Re: [WebMacro-user] Re: [lajug] [OT] PG - "Java is the SUV of programming tools"

[Marc P. <ma...@an...>]

On 10 Dec 2005, at 17:11, Lane Sharman wrote:

> Java is at a cross-roads. The blog from Greenspun (see link below)  
> is just right-on about Java. What has happenned is that the  
> engineering theoreticians at IBM, Oracle and Sun co-opted Java into  
> a complex environment. Great if you believe that industry and  
> purchasing managers are always willing to pay for expensive, hard- 
> to-find, propeller-headed engineers to work on the full spectrum of  
> engineering problems.
>
> OK. What to do? There really needs to be a new initiative for Java.
>
> Something akin to an interpretive container for GUI and Web apps  
> which uses mostly reflection for dynamic instantiation of well- 
> known java types for database binding and presentation. The common  
> tasks of EVERY application.
>
> And, interpretive languages for Java ARE out there. What will it  
> take to move the Java engineering community into endorsing and  
> embracing Java-based interpretive environments and building on  
> them? What will it take for a group to build a general-purpose  
> application execution container with a cool GUI builder using an  
> interpretive, semi-typed language?

Erm, Groovy. http://groovy.codehaus.org

They are currently going through the JCP process to establish the  
language specification and testing compatibility kit. It is slated to  
become the de facto scripting language for Java.

Groovy, JSR 241 info is at http://www.jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=241

Groovy is great because you can run it interpreted, it talks to Java  
classes fine, and you can also pre-compile it to java bytecode.

I'm already writing all my JUnit unit tests as Groovy scripts now,  
its a real timesaver.

~ ~ ~
Marc Palmer (ma...@an...)
Consultant/Analyst
AnyWare Ltd.
http://www.anyware.co.uk/