Oh noes! Java!

After more investigation, I’ve gotten eclipse installed and look to be more on my way to creating an android app. I have, however, discovered a disturbing fact. Andoid apps are written in Java.

Java is one of the reasons I stopped writing code.

Back in the days of yore, when I was in college, java was the new and exciting language everyone needed to learn, because it was not platform specific. Theoretically, code you wrote in java could then be compiled to work on anything and everything.

The problem is that as soon as it was released, that stopped being true. Special libraries had to be written for each platform, and those got so interwoven into the basic fabric of java, that writing a program for one platform meant writing a program for one platform. Hell, Apple has maintained a separate implementation of java for years, meaning that web code written in java often does not work on macs. They’ve only recently abandoned that with Lion. So, maybe this aspect is better. Time will tell. They also simplified debugging. Any error, no matter what it was, generated a null pointer exception. I hate null pointer exceptions.

It doesn’t matter if you’re missing a semi-colon at the end of a line, or did not correctly declare a variable, or a loop is not terminating correctly, everything generates a null pointer exception. It also never told me where I was getting a null pointer exception, which meant I had to go through the code with a fine tooth comb to track down errors. Java is the reason I had to demonstrate an ability to go three days without sleeping. Did I mention I don’t care for Java?

But times have changed, and so have I. Perhaps this will work out. Perhaps things will be better the second time around. Perhaps eclipse is more capable of finding bugs and the errors have gotten more descriptive. I do  know that this time I intend to get more sleep!

In the meantime, I’ve asked my wife to tell me if I mumble '”javac!” in my sleep. (Programming joke, not even a funny one).