Reinier Zwitserloot wrote: > Hence, I don't really care what the wider java community > thinks or wants. I care about what the vocal minority wants. > > > NB: Casper Bang makes a pretty good case for #2 as well (meritocracy > beats democracy in matters of language design). Couldn't agree more, > more Casper. >
Good points, but I still see troubles: 1. You're assuming that the "vocal" people are the smartest guys (= winners in a meritocratic context). I doubt that the two groups are the same, even though it's clear that some of the vocal people are smart. 2. Even pretending the previous point is a non issue, you're assuming that what the smartest people decide is good for the masses. This is not always true. The second point is very complex to explain, so I'm trying with an example. One of the recurring criticism about why Java is too conservative, or why more modern APIs haven't been developed, is the constraint about binary retro-compatibility. Managing a breakage in retro-compatibility is a matter of being good in software development practices, basically refactoring and testing. It sounds quite obvious to me that the smartest guys are pretty good in those practices, so it they called for breaking retro-compatibility, it wouldn't be absurd *in their perspective*. Unfortunately, 95% of the world doesn't work with best practices, doesn't test (enough) and fears refactoring like hell. Break retro-compatibility and you'll have tons of people lag with older Java versions for years, and when they are forced to switch the up-to-date Java will be so different from what they're working on that they will have equal chances to move to something else (not counting those that will move sooner, angry for the break). Voilà, in a few years this would turn a mass-language into an elite language. -- Fabrizio Giudici - Java Architect, Project Manager Tidalwave s.a.s. - "We make Java work. Everywhere." weblogs.java.net/blog/fabriziogiudici - www.tidalwave.it/blog [email protected] - mobile: +39 348.150.6941 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
