Category: Kev’s Blog

Tim Bray, one of the initial developers of the XML spec, recently joined Sun as a Technology Director.

In his blog he discusses why he chose to work for Sun, and discusses the current drawbacks of the .NET platform.

His main points about .NET:

• Java hits the 80/20 point in terms of functionality – 20% of the initial effort in developing the language achieved 80% of the goal (the remaining 80% of development of the language and platform has been filling in the last 20% of features used by the few), whereas .NET arrived on day 1 with so many features (in traditional Microsoft bloatware style), but falls short of meeting 80% of the goal.
• .NET is created by a company that has a history of delivering client side applications, whereas it can be argued the most important aspect of a web-based business application today is what goes on at the backend

The BBC are currently looking at using Java to add interactive features and content to their TV programming, for example to allow viewers at home to take part in quiz shows.

More info here

Originally industry analysts suggested Linux was to be a large threat to Microsoft’s sales. However, the company seen to be suffering most from lost sales to Linux is Sun.

Read more in an article here on Forbes.com.

This sounds interesting – Structural Analysis for Java.

This is a code analysis tool that analyzes code structure and architecture and then recommends suggested refactoring to avoid common ‘antipatterns’.

I haven’t had time to download it yet, but it sounds like it would be worth checking out.

It would be interesting to know if it picks up on Bruce Tate’s Antipatterns from his book, Bitter Java: