I've been both amused and bemused by all the recent uproar over Java. Mind you, it looks like a perfectly fine little language. As the newest member of the C/C++ family, it offers an interesting new mix of design features. We will be providing more editorial coverage on the blend of features in Java as the user community for it matures. But a revolution in computing it ain't.
Had the same language appeared ten, or even five, years ago, it would have made a much smaller initial splash. Maybe Computer Language or Byte would have seen fit to run an article or two. Maybe a small user group would grow up around it. But adoptions of the language by various companies would not have made the front page of The Wall Street Journal and/or USA Today, and certainly not three times in a given week.
The current phenomemon, as you probably know, is venture capital. More precisely, it's way too much venture capital pursuing way too few legitimate investment opportunities. Anything coming along that smacks of real utility attracts hype and hope all out of proportion to the freight it can properly carry. As always, the "savvy" investors want the absolute latest cutting-edge technology — so long as it's also tried and true and safe. So they follow each others like lemmings from one fad to another.
The distortion of market values did not begin with Java, of course. Microsoft is a fine company with considerable depth, to be sure. But it has nowhere near the depth and diversity of IBM, and yet the total stock values of the two companies are comparable. Even more extreme is the recent spate of Internet startups that have achieved astronomical stock prices with little or no history to sustain such valuations. They are the impetus behind the Java frenzy.
Don't get me wrong. I'm always happy to see my fellow techies get good rewards for their ingenuity. The chance to beome a millionaire on brains alone is one of the few things that keeps us all going, besides rancid vending-machine coffee at 3 a.m. My concern is for when the bubble bursts, or the bloom simply fades from the rose. Going from riches to rags makes for a particularly tough mid-life crisis, at any age. It's not a fate that I'd wish on anybody.
So let's hear it for the little language that probably can. I'm sure Java will find uses outside the narrow confines of Web browsers. I'm equally sure that it will help change the way we think about programming, as have C and C++ before it. But let's not imbue it with any more magical properties than it actually has — as another stimulating brew to help programmers make it through the night.
P.J. Plauger
Senior Editor