Comments on: Elephants with wings: Should Java get closures? http://www.javarant.com/2008/01/09/elephants-with-wings-should-java-get-closures/ Learn the newest innovations in Java and unleash explosive new techniques of the technology age. JavaRant teaches you how to use the latest strategies with classic principles to help you become an expert in this exciting revolution. Whether you are new to Java or are a seasoned veteran, you’ll discover new ways to boost your productivity and understanding. You’ll learn about tools to make you faster, frameworks to aid in applications, servers to make your apps run faster, and much more. We’re dedicated to teaching you not only the skills but also the mind set necessary to succeed as a Java programmer. Come join our community that contains thousands of professionals working to keep their edge. Sat, 22 Nov 2008 15:19:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: Matt Harrah http://www.javarant.com/2008/01/09/elephants-with-wings-should-java-get-closures/#comment-3 Matt Harrah Thu, 10 Jan 2008 01:24:35 +0000 http://www.javarant.com/2008/01/09/elephants-with-wings-should-java-get-closures/#comment-3 Some would claim that Ruby sort of *is* the overhaul of Java...at least for web development. Maybe Groovy is a better case for the "new Java". A new language similar to Java (in the way that Java was similar to C) could be a good thing. The problem is (as I see it) that Java started out intended for something entirely different than how we use it now, and every step of the way new features and API's were glommed on, and it is now as much a general purpose language as COBOL used to be, or C. It's rare that something that does everything pretty well does any one thing exceptionally well. I would MUCH rather see domain specific languages (or "subdomain" specific languages) that are built from the ground up to implement solutions in a specific space. These languages could all compile or be interpreted down to bytecode and run on a JVM. What I think would be cool would be a DSL for web work, another DSL for ORM, another DSL for fat clients, etc., and an integration DSL. Each separate concern could be coded in modules using a language *made* for that task, and pulled together using a language designed for pulling things together. Boy am I nuts. Some would claim that Ruby sort of *is* the overhaul of Java…at least for web development. Maybe Groovy is a better case for the “new Java”.

A new language similar to Java (in the way that Java was similar to C) could be a good thing. The problem is (as I see it) that Java started out intended for something entirely different than how we use it now, and every step of the way new features and API’s were glommed on, and it is now as much a general purpose language as COBOL used to be, or C. It’s rare that something that does everything pretty well does any one thing exceptionally well.

I would MUCH rather see domain specific languages (or “subdomain” specific languages) that are built from the ground up to implement solutions in a specific space. These languages could all compile or be interpreted down to bytecode and run on a JVM.

What I think would be cool would be a DSL for web work, another DSL for ORM, another DSL for fat clients, etc., and an integration DSL. Each separate concern could be coded in modules using a language *made* for that task, and pulled together using a language designed for pulling things together.

Boy am I nuts.

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