Why Java Won't Get It Right

When I was reading DHH’spost about Rife I knew it would stir up the Javaites. And, sure enough, the first few posts were by Java trolls, lashing out and showing their ignorance.

I’ve been developing web applications for about ten years. At least four of those years have been exclusively committed to Java work. Java isn’t bad, but it isn’t great. The Sun marketing machine has made a good group of zombies, I will give it that. You’ve heard the expression ‘drinking the kool-aid’, right? You generally see it referring to pro-Microsoft people. Well the Java group are just as bad, it’s just a different flavor of kool-aid.

Now, I have a very good understanding of Java. I know that it’s not, never has been, and never will be a ‘silver bullet’. Nor has it lived up to the claim of ‘write once run anywhere’. And really, it’s no more ‘scalable’ than any other language.

I love that term; ‘scalable’. Certain people seem to think that by using Java, or .Net, or pick-your-technology, that it’s instantly ‘scalable’. Scalability is as scalability does… OK, that was a little too cheesy, but you get the point, right? It’s not the technology, but what you do with the technology that determines whether it’s ‘scalable’.

Technically speaking, everything is ‘scalable’. The question is: “Does your application code scale well when the user load is increased?”. That question is technology agnostic. The same question applies for RoR.

But I think ‘scalability’ is a red herring. You can create an application in RoR that’s as scalable as one written in Java, or .NET, or whatever technology. However, how productively can you create that application? There are people who think that LOC (Lines Of Code) are irrelevant. And, in a way, I agree. When using an IDE like IDEA, or Eclipse, you can create Java code very quickly. To me, it’s about the number of support, or boiler-plate, classes that have to be written. It’s about how much configuration is needed before you can actually use it.

But I digress. I could spend time ripping Java apart and pointing out it’s inadequacies… But that’s not the point. Every language has inadequacies. Every. Single. One. Ruby included. Java is as viable a language as Ruby, or C#, or hell, even C++. They all have their strengths, and weaknesses.

The main reason I don’t think Java will ever really have a good equivalent of RoR is because of the Java developers themselves. Before you read on, understand that these are generalizations. And no generalizations are accurate on the individual level. But, they can be indicative of behavioral patterns of a group. In others words, what I’m about to say may not apply to you—but seems to apply well to the Java community as a whole.

First, they don’t take the time to truly understands Rails. They say they do, but when you look at the ‘framework(s)’ they’ve written, it’s clearly missing the point of it all. Yes, you can do a scaffold knock-off in Java. You know what? I don’t use scaffolds at all. They are a nice add-on to Rails that can allow the developer to focus on the core of the application. Which is usually a lot more than just CRUD screens.

Second, they can’t reign themselves in. They over-architect everything. I’ve actually used a Java framework (I’m not gonna say which) that had XML config files that configured more XML config files! That’s just silly.

Huh. Well, I didn’t mean for this to become a Java bashing post. Because I like Java. I think it’s a good platform—specifically for web development. I’ve enjoyed using it over the years. It’s just a different mindset than the Rails community. And really, that’s why I think there will never be a ‘Java on Rails’. There is a fundamental difference in what each camp thinks, nay believes, is the right way of doing things.

I really meant for this to be a “why can’t we all just get along?” post. Oh well.

Update: Wow, that thread is getting pathetic. From both sides. Jeez, it’s breaking down into a contest of who has the bigger, er, framework.