Discussionator -

Question

I want to learn a new cross-platform programming language for certain hobby projects I have in mind. After considering alternatives, I chose Java. Do any of you have any experience with it you'd like to share?
– BorgClown, 2009-06-28 at 04:14:02 (12 comments)

	On 2009-06-28 at 04:19:00, BorgClown wrote... I'm gonna dab a little into cell-phone, Linux and Windows development, so Java is the perfect candidate for that. C or C++ would be much better, but it's not as portable as Java. And the JRT is nearly ubiquitous these days.
	On 2009-06-28 at 19:50:40, Lee J Haywood wrote... You don't have to be particularly good at Java to write projects from scratch in it - it's actually a fairly good language, so long as you avoid Java applets which everyone hates (or should). Personally I prefer JavaScript, which is also cross-platform but usually limited to the browser. Personally I wish I could move my games to mobile 'phones, as you can make a lot of money if you sell each copy for $1 or £1, for example. Just imagine if you sold one million copies of an application...
	On 2009-07-02 at 03:32:13, BorgClown wrote... I love Python programming, the language is perfect for the way I think. Sadly, all its expressiveness is expensive: it's even slower than Java, and it needs a powerful computer, so PDAs and cell phones are not the ideal platform.
	On 2009-07-02 at 03:34:56, BorgClown wrote... I like C / C++ because they're powerful and widely available, but I can't stand the kludge they've become, specially C++. Java is not so hot, but it's a good trade-off between these and Python.
	On 2009-11-12 at 11:27:03, Lee J Haywood wrote... Not really on topic, but Google have made some interesting programming tools available recently - their Go language and their Closure tools for 'compiling' JavaScript. http://golang.org/ http://code.google.com/closure/ I was impressed that Closure reduced the already-crunched JavaScript from Discussionator by another 20%.
	On 2009-11-12 at 21:14:44, BorgClown wrote... Google's already being scorned for appropriating the name of a previous language, Go! Languages names with non-alphanumeric symbols are ridiculous, I hope Google keeps the name.
	On 2009-11-12 at 21:24:00, BorgClown wrote... It's C-based, supposedly as easy as Python but much faster. One of the creators already brought us C and Unix. From the description it seems quite limited, but Google is known for delivering high quality, I'll have to try it.
	On 2009-11-12 at 21:26:24, BorgClown wrote... LOL <tt>fmt.Printf("Hello, 世界\n")
	On 2009-11-16 at 21:17:02, Melchior wrote... I've just started learning Java as part of my computer science course. So far, seems like C++ without pointers :P
	On 2009-11-16 at 21:18:42, Lee J Haywood wrote... @Melchior: I taught myself Java by starting with a Java applet (to be avoided at all costs) and ended up using it at work for a while. I've never actually learned OOP properly though, so although I use objects I avoid all that inheritance nonsense. (-:
	On 2009-11-18 at 16:12:58, DigitalBoss wrote... I had a class called Object Oriented Programming and Advanced Object Oriented Programming. Seems like we used C++. I had a class called Advanced Data Structures, we used ada for it. Does the new Droid have a programming platform? I had not looked into it yet.
	On 2009-11-18 at 21:37:09, BorgClown wrote... The Google Android? Looks like it's Java only. http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html