> Since each supposed "security update" actually deprecates features and adds new ones, Not true. It's been backwards compatible since the beginning. Some very low-level tools can break on major jvm versions (mainly byte-code manipulation tools, which are common for example in servers), but it's mainly a question of upgrading them at the same time. Your code from 15 year ago will still work in 99% of cases, the remaining 1% being basically your fault.

It was a great idea some 10 years ago, probably drove Swing where it is now. I use both Eclipse and Netbeans, and the former is the one looking like the bloated slow memory hog to me ;-)

They both use the Java language.

Since a few years (java 6u10), it's quite easy to have native look-and-feel for everything. No need for SWT, which is an outdated hack. All java apps that I've been used for years (IDE's, various clients) have a native look-and-feel, you can't tell it's not native.

I just had the same problem a couple of months ago. I had planned to copy my data and wipe the disk before leaving. Unfortunately, as I was still working with a colleague 5 minutes before my finally leave, there was no time for that. I just took the hard disk with me. I just didn't want anyone to read occasionnal personal emails or such. There was no backup of my personal stuff, as all important things where under centrally backuped version control anyway. I heard from my ex-colleague that the project manager and the boss (with which I had some bad last days), came multiple times to try to start the (diskless) pc. They were clueless at the fact that it didn't boot. Just the fact that the pc didn't return to the dedicated it team comforted me in picking the damn drive. Management isn't supposed to bypass privacy policies. As it was a big public institution, they had them in place but I suspected they would be circumvented. Had they said anything, I'd have returned the 20$ (then wiped) drive without any problem. It's been in a drawer since then.

I fully agree with that. I do lot of projects with just about the same technologies. The learning curve is there, but it's worth it. Java EE has one killer thing that I never saw in other platforms: standards, with multiple implementations. JSF might have a bad reputation due to it's past, JSF 2 manages to provide a cool, efficient tool for quick development. Same for EJB, JPA, etc. Plus, they all have multiple implementations. Nowadays, you can switch application server or JSF implementation quite easily, without having to touch the code. This makes things better than with any random framework: you will have years of backwards compatibility, you can evolve your application without rewriting everything if some implementation disappears, bugs aren't marked as "not a bug" (if it's a deviation from the JSR, it's a bug), etc. To answer the OP's question: if you need something simple to see how programming works, pick anything and try, the only thing you can lose is time. If you want something strong, strict, robust etc., pick up Java or .net. In my opinion, .net is technically better, but lacks the standardization and the multi-platform aspects.

Right, maybe it's even more private ;-) From my understanding, ISPs can do a lot for technical reason (network health, ...). It would be difficult for them to justify data rentation as a technical need. Here is the most comprehensive legal document I found on the subject (in french) : http://www.belgium.be/fr/emploi/contrats_de_travail/protection_de_la_vie_privee/controle_des_donnees_electroniques/index.jsp

I think there is some big cultural difference here between the US and Europe. I worked as a sysadmin for a few years. As far as I know, monitoring employees is completely illegal here (Belgium). You can't read emails or try to see which web sites have been visited by an employee. At most, you can make anonymous statistics, and I think you have to warn employees before. I don't think it would be legal to physically watch an employee all day, neither. Having employees sign some kind of agreement would be illegal, too. Saying that it's your computer so you can monitor them if you want has no legal value. It's your air, but you can't decide how much an employee can breathe ;-) I remember asking legal advice before signing my first contract. The conclusion was there was an illegal clause, which I could sign without any problem, as it was illegal and in fact had no value.

I don't see that as an advantage. Some people do.

Calling getters/setters hasn't any performance impact on modern jdk's. I remember benchmarking just that on various sun jvm versions. Can't find the article I wrote on Google Knol, but the result was that there was few performance impact on 1.4, almost none on 1.5 and none at all on 1.6. Anyway, it was barely noticeable on millions of method calls. So, this hasn't been an acceptable excuse for years ;-)

Is this a troll? In 2010, Java is still state of the art. Rails and Django are not universal, certainly aren't standardized, have their weak points. I'm still a Java Developper, and won't switch to the new overhyped framework, even if I used and know Ruby quite well (and aborted any use of it). And yes, I like strong typing.

Indeed, it seems it's been standardized by RFC 4180, from Oct. 2005. From a quick reading, I see that they should be comma-separated. Excel encodes csv-files with a semicolumn as field-separator for a french locale (a comma being the decimal separator in this locale). So, if I read the rfc correctly, Excel breaks the standard... However, the standards is far younger than this Excel 'feature'. Anyway, I don't see how they should do it, other than using english/american conventions.

They are actually converted in worksheets, not in vba code where you should use the english names in all cases.

It isn't windows. It is the fact that you insist using a format which doesn't make date representation unambiguous (csv). You won't have any problem using an excel file: it will be rendered using the right regional settings you chose, whatever regional settings were used when the file was created.