News: Not in the Script--News of Java's Demise Is Premature

Java is receiving plenty of negative attention lately. Though barely a decade old, the world's most popular programming language is being called bloated, too complicated for the world of quickly written and deployed Web applications, and ripe for dethronement by scripting languages. Forum flames regarding choice of language or development environment are nothing new among developers and analysts. However, CNET's widely read technology news site ran a story featuring comments from industry visionary Marc Andreessen headlined, "Andreessen: PHP Succeeding Where Java Isn't" (http://news. com.com/ Andreessen+PHP+succeeding+where+Java+isnt/ 2100-1012_3-5903187. html) in October 2005, and Businessweek.com followed in December with a story titled "Java? It's So Nineties." (http://www.businessweek.com/ technology/content/dec2005/ tc20051213_042973.htm) Both stories implied that Java was rapidly losing ground and buzz factor to the scripting languages, notably PHP, for Web development. Implicit in the stories were sentiments that Java had become too rich and difficult for current Webbased application deployment schedules.