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Re: larger issue (Re: Linux install misses Tk)
On Thu, Jan 15, 1998 at 01:12:39PM -0700, Rick.McNeal wrote:
> >
> > I do not believe your assumption about getting more conduits in
> > java is correct. I know that it is much, much easier to piece apart
> > database formats and parse strings in perl than it could ever be in java.
> > N.B., there is a pilot-link interface for java. Serial port
> > access, I don't think, is an issue any more. Someone correct me if I'm
> > wrong.
>
> IMHO, writing conduits in Java would be far easier. Then again, I know
> Java and have never written anything using perl.
>
> I would agree with most and say that pilotmanager should, at least
> for the present, remain tied to perl. Once Java becomes more widely
> available for these obscure OS's like linux (grin, duck, and run)
> it might make since to rewrite pilotmanger in Java if we can avoid
> the types of configuration problems that seem to plague folks today.
*WHY* would writing java conduits be easier? *WHAT* would make
them easier? Perl is an excellent and complete language. Java is an
excellent (and incomplete, compared to perl :)) language (the testbed for
my dissertation is written in java). However, we're not using graphics.
We're not using low level sockets. We are doing non-native database
processing and dealing with lots of text and string processing. This is
*NOT* something java handles natively. This is something perl does handle
natively.
I'm not saying it would be bad to write conduits in java. I'm not
saying that an interface for writing other language conduits would be a
bad thing. But, there is no overwhelming reason to bring the PilotManager
or conduits over to java other than some people prefer java as their
language of choice. Until you present one to me, I'm doing to speak out
against it at the top of my lungs, because I think that the system being
rewritten in java or the conduits being rewritten in java because of
perl-phobia is a *HUGE* mistake and will take away from the overall
quality of the system.
Java is fine on linux (my system was designed on a linux box and
performs well on an SGI). However, it is not as widespread as perl by any
stretch of the imagination. Perl will run natively on many systems that
have incompatible, unstable or non-existant java ports (HPs, VAXen, BeOS,
etc, etc, etc).
-Seth
--
"It is by will alone I set my mind in motion"
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