> -----Original Message----- > From: Kent West [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2002 9:42 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: OT: Politics of Java > > > Derrick 'dman' Hudson wrote: > > >On Wed, Nov 20, 2002 at 10:04:30PM -0800, Sean 'Shaleh' Perry wrote: > >| On Wednesday 20 November 2002 21:06, Kent West wrote: > >| > > >| > I'm just curious; do other folks (particularly real > developers, not just > >| > tinkerer-wanna-be's like myself) have a similar problem with Java, or > >| > have I just been channeling too much RMS lately? > > > >I would avoid java if I wasn't require to use it in class and at work. > >Since I am required, use this apt sources line and install the > >'j2sdk1.4' package. > > deb ftp://ftp.tux.org/pub/java/debian/ sid main non-free > > > >| If you are looking for an easy, fun, quick to learn language > give Python a > >| try. > > > >I agree here. In fact, python is older, more cross-platform and more > >OO than java is. All it lacks is the marketing budget of Sun. > > > >-D > > > > > > > Shaleh was the one to plug python first. But what dman says here gets my > attention. Do others concur that python is more cross-platform and more > OO than java? What are the disadvantages with python as opposed to java? > Why would someone pick java over python then? Is it only because of > marketing, as dman says? > > Kent
We're really really off topic here. Personally, I like Java better but this is personal preference. Java: - Owned by sun + Well spec'd from the beginning - Huge. standard libraries have lots of useless crap o Unicode-16 is std string representation. Good for i18n, bad for performance. + Well integrated thread and lock support. + Latest VMs are very fast + Real garbage collector o C syntax o Some non-object types. Helpful for performance. Python: + Free. Very free. - Reference counting collector. o Simple syntax. Easy to learn but limits sophisticated stuff. + 8 bit strings by default - VM is bytecode only, relatively slow + Many libraries available but not part of core. Just get what you need. - Object attributes live in hashes. Very dynamic but very slow. o Everything is an object. Helpful for development. Both languages are still evolving rapidly and both are pretty nice. I would never say either is better in general. It depends on what you want to do. Either language would make a good choice for a learning language as neither demands you learn bad habits to get work done. And no one says you have to learn just one language. I would say if you are sitting at the end of a slow pipe, you should download python. You could be waiting for hours before you get Java downloaded. As a professional, the choice of language is often made before I get hired so I have to be flexible and rather agnostic. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]