Exodus from Java

Finally the news that I was subconsciously waiting for: the exodus of companies from Java has started. It does not come as a surprise at all. Java has never fulfilled the promises it had at the beginning. It did not provide any of the portability, security and ease of programming. I am only surprised it took so long, although knowing full well that companies’ managers routinely optimize for their own career and bonuses that does not come as a shock either.

For those not in the know, the gist of the problem is that Java promised at all times to provide some sort of “inherent security”. That is, no matter how bad you write the code, it will still be more secure that the code written in C or other advanced high-level algorithmic languages. Java claimed absence of buffer overflows, null pinter dereferences and similar problems, which all turned out to be not true after all. And it had a very important consequence.

The consequence is that anyone writing in Java or learning it is subconsciously aware of that promise. So people tend to relax and allow themselves to be sloppy. So the code written in C ends up being tighter, more organized, and more secure than the code written in Java. And the developers in C tend to be on average better educated in the intricacies of software development and more aware of potential pitfalls. And that makes a huge difference.

So, the punch line is, if you want something done well, forget Java.