🚀 go-pugleaf

Alex \"Ferret\" Ferrier (u01aajf@abdn.ac.uk) wrote:

: I can't even begin to believe that someone is trying to say learning 
: Java instead of C is an option - particularly a fellow Aberdonian! 

: Actually, I only just got my hands on Java today  for the first time 
: as the uni has just installed Solaris instead of SunOS, but I would say
: that given that this post was in rec.games.programmer, not in a WWW 
: Applications programming group, C++ is going to be superior and 5000 
: times more popular than Java.

: Java's a very nice language - I've been following the mailing lists
: for some time - but I can't see it even approaching C++'s level of
: general acceptance for many many years.

GO GO GADGET SOAPBOX!!

Heh...that's a little presumptuous for someone who's been using Java 
for a single day, don't you think?  Java has many features that C++
doesn't have, and lacks many features C++ programmers don't want.
I'll grant you that "want" is a matter of opinion, but I'm going
from my own experience as a professional programmer as well as 
the experiences of those professionsals around me. 

Java is about to explode onto the WWW scene, but if you have truly
been following the mailing list, you'd know that it is HARDLY exclusively
a web-language. I'll be the first to admit that if you're writing a
time-critical program (such as a game), Java isn't really for you.
But for the VAST majority of programs, Java will only be a little slower 
than conventional compiled langauges, but offers platform portability 
(without recompiling I mean), security, garbage collection, and freedom
from many of the misused "sugar" features of C++ to name a few.

It's unfortuanate that Java is still in alpha test at the moment, and only
running on Solaris and Windows NT based systems. I realize that this
is a games group, but I urge everyone to check it out.

It is my honest impression that once Java clears beta-test, and
is ported to several major platforms, it will become a major player
in industrial applications.  C++ will be here for a while, but I've
rarely talked to someone that LOVED using it. Almost every Java
user I've talked to has commented about how much better it is than C++.

Just my little contribution...
-Jason Weiler

Don't send mail to this address...I'll get things ALOT faster
if you send them along to:    weilerj@std.teradyne.com