Plan B

More on the "unteachability" of the java language

Elliotte Rusty Harold writes about yet another fancy feature proposed for Java SE 7.  For the record, here's my comment posted there: 

I'm glad you brought up the topic of the increasing "unteachability" of Java. If you want to do the language a favor, next time, please laugh off (to put it lightly) anyone who tries to profess fancy versions of closures, a new property syntax or other such forms of geek entertainment. The Java language is not some kind of a guinea pig on which you try out various experiments and, if they fail, throw it away and just pick up a new specimen. If they want to experiment with the language, ask them to use the kitchen sink. But please let them not come up with complicated and absurd proposals just to kill time.

I'd like to reaffirm that I'm not against well thought out, beneficial features being added to the language without complicating its type system or compromising on its ease of learning. (Talk to Jonathan Schwartz if you think its unimportant to reduce barriers to entry or make it easier for new developers to pick up your language and tools.) You do not have to design for fools, but your needn't make it a playground for theorists either.

P.S: Cay Horstmann in his post makes a fleeting mention of how his students lapped up CICE immediately, but took a lot more time (and required guidance) to comprehend BGGA. Need I say more?

Posted at 11:36AM Apr 20, 2007 by Bharath Ravikumar in Sun  | 

Happy Birthday, Sun!

Sun turned 25 on the 24th of Feb, 2007. For all the naysayers:  we're alive, relevant and kicking.

Posted at 12:53PM Feb 25, 2007 by Bharath Ravikumar in Sun  | 

Sun's X64 servers top InfoWorld reviews

The Sun Fire X4600 series tops the list, beating HP ProLiant and Dell PowerEdge. Quite a flattering review.

(Thanks to James Dickens for the link) 

Posted at 12:02PM Dec 10, 2006 by Bharath Ravikumar in Sun  |  Comments[0]

Hello World

Hi there. I'm a developer for the N1 Service Provisioning System. I've been with Sun for a little over a year now. I'll mostly be writing about my experiences and what I learn at work, typically featuring Java, Solaris and netBeans. Stay tuned.

Posted at 02:19PM Dec 07, 2006 by Bharath Ravikumar in Sun  |  Comments[2]