[thelist] Is Java dead ? (was Evolt Hiermenus?)

[Shashank Tripathi]

Hi:

    > That is what annoys me about plug-in functionality -- not
    > having control over what's plugged in (yes, of course one can always
    > run one's own server, or re-write the code to use alternatives).

For one thing, Java needs to have includes for the simplest of features
which PHP gives me in as simple a form as function. Try using MCrypt in Java
for instance? The MCrypt lib comes as a standard with Linux, FreeBSD and
OpenBSD so PHP can use it without any intervention from the host -- I may
stand corrected.  There are several libraries that can actually be just
installed as a binary on the server (e.g., XPDF for dealing with PDF files)
and all server side languages can easily access them without any hosting
constraints.

Secondly, a lot of functionality can be included at runtime in PHP as well
(through pear or additional functions or additional modules) so this
discussion would make sense only if we could list out the real features to
compare against. Additional modules are just not a popular thing with PHP,
that is all.

Actually, talking of server-side languages (since we are comparing with
PHP), we should actually be speaking of JSP and Servlets and not the whole
of Java. In terms of JSP, I guess I can rest my case - just look at the
extremely disparate implementations in app servers. They even name their
"additional" libraries differently.

One thing that would be great in the PHP world though is some sort of a
deployment platform, like WAR files in the Java world...but then PHP does
not need it because it is a flexible platform. I don't need to put this file
ONLY into this folder, and that file ONLY into that folder, or the system
will crap out. In the PHP world (which is not JSP-esque kind of an
afterthought/quick-response-to-increasing-ASP) I can define my own directory
structure, so the flexibility is left with me as a developer/architect. Some
levels of standardization should come from the application, not the language
provider.

Pseudo-sagaciously,
Shashank