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- Path: hermes.dna.mci.com!news
- From: CSP0ABCF@
- Newsgroups: comp.lang.java,comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.smalltalk
- Subject: Re: Advice to Java proponents
- Date: 11 Apr 1996 16:00:29 GMT
- Organization: MCI Communications
- Message-ID: <4kjaat$en6@hermes.dna.mci.com>
- References: <315BFB16.B74@isg.de> <4jgv6t$hon@kadath.zeitgeist.net> <4k3cdo$np5@taurus.adnc.com> <DpG1s1.GC9@research.att.com> <4k71f5$ot5@news2.ios.com> <31684F33.2528@ibm.net> <denatale-0804960926250001@grail1213.nando.net> <316D09A4.7A92@possibility.com>
- Reply-To: jeffrey.langr@mci.com
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-
- In <316D09A4.7A92@possibility.com>, Todd Hoff <tmh@possibility.com> writes:
- >Java is in addition a good language with near universal support.
- >That's a lot to overcome with tepid arguments of productivity gains.
-
- Tepid arguments of productivity gains? Sorry, on most projects I've
- worked on, speed to market is the premier business interest, and
- maintenance ends up being over 90% of all development efforts.
- Not having done more than reading Java code (I doubt many people
- have yet), I couldn't gauge its ability to compete in this arena, but
- we have found that Smalltalk development is 5 to 10 times more
- productive than C++ development. In real business, this is where the
- $ is, not in the purchase cost of the product.
-
- While Java is free, what do you get? At this point, a bunch of command
- line tools, unless you buy one of the new suites or C++ environments that
- contain it, such as Symantec's Cafe ($?) or C++ 7.2 ($400) or Borland C++ 5.0
- ($500), or Roaster for the Mac ($400). Not free, but for those of us who
- have moved on to IDE's, it's at least not a step backward.
-
- Also, Smalltalk is not that expensive if you look around. IBM currently
- has a competitive upgrade promotion for owners of Delphi, PowerBuilder,
- and a few other tools, for $399 list for IBM Smalltalk and $699 list for
- VisualAge. VisualAge also does *not* carry runtime fees. The Smalltalk
- Store lists the 16-bit version of Smalltalk/V for Windows at $179. There
- are also free versions of Smalltalk available.
-
- Jeff L.
-