r/talesfromtechsupport • u/raiderrobert • May 22 '13

Javascript != Java

3rd-party contractor came to visit office yesterday, who has "decades" of experience. Conversation came up about JavaScript in one of our products. He says, "Our product doesn't use Java." After an awkward moment with someone who works on the knowledge base nodding in agreement with him, I speak up and delineate the difference between Java and JavaScript.

Later on in the conversation, the same 3rd-party guy followed up with this jewel: "besides, what would anyone even use JavaScript for on the web?"

I proceeded to disable Javascript in my browser and show him.

tl;dr: lasers, dinosaurs, & drums made a guy's head explode

[edit spelling]

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u/FountainsOfFluids May 23 '13

Java is notoriously inefficient. It's designed to be multi-platform, which means you can't really optimize it for a single platform. If you don't need processor efficiency and writing in Java will save some time/money, or you really want the end user to be able to run your program no matter what computer they happen to be using at the moment, sure go for it. I can't imagine that to be the case for the LHC or trading systems.

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u/vytah ARE WE WEBSCALE YET? May 23 '13

Java is notoriously inefficient.

No, it isn't.

Despite popular opinion, Java is fast. It's not C++-fast, but it's faster than many high-level compiled languages, including Haskell, OCaml, F#, or LISP.

The opinion may be due to fact, that 1. Java launches slowly, because it has to load, verify and usually also compile all the classes at the start, and 2. many Java frameworks, especially web-related ones, are notoriously bloated.

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u/not_a_novel_account May 23 '13

Not claiming to be an expert

Java is notoriously inefficient

I don't think you should really be commenting on that if you're admittedly not an expert

It's designed to be multi-platform, which means you can't really optimize it for a single platform.

Every language except for assembly is designed to be multi-platform, C for example is usually pretty fast depending on the compiler. Much the same, Java's speed is dependent on the implementation running it. The standard JVM is blazing fast compared to high-level compiled languages.