Java and Perl are not dead yet

Are Java and Perl dead?

The past few weeks have seen members of the Java community claim that Java is not dead. They have also seen members of the Perl community claim that Perl is not dead.

Many developers may want Perl to die (or Java to die, or COBOL to die) but when members of the community claim "X is not dead" then we should review the health of X.

The industry has seen many languages come and go. Of all the languages that we have seen since the beginning of the computer age, most are dead. Don't take my word; consider the languages documented by Jean Sammet in the late 1960s. They include: A-2, A-3, ADAM, AED, AIMACO, Algol, ALTRAN, AMBIT, AMTRAN, APL, and APT (and that is just the entries under 'A'). Of these, the only language that can be said to be alive today is Algol -- and even that is pushing the definition of 'alive'.

Languages die. But not all -- popular languages live on. Long-lasting languages include COBOL, Fortran, C, C++, and Perl. One could add Java and C# to that list, depending on one's definition of "long-lasting". (I think that there is no debate about their popularity.)

Back to Java and Perl.

I think that Java and Perl are very much alive, in that many projects use them. They are also alive in that new versions are built and released by the maintainers. Perl is an open source language, supported by its community. Java is supported by Oracle.

But Java and Perl are, perhaps, not as popular as they used to be. When introduced, Java was a shiny new thing compared to the existing C++ champion. Perl's introduction was quieter and it developed a following slowly. But slow or fast, they were considered the best in programming: Java for object-oriented programming and Perl for scripting.

Today, Java and Perl have competition. Java has C#, a comparable language for object-oriented programming. It also has the JVM languages Scala and Lua (and others) that have taken the "shiny new thing" title away from Java. Perl has competition from Python and Ruby, two other capable scripting languages.

Java and Perl are no longer the clear leaders. They are no longer the "obvious best" languages for development. When starting a new project, people often pick one of the competition. I think that it is this loss of "obvious best" position that is causing the angst in their respective development communities.

Now, Java and Perl are still capable programming languages. I wouldn't abandon them. For projects that use them today, I would continue to use them.

For new projects... I would consider my options.