On Thursday 17 February 2005 03:42 pm, Jeremy Turner wrote:
On Thu, Feb 17, 2005 at 11:08:53AM -0600, Jonathan Hutchins wrote:
Java is a virtual operating system that can be installed on top of other operating systems. As an OS, it's somewhat limited and specialized, but that's what the "Virtual Machine" in java is all about.
I wouldn't call Java an operating system, in the typical sense of the word.
I again refer you to the concept of the Java Virtual Machine.
Give me something like HTML that "runs" natively on multiple platforms, that doesn't require me to download and install a support system.
But basically a web browser _is_ a support system.
A browser is an application. Maybe I'm mistaken about this, but having looked at the chore of downloading and installing a JVM/JRE a couple of times, the complexity and sheer size of Java distinguish it from something like Firefox, which can legitimately claim to be an application.
Perl is a scripting language. As a language, it has it's complexity, and certainly the module system gives it size and complexity. On the other hand, there's a working installation on most Linux distributions, and it does a good job of maintaining itself without a lot of user intervention. As with PHP, Perl is maintained in the domain of the developer, on the server, and doesn't have to be installed by or for the end user, unless the end user is actively creating and working with perl scripts.
I realise that diversity is part of the evolutionary process, but as an end user I don't want to have to download multiple, redundant scripting systems, especially if they are only available as, or require, a full development environment devoted to them. Gcc, bash, and perl are pretty much standard parts of Linux these days. Ruby, Python, Java, and a host of others are, in my opinion, solutions that have yet to justify themselves by solving a real problem.
They're great for developers, programmers, designers, but not appropriate for end-user land.