On Tue, 2011-03-29 at 17:59 -0700, mP wrote:
> Im going to say something a little different. If Scala, Groovy etc are
> so great then why are all the big items in JVM land all written in
> Java ? Eclipse, Tomcat, Hibernate, Spring and so on. Sure there are
> libraries that specialise for the aforementioned languages but they
> are an ant compared to the big monster that is Java and all the stuff
> that is written in java. So why arent there any big libraries for the
> JVM ecosystem written in non Java languages ?

Two reasons:

1.  They were written before non-Java programming languages became
viable for production code.

2.  Java is to the JVM as C is to native code.

Arguing that all big frameworks are written in Java therefore non-Java
programming languages are not usable is sophistry.

We are now entering (rather than already being in) an era of
multi-language systems rather than distinct  monocultures:  Java, Scala,
Groovy, Clojure, etc. all have slightly different pros and cons, so use
that don't shy away from it.  Because the JVM allows these language to
interwork (almost) seamlessly, different parts of a system can be
written in the language most suited to create maintainable production
code meeting appropriate performance metrics.  This is the JVMs only
real USP in a world still wanting native code.  Do not throw the baby
out with the bath water by clinging to a Java-only monoculture approach:
it matters not what current systems are written in when running on the
JVM, only what happens in the future.

-- 
Russel.
=============================================================================
Dr Russel Winder      t: +44 20 7585 2200   voip: sip:[email protected]
41 Buckmaster Road    m: +44 7770 465 077   xmpp: [email protected]
London SW11 1EN, UK   w: www.russel.org.uk  skype: russel_winder

Attachment: signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part

Reply via email to