Stroustrup, C++ and Java

In the June issue of SD Times there is an entire article on how "spec-laden" and "bloated" the Java language has become. When I read it I was immediately reminded of Bjarne Stroustrup (the inventor of C++) and what he said in response to the question, "Is Java the language you would have designed if you didn't have to be compatible with C?" Keep in mind that he wrote this when Java was considered superior to C++ for its simplicity and he was being mocked in the press for creating such a "bloated" language. This is from his FAQ:

Much of the relative simplicity of Java is - like for most new languages - partly an illusion and partly a function of its incompleteness. As time passes, Java will grow significantly in size and complexity. It will double or triple in size and grow implementation-dependent extensions or libraries. That is the way every commercially successful language has developed. Just look at any language you consider successful on a large scale. I know of no exceptions, and there are good reasons for this phenomenon.

When he wrote this (back in the 90's) people pooh-pooh'ed this statement and said he had sour grapes but of course you shouldn't second-guess somebody of Stroustrup's caliber because, of course, he was right, Java is "spec-laden" and "bloated" now but also, "there are good reasons for this."

Security, The Eternal Concern

In the May 19th issue of eWeek there is an article on Web 2.0 wherein we find that "Enterprises are embracing Web 2.0, but they're keeping the technology close to home for now as security and liability concerns remain." I think it would be nice to read an article someday that talks about some technology for which security isn't a "concern." Of course security, being what it is, has an intrinsic property of subjectivity and so it will always be a "concern" in any endeavor.

Microsoft + Competition = "Innovation"

In the May issue of Visual Studio Magazine a letter to the editor bemoaned the fate of VB.NET as being a second-class member of the Visual Studio suite. Of course it is absolutely true that VB.NET is not given the same attention by Microsoft as C#, but why that should surprise anybody is beyond me. Language-wise Visual Basic has no competitors and Microsoft does not make it a practice of spending too much effort on product areas within which they have no competition. C#, of course, was created as a counterpoint to Java and therefore it behooves Microsoft to make certain that it is projected to the fore of the VS.NET languages and that maximum effort is spent on it.

Microsoft's practice of spending minimal effort until prompted by competition is clear enough when looking at the market share of Internet Explorer and placing that against Internet Explorer's release history. Notably, IE6 came out in mid-2001 when IE's market share was just about to reach its peak. IE7 did not even have a beta release until mid-2005 and it did not officially release until late 2006. Prior to IE7 Microsoft had released a version of IE about every other year. So when IE7 came out the market share for Internet Explorer had begun to fall. Now, by any estimation IE's falling market share during the years 2001-2006 was driven almost entirely by the rise of Firefox. It shouldn't be any surprise that one of the primary differentiators of Firefox was tabbed browsing and one of the primary features touted in IE7 is, you guessed it, tabbed browsing.

The fact that competition drives innovation is, of course, a foundation of a market economy. However, Microsoft seems to embody that principle more than most companies do.