Java can be quick to develop

As my work has been shifting toward Java from scripting languages (Perl, Python), I’ve been thinking that a scripted layer on top of Java is a good way to write code. Java can run very fast but can be tedious to write. By scripting on top of Java, it’s pretty easy to write code at a high-level and then shift to Java wherever performance is paramount.

Over the past month, I’ve had a good opportunity to work with Eclipse and do test-driven development. A good IDE that offers refactoring and JUnit integration can make Java fast and pleasurable to write. There are some things in Java that are just plain annoying compared to a language like Perl or Python (like sorting a list of objects using a custom function or working with hash tables). But, I’m willing to overlook things like that for some of the other benefits Java offers. And Generics will make hash table syntax a lot more pleasant.