Posts by Tesco

Academics slam Java

Pish

"Students found it hard to write programs that did not have a graphic interface"

Are they for real? What's easier than System.out.printing to console? Have you ever tried to write GUI code from scratch? Sure, drag-and-drop GUI-building tools tend to come built-in to Java IDEs these days, but it's not a feature of the Java language. Considering how many GUI-building Java tools there are available, and how bloody hard it sometimes is to write Swing code that works, I'd rather say it's more a feature of Java to /obfuscate/ GUI operations!

"had no feeling for the relationship between the source program and what the hardware would actually do"

Well, isn't that the point of Java? "Write once, run anywhere"? I hear that writing generally portable Java code is not always possible in practice, but, as long as the porgram is doing what thought I told it to, I'd rather not care what the hardware is up to, thankyouverymuch! If you wanna get in touch with the hardware, write in C or assembly!

"(most damaging) did not understand the semantics of pointers at all, which made the use of C in systems programming very challenging"

C can't express everyting that assembly code can, but it gives the option to call assembly code from its functions. Similarly, methods in Java may be decalred 'native'; that is, they are implemented in C.

Shock-horror: Java-learned folks come to C and understand nothing of the semantic's of C's pointers (shocking, conisidering Java deliberately abstracts such things), which makes the use of C is systems programming very challenging. Great, why not teach them C then,if the point is to program systems in C?

Java is a different language for a different purpose, and Java can't be blamed for not being able to express the concepts of a language of a lower level than itself.

MySpace backs Google's anti-Facebook play

Facebook Apps Suck

Facebook has sucked since they lets apps run willy-nilly.

For a start, many of the apps are scummy in themselves. Many either send unsolicited spam on behalf of the user or at least make it an effort for the user to /not/ spam his contacts. Top Friends in particular offended me because it once added more apps by the same developer without even telling me, never mind asking me. Needless to say, I removed it (and wrote my own with the excellent Code Box).

Secondly, while Facebook doesn't let a user edit the HTML or CSS for his profile, it still gives him the power to make his profile's viewers eyes bleed. One of my crazy contacts managed to add 117 apps, many of which were flash-based or image-heavy. If my browser even survives loading the page, it is so sluggish aftwerwards that I have to force-quit it anyway.