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Comment Re:Alternate JVM languages will carry the JVM. (Score 1) 558

Even Java took a long time to have decent IDE support. Most of these other languages are relatively new, and are still definitely in the "early adopter" phase of the usage curve. I do think Scala in particular has a good chance of adoption, as it's fairly easy to start working with it as if it were Java with type inferences and first-class functions. Also, the next release will have features that specifically make it easier for IDE integrations to be written.

I don't think there necessarily needs to be a big corporate backer- look at Ruby for example; it has a number of small corporate backers, and a wealth of open source developer support. Scala is beginning to get more high-profile usage, Twitter being the biggest name. It has a well written, well defined specification, and a pretty active community around it, with mailing lists, IRC channels, conferences, etc. Being a JVM language, I think it will be easier to sneak into the back door of a lot of corporate projects.

Agreed on F#; it does seem that it would flounder without significant support from MS, but I generally don't hear about companies using it as I live in a JVM world, and don't get much exposure to .NET stuff.

Comment Alternate JVM languages will carry the JVM. (Score 3, Insightful) 558

Although Java-the-language has stagnated a bit (I don't know if JDK 7 will ever be complete, due to all the feature cramming), but there's been a lot of activity during the past few years on other languages that run on Java-the-platform. Groovy and Rhino (Javascript) have been available for the JVM for quite a while. JRuby is actually faster than "native" Ruby for a lot of real-world applications. The Lisp-like Clojure language has a lot of fans. IMO, Scala is the most interesting out of all of these, with a very sophisticated type system, as well as functional features that the cool OCaml and Haskell kids seem to love.

All of these alternate languages can use the wealth of libraries available for Java, generally on all platforms on which the JVM runs. For example, I know of Scala apps that can run on Andriod, which is close enough to Sun's VM.
Biotech

Alzheimer's Could Be a Third Form of Diabetes 251

Posted by kdawson from the i-forget-why dept.
Atzanteol writes "Insulin, it turns out, may be as important for the mind as it is for the body. Research in the last few years has raised the possibility that Alzheimer's memory loss could be due to a novel third form of diabetes. Scientists at Northwestern University have discovered why brain insulin signaling — crucial for memory formation — would stop working in Alzheimer's disease."

Original Star Wars on DVD... Sorta 455

Posted by CmdrTaco from the well-thats-just-a-let-down dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The Original Star Wars is available on DVD. Sure it's more moola in Lucas's pocketsess (Gollum accent). But he did finally release the original version for a limited time. But which Original Star Wars, I bet Episode IV is in the opening titles. " Also apparently the original versions are basically non-anamorphic transfers from the laser discs. So basically, they look terrible.

Blizzard's 'Secret Sauce' 330

Posted by Zonk from the goes-great-with-burgers dept.
hapwned writes "With interviews from David Brevik, Mark Kern, and Steig Hedlund (all of Blizzard Entertainment fame), Russ Pitts creates a most enlightening explanation of Blizzard's success in the latest edition of The Escapist." From the article: "So, how does a maker of B-quality DOS and console games go on to become the single most successful videogame company in the history of the world? Even accounting for good luck and talented employees, there has to be some other key ingredient in Blizzard's larder to account for their seemingly golden touch."

Microsoft Claims OpenDocument is Too Slow 553

Posted by Zonk from the compared-to-the-blazing-speed-of-.doc dept.
SirClicksalot writes "Microsoft claims that the OpenDocument Format (ODF) is too slow for easy use. They cite a study carried out by ZDNet.com that compared OpenOffice.org 2.0 with the XML formats in Microsoft Office 2003. This comes after the international standards body ISO approved ODF earlier this month." From the ZDNet article: "'The use of OpenDocument documents is slower to the point of not really being satisfactory,' Alan Yates, the general manager of Microsoft's information worker strategy, told ZDNet UK on Wednesday. 'The Open XML format is designed for performance. XML is fundamentally slower than binary formats so we have made sure that customers won't notice a big difference in performance.'"

Microsoft Customers Balk at Hard Sell 353

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the if-you-can't-beat-em-get-a-bigger-stick dept.
HangingChad writes "ComputerWorld is running an article about Microsoft's latest type of sales force scare tactic. Apparently Microsoft is using the new title of 'engagement manager' to attempt sales via intimidation. From the article: 'Indeed, according to Microsoft's Web site, the responsibility of someone with Lawless' title of "engagement manager" is to "perform as an integrated member of the account team, drive business development and closing of new services engagements in targeted accounts."'"

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It appears that PL/I (and its dialects) is, or will be, the most widely used higher level language for systems programming. -- J. Sammet

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