Beyond Java by Bruce Tate

by Bruce A. Tate

In Beyond Java, Bruce Tate gives a fair and honest assessment of what Java has accomplished and why it has been such a powerful tool. He shows the ways in which Java has advanced the art of computer programming. But he also shows where it's holding us back, where Java isn't flexible enough for the tasks at hand, and where political forces are driving the Java platform toward increasing complexity and away from the base that had previously served it so well.

Genres: Software, Nonfiction, Programming, Computer Science, Computers, Technology

Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Christopher Litsinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is old enough that given the idea- looking at the software development community for potential replacements for Java - it threatens to be obsolete. Fortunately a good bit of the book is also about how Java got where it is, and what its biggest problems are. Given that (a) I've been writing Android apps - in Java of course, and (b) the system that I work on professionally has pieces written in both Java and Python, this is a conversation we have at work often.
Overall the book is still surprisingly relevant. The question I asked myself often while reading it is "Why has Ruby on Rails stayed in such a specialized niche?" and I still don't have an answer. A good part of the reason I asked this so often is because the book focuses on Rails to an extent that the book might have been better titled "Can Ruby on Rails replace Java". (The other good reason would be that everyone I know who has worked with Rails has really gushed about how cool it is).
One final note: the kayaking stories in this book are annoying and seem contrived.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd have given this four stars when it first came out, but it's a bit dated now. Well, you'd expect any book speculating about the future of programming languages to be dated five years later. Still, it had/has some interesting things to say about strongly typed vs. weakly typed languages.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was likely an amazing read circa 2006, but in 2009 it's quaint at best and embarrassingly off target at worst.

-m

[Jerry Hilts · Rating 1 out of 5]

The first (and so far only) O'Reilly book that I found very poorly edited. Tate's point were good, but drowning in this rambling, repetitive mess of a book.

[Santosh Kalwar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read. Some limitations of Java pointed out. It says, "Java is for elite developers"
More about how Ruby and Rails will dominate future of programming language.