RE: A Dialogue

["Kelly Cookson" <KCookson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

-----Original Message-----
From: java400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:java400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Joe Pluta
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 8:30 AM
To: 'Java Programming on and around the iSeries / AS400'
Subject: RE: A Dialogue

> In my thirty years in this business, I have found 
> that a good programmer - one who understands how 
> a computer works - can switch between languages 
> easily. I'm sorry, but I consider the dumbing down
> of programming is a bad trend, and anybody who says
> Java is too hard is part of that trend.  IMHO.

> JAVA IS NOT TOO HARD FOR RPG PROGRAMMERS.

Java is not too hard for COBOL programmers, either. But the question of
adding Java as a language in our COBOL/CL/SQL/PeopleCode/SQR shop is
not: "Are our programmers smart enough to learn Java?" The question is:
"Is it worth the investment of time and money to get all our programmers
over the learning curve just to have Java as another language in our
shop?" 

It's my understanding that Yahoo adopted PHP over Java because Java
requires threads and threads are not well supported in the BSD operating
system. Yahoo has been able to make PHP work for them in a complex Web
environment. Why wouldn't most businesses be able to do the same?

That last question is not rhetorical, by the way. I am still a newcomer
compared to many people in this conversation and would like to hear more
about why our shop should or should not invest in PHP.

Kelly