When Java first came out, I did a little programming in it to see what the fuss was all about. This was probably about 1995 and there’s no denying that it’s come a long way since then. But I’ve never really been able to get excited about it; languages I want to get into are Python and Ruby, or at the other end of the scale C#, so that I can play with Mono.
I could never quantify exactly what was putting me off, but now Chris Blizzard has posted a great argument about how Java’s licensing has harmed it. Having read it, I would have to agree and admit that the fragmentation and non-ubiquity of the run time environment are probably the largest turn-offs for me.
Tags: programming