Quote:Originally posted by wadesworld
Part of the reason Java generated so much hype was "write once, run anywhere." That's why everyone wanted to learn Java. But as we all know, that's probably the least fulfilled promise of Java. Java developers wanting to deploy their applications on multiple platforms spend significant time handling platform-specific issues.

These platform specific issues almost always come up when you are building GUI applications or Applets... When taling about server side stuff, java is very portable without any problems. And for handling any platform specific issues that might come up, a little desing and a good vanilla framework go a long way (that's true for any language). Java saved us recently when the decision was taken to go from AIX as the deployment platform for one of our system's module to windows (long story, I was not part of that decision process, but there were serious reasons). We already were almost two years into the project and didn't have to modify any of our code. Java portability is much better now than it was at first!

Quote:In short, I think Java is often choosen due to its buzzword status, rather than any real technical justification. C++ or Objective C could often be used for the same project without significant differences.
Wade [/b]

The framework that comes built into java is not be ignored, it is often a good start to build your own. Plus, the way java integrates threads in the language is also a great asset. Same goes for introspection, RMI, JDBC(ot only for Biz apps), etc... they can be quite usefull.
By the way, not all bizapps are of the Input-Validate-Write to DB-Report type... There are some interesting ones out there.

Plus java is easier to debug (especially when you have lousy programmers), no pointers, not too many ways to twist the syntax and you have exceptions (Yes I know there are some in the C++ spec... know many people who use then?).

Anyway, my point is that java is more than just a buzzword...