Re: EGL vs. Java

Adam Glauser wrote:

Joe Pluta wrote:

There's also the fact that IBM owns the language; because of this they can extend it much more quickly than through a full-blown community process, and the results speak volumes. And what you'll see in the next release will simply blow you away. Not one of the other languages being used today, not even my beloved JSP Model 2, has the built-in capabilities for Web 2.0 that EGL has.

It's probably worth noting that this proprietary nature can cut both ways. What can be freely extended can be yanked just as easily.

Not sure what your point is, Adam. Are you saying that IBM languages are less stable than others? I have no experience to indicate that's the case; in fact, very much the opposite. RPG, an entirely IBM-owned language, is perhaps the most backwards-compatible language on the planet.

At the same time, I can certainly attest to the glacial nature of changes in the open community, at least at the language level. How long did it take for generics to appear in Java? And now that they have, they're almost universally touted as the most complex concept in the language.

I'm not going to get into a language war here, I'm just pointing out that there is nothing to indicate that IBM's ownership of EGL is going to make it less stable than any other language available today. However, I can easily point to places where the single-source ownership of the language has allowed additions that might have daunted some community-based projects.

That's all.

Joe