I classify myself as one of those developers who don't get Ruby, just like I don't get Perl. Both are too hard for me. And there seems to be something in my brain that prevents me from learning both. It's strange I never had the problem with C or C++ or Python or Lisp or awk.

So, the hyper-enthusiasts have left the building. They went for another programming language. They claim that the other language is five to ten times more productive than the current languages, even though the other language does not have very good stories in terms of IDEs, GUI toolkits, multi-processor/multi-thread support, or distributed transaction management. They claim that the other language supports object-orientation far better than the current languages. They claim that the other language handles a big chunk of the tedious work we do in the current languages automatically. And they have a fifteen minute demo that anybody can download from the internet and fire up and be in awe.

Am I talking about Ruby? No!

I'm talking about Java—ten years ago. Yes we did all these when we were young. We downloaded HotJava, the world's first Java-enabled browser, fired it up and saw the animated website and liked it. We wrote our first Java applet in AWT 1.0 and it felt just so right! We were hooked. We left C++/COBOL/Fortran behind without ever looking back, proclaiming them "bad memory that is mercifully fading away."

Yep. That was us. Now ten years later, it's our turn to be on the other side of the flood gate. And it can be a scary time. What are we to do?

Well, you can follow the hyper-enthusiasts to the new pasture where the grass seems greener, if you believe them and you can stomach the new language. It will be fun. It will be exciting. For a while. But you won't be more productive than you are now. All the new things take time to learn. All the new missing features will need to be added into the mix. You will also constrain yourself into the narrower domain—Rails based webapps. If this is what you choose to do, I wish you luck.

Actually that's what I did when Java came around. And it has worked out great for me. But I was looking for another language anyway. My old language, a proprietary 4GL for developing client/server applications on Windows that everyone in the team loved, died, edged out by a language that's inferior but cheaper.

Or, you can stay with Java. That's what I would like to do this time. Let me explain why.

One, I just don't like Ruby. This has more to do with how I think and work than with the true quality of the Ruby language. I'm sure Ruby is a fine programming language offering good OO features. But there is something in it that rubs me the wrong way. I tried to learn it when the first edition of the PickAx book came out. But somehow I can't get past the "we are so OO, we write 3.abs instead of abs(3)" noise. I'm sorry. It's not for me. There. I said it.

I used to be afraid of saying such things publicly. Fearing other people would say "this guy is an idiot, can't even learn Ruby." I've been doing this line of work long enough to know that I'm not an idiot. Just like there are people who like Java and people who don't like Java, I think it's only natural that there will be people who like Ruby and people who don't like Ruby.

Two, I'm a slow person. It took me years and years to become really fluent and comfortable with the whole Java environment. My experience tells me learning the syntax is the easiest part, and learning the standard library and third party libraries takes a long long time. Even if I liked Ruby, it will be years before I can be as efficient in it as I am in Java. The at least ten times increased productivity that's cited last year, has been reduced to 10%-50% this year. My fear is that even the 10% number is for hyper-enthusiasts only. For the rank and file, it will more likely be no productivity for the first six months, reduced productivity for the next year and a half, and on par productivity for the next two years. By that time, the Ruby hype should have already died down. There will be a new media darling on the horizon making outlandish claims. What do you do then? Abandon Ruby for this other new thing?

Three, I think Java has a very bright future. Not as glorious as in the past ten years, but bright nonetheless. Java's fundamental strengths in OO, multi-threading, security, networking, dynamic remote class loading, distributed computing, GUI development and advanced and relatively performant runtime make it a strong contender as the language of choice for a wide variety of computing tasks.

The recent raft of proclaims—such as this one: Java is so Nineties—should be read under some critical light. They sound very much like press hits to me. The press has an internal need to hype something. Something new and exciting. They also has a tendency to get tired of them fairly quickly. When something goes off the radar screen of the press, it's not the end. It's just a new beginning. The beginning of the next phase in maturity.

With the hyper-enthusiasts gone, Java enters into a new age. The age of calmness, clarity, and confidence.

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Posted by Weiqi Gao on December 22, 2005 6:13:20 PM CST #