]

Patrick R. Michaud wrote:

>On Wed, Feb 23, 2005 at 06:52:27PM -0800, Steve Baker wrote:
>  
>
>>Ohh!! Language War!!
>>    
>>
>
>Indeed!
>
>  
>
>>The top four most popular languages are:
>>
>>      C++  (14830 projects)
>>      C    (14341 projects)
>>      Java (14095 projects)
>>      PHP  (10439 projects)
>>All of the other languages are *FAR* below those in popularity (PERL
>>is number five with 5691 projects).
>>    
>>
>
>Actually, these numbers may be a bit suspect -- many (most?)
>Perl programs wouldn't be listed on SourceForge but would appear
>instead on CPAN (the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network).
>
>Also, SourceForge tends to post things that are "application/package
>/project" oriented, whereas there's a lot of programming tends to 
>be "glue" or "how do I accomplish this task specific for my needs?".
>Perl tends to fall in this latter group.
>
>
>  
>
[snip]

> - It's always easiest to learn a language when you have a project
>   of some sort that you're interested in.  
>
> - For text/database programming, or things that manipulate lots of
>   symbols, use Perl.
> - For server-side web programming, use PHP.
> - For doing things on browsers, use Java.
> - For device drivers and standalone applications, tend towards C/C++.
>
>  
>
And when people continue spouting old information as if it was current, 
I really have to speak up.  Java does both Applications (has been quite 
reasonable ever since 1.4 came out almost two years ago), and Server 
side (since about 2001).  Last year, I wrote a couple Media Control 
software programs for Broadcast studios.  These had to control the Video 
Cards with Frame accuracy.  Java turned out to be too fast, and I 
actually had to put in sleep/wait statements in the worker threads that 
was handling the hardware!  (Oh yeah, Java can call C, C++, Assembly, 
Cobol, and other languages directly as needed using something called 
JNI, was how I accessed the hardwares C-based Dynamic Libraries).

And if you are looking for work, there is a serious shortage of Java 
Developers at this time, which is only going to get worse, due to the 
sudden rise in demand by Enterprises looking for Java Developers over 
the last year.

The rest of this email (and the thread in general), I either have no 
issue with, or actually agree with.

>I've never used Python, myself, but I hear it's mostly like Perl
>with a slightly less steep learning curve.
>
>Hope these help.
>  
>

Regards,
Steve

-- 
Java/J2EE Developer/Integrator
Stephen Davidson and Associates, Inc.
Vice President, DFW JavaMUG (http://javamug.org)
Past Chair, Dallas/FortWorth J2EE Sig
214-724-7741