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Software Engineering
Effortlessly Complex
I have to admit, at first glance I was pleasantly surprised. Somebody pointed me to a recent article of two professors at the New York university in which they argue that Java is an unsuitable language to learn how to program.
Instant recognition!
Java and me, we just don’t get along that well. All in all it’s just a nasty, posh little programming language. And far too complex, for that matter, like the evil twin sister of UML 2 (which itself deserves a Nobel prize for deliberately confusing people on a world-wide scale). Syntactically, Java has all it takes to guide a satellite to Mars or to control a nuclear plant. And then it is often being used to create yet another simple accounting application, insurance policy system, client management tool or user interface. It feels like cracking a walnut with a sledge hammer. Like someone in a tasteless, silver-coloured singlet is showing off muscles in the gym. A flashy display of power that almost begs to make errors and be unproductive.
And it has object-orientation built in too, a slightly overrated concept, if you ask me. Well, on the other hand, it is quite an achievement of the IT profession to create a structuring principle that fits so perfectly bad with the relational data model. And people keep on writing books about object-to-relational mappers. We violently force an apple through a sieve and are proud of the resulting pulp; who said IT doesn’t matter?
Ah yes, about that article.
Finally, somebody dared to speak out. I hoped. But I soon found out that the scientists are actually on the other side of the camp. From their perspective, Java is a light-headed, frivol tool which you use to quickly knock together some ad-hoc Internet applications. If programming becomes so easy and fun, then nobody needs to understand formal methods and complex algorithms any longer; this is the essence of their complaint. To put it even stronger: this way programmers become replaceable, because others – outsourcers for example, of all people – can do it too!
As an alternative, they recommend Ada, a nearly incomprehensible language which is rarely used to create programs. In that way, programming can again become the science it is truly supposed to be.
You’ve got to hand it to them: it’s definitely a landmark in staying away from reality.
SaaR or Software as a Revolution
Mark Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce.com states that he has the intention to ‘change the Software industry’, and many would agree he has made an interesting start in the Customer Relationship Management, or CRM, sector. However what caught my eye was the relatively low key announcement of the new capability that allows Salesforce.com customers to develop their own applications on the Salesforce.com servers, using the Salesforce.com Apex Platform toolset. After completion and I assume testing, the resulting applications will be delivered and managed by Salesforce.com on a Software as a Service, SaaS, basis.
Development Idol
For almost ten years now, I have been a jury member of the annual RAD (Rapid Application Design) Race. This is a nation-wide programming contest in the Benelux (here’s the link, a good opportunity to work a bit on your Dutch) in which teams of two developers have to create a working solution within 48 hours, using the tools set of their choice. A few years ago, the organizing committee decided to rename the contest to ‘Development Tools’, apparently to emphasise the importance of tools in productivity.
This could also be noted in the recaps of the races – published in a local IT magazine – that year after year focussed more on the features and peculiarities of each tool being used. The target audience of the magazine, software engineers, apparently just love to meander through the pro’s and cons of programming languages and development platforms. It’s an addiction, really. Just very recently, I witnessed yet another elaborate discussion unfold on e-mail, comparing JEE (Java Enterprise Edition) with .NET, trying to establish which platform was the most productive.
It just confirmed me again in what I already realised when I read the report of the most recent RAD / Development Tools Race: why writing piles of articles about the bells and whistles of tools where in-depth interviews with the winners and losers would have taught us so much more?
Rocket Science
Is there always something new to wish for? In some cases, you are inclined to think not. Take for example Charles Simonyi, an above average gifted programmer from Hungary who joined a modest start-up company in the beginning of the eighties that would later headquarter in Redmond. But not before working at Xerox Parc with IT legends legends such as Alan Kay and Robert Metcalfe on some, well, interesting projects (the first WYSIWIG text editor in the world, somebody had to come up with it). If you joined Microsoft before the PC existed and you sort of single-handedly created both Word and Excel, you may claim some street credibility in the IT profession.
Financially, you are probably doing quite well too: Simonyi is an active philanthropist, with an emphasis on supporting art and culture.
Clearly he saved a little for himself too, as he made headlines in the past two weeks as the tourist who paid 18 million Euros to fly with a Soyuz to the International Space Station. The crew had plenty of work to do there, so no doubt Simonyi had oceans of free time during his stay. There must have been some contemplative moments, Charles having a look through the porthole at Mother Earth, circling underneath.
Reached the absolute top in the profession. In addition, made a virtually impossible boys dream come true. And he might still be asking himself if there is a new daring challenge somewhere, waiting to be cracked.
Fortunately, it looks like Simonyi already has all the clues on where to search. In 2002, he left Microsoft to pursue with his own company the answer to the question that has been haunting the IT industry ever since the very first beginning:
why is it so terribly difficult to develop good software?