14 Oct
2005
14 Oct
'05
1:06 p.m.
Jules Richardson declared on Friday 14 October 2005 01:41 pm:
Chuck Guzis wrote:
Except that the program you write against today's Java won't compile
against tomorrow's Java.
It's amazing to me that a language API can change that much between point
revisions (eg, 1.1 to 1.2).
For something that runs on modern-ish (non-classic) hardware, my vote is
for C, Perl, or ksh/bash; C for a large/complex program, Perl for things
in the middle, and ksh/bash for simple tasks.
Pat
--
Purdue University ITAP/RCAC --- http://www.rcac.purdue.edu/
The Computer Refuge --- http://computer-refuge.org
What would you write it in? Clearly, you'd
want to be independent
of a particular software vendor, so the likes of Visual BASIC isn't
an option. You'd also want to write in a language that isn't nearing
obsolesence, nor one that's still evolving. "Niche" languages would
be out of the question, as longevity could be a problem.
So what would it be? My vote is for FORTRAN.
Or Java; at least it's standard, strictly defined, open (in that
bytecode format etc. is documented), cross-platform, and even if it
*were* to become obsolete in x years I can't see there not being
emulators around on current hardware of the day which can emulate a
DOS / Windows / whatever box and therefore run the compiler or
runtime.