RE: DEPEND ON DEVELOPERS
RE: DEPEND ON DEVELOPERS
Sent: 12/24/96; 2:26:11 PM
From: reg@codestorm.com (Reginald Braithwaite-Lee)
IMHO, you have hit the nail squarely on the head. For many developers, system development languages *should* be irrelevant. Desktop 'middleware' such as Frontier, Java, and SuperCard needs to be powerful enough that developers can abstract the platform.
This has been the holy grail for the programming community since day one. I remember grizzled programming vets telling me that high level languages--they were referring to FORTRAN--would never be viable alternatives to assembler for high performance applications.
There are reports that some platform vendors are promoting a vision of Java where developers would write various native bits for higher performance on their platform. In my opinion, this is the wrong way to go for them and the community. I believe that platform vendors can differentiate themselves with superior implementations.
Instead of showing developers how to circumvent Java for performance, how about optimizing their implementation so that a 100% pure Java app runs like a banshee on their platform? This strategy also gives them the leg up when they want to migrate to different architectures, since they don't have to drag an installed base of native code around--your point above.
In my vision, the platform vendors spend their time optimizing the middleware. They work with developers like you--credible middleware vendors--learning what high level features they need to optimize to make your stuff work *fast*. I include in this assesment organizations like Metrowerks. Getting a PowerPlant based app ported to a new platform isn't as easy for a developer as moving a Frontier-based system over, but it is a far cry from half a million lines of system-intimate C or Pascal.
|
This page was last built on Tue, Dec 24, 1996 at 1:30:54 PM. The messages in this site are responses to DaveNet essays. |