James Gosling Says He Doesn't Care About Java
At TSSJS 2011, James Gosling, the father of Java, talks about Java and the JVM, and opines about how the Java Virtual Machine, not necessarliy the Java language, is what he is most passionate about.
"Most people talk about Java the language, and this may sound odd coming from me, but I could hardly care less." - James Gosling, TSSJS 2011
At TSSJS 2011, James Gosling, the father of Java, made a peculiar comment about where his true allegiance lies. With regards to the Java language, James said "I could hardly care less." But about the JVM, Gosling says that the virtual machine is "what I really care about."
A short, two minute, audio...
The full transcript of James' discussion of the topic is below, with the audio/multimedia feature accompanying this piece. It's only a two minute clip, so it's worth giving a listen.
James Gosling Could Care Less About Java
Transcipt of James' TSSJS 2011 Discussion about Java and the JVM
"At the core of the Java ecosystem is the JVM. Most people talk about Java the language, and this may sound odd coming from me, but I could hardly care less.
Most people talk about Java the language, and this may sound odd coming from me, but I could hardly care less.
James Gosling
"What I really care about is the Java Virtual Machine as a concept, because that is the thing that ties it all together; it's the thing that makes Java the language possible; it's the thing that makes things work on all kinds of different platforms; and it makes all kinds of languages able to coexist.
JVM vs. the non-JVM worlds...
"In the standard non-JVM world, people have lots of different languages but it's really hard for them to coexist. They all manage memory differently. They all manage their sub-routine calling sequences differently. In the non JVM world being able to go back and forth between languages is almost impossible. In the Java world it's remarkably straightforward.
Java is a good language...
"I mean, there are some issues, but it’s remarkably straightforward to write a piece of your program in Java, a piece of your program in JavaScript and a piece of your program in Ruby. You can make things as God-awful as you want. It does kind of allow people to create incredible messes. But on the other hand you can use languages that are appropriate for the task at hand, and different languages are better at different things.
"Java happens to be a really good language for a broad spectrum of topics."
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