Reviews for Beyond Java

1. A natural step forward

   Rated 4 out of 5 stars, June 12th, 2007

   This easy to read book is what finally got me to start with Ruby (and Rails) development. Most of the arguments are sound, and the history of C/C++->Java->Ruby(& Python, etc) was fascinating.
   
   However, as a long time Java programmer I read the book with mixed feelings. Much of the 'pain' we Java programmers were supposed to be feeling had already been alleviated by the incredible 'eclipse IDE'. Bruce Tate has many valid criticisms of Java, and certainly when you compare the metaprogramming capabilities of Ruby to Java, it does look quite archaic. The question of static versus dynamic types is much less certain, as the wonderful command-completion and refactoring capabilities of eclipse seem to be largely as a result of Java's static typing. As a result I felt that while the book was making completely valid points, they were perhaps exaggerated a little more than necessary.
   
   Now two months later, and a few rails applications under my belt, I should say that the dynamism of ruby (and some other niceties like duck-typing and method blocks) has won a convert in me. And of course the conveniences of the Rails platform are undisputed. And most recently with the advent of JRuby 1.0, I think we will start so see a much faster adoption of Ruby by the Java community. JPython went far, but not far enough. Bruce seems to think Ruby will fare a lot better, and I agree with him. The next few years are going to be very interesting indeed.

2. Excellent

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, November 12th, 2006

   Bruce Tate has written a really interesting book in 'Beyond Java'.
   It's necessarily speculative, but basically highlights Java's strengths and weaknesses and how a future language may supersede Java. Essentially his argument is that Java frameworks are moving into heavyweight applications and leaving behind the bread and butter work of putting a front end on a relational database. Ultimately, he believes that Java's static typing (early binding) causes huge productivity problems without the advertised benefits and he concludes that Ruby is the way to go.
   
   As a web developer, I agree that Java's never been particularly good for web front-end stuff and personally I never really got on with it. Ruby looks really interesting from this - flexible and powerful and it fixes some of Java's dafter features (primitives etc.). Furthermore Bruce writes well and I read this book over a weekend. I'm really intrigued by Ruby now and may well give it a try.
   
   The only criticisms I have are that the book ignores security (one of static typing's big gains) apart from a throwaway sentence and also it does turn into a bit of a `Ruby on rails' fan letter later on in the book. The kayaking episodes at the start of the chapters start to grate after a while too, however these are mostly quibbles apart from security. Recommended for Java and web developers to think on.
   

3. Are you frustrated with J2EE?

   Rated 3 out of 5 stars, March 12th, 2006

   For most of IT folks who are trying to keep up to date with more than their narrow area of expertise, there is no revelation here. Still, I've found systematic approach to Java and scripting alternatives quite interesting. Attempts to quantify effort of various approaches gave feeling of how practical could be using RoR or Python as Java replacement.