Q&A: Java creator Gosling says .Net falls short of expectations

Computerworld - SAN FRANCISCO -- Java creator James Gosling, a vice president and fellow at Sun Microsystems Inc., shared his views on Microsoft Corp.'s rival .Net development environment, its new C# (pronounced "C-sharp") language and its promotion of Web services with Computerworld during this week's JavaOne conference here. This is Part I of the interview (see Part II).


Q: Is there anything in the .Net architecture that you actually admire?
A: [Long pause.] Chutzpah. Um [pause] boy. I guess I found it really disappointing. I mean, there had been all kinds of rumors and that about what their Common Language Runtime, and what this new [C#] language, was going to be. And we were sort of imagining all kinds of clever things that they could do. They didn't choose to do any of them. I found it sort of puzzling.
Q: What could they have done?
A: They certainly could have been more creative about the language. They could have been more careful about things like the memory model. They had certain things that were imposed on them, like the fact that they had to support C and C++ meant ... effectively crippling the memory model with these sort of loophole constructions, which really cripples the reliability and security stories.
I guess one of my pet areas is scientific computation. They might have done something creative to make that easier. They might have done something creative around ... integrating business logic into the language.
And, I mean, the fact that the syntax [of C#] is so much -- is like exactly the same, or just about exactly the same [as that of Java].
Q: What's the old saying, it's the sincerest form of flattery?
A: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Q: Did you feel that way when you saw C#?
A: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, abused and ripped off was also in there just to some extent. Relieved actually was part of it.
Q: Relieved?
A: That it wasn't particularly creative.
Q: A Microsoft official told me that an application's ability to interoperate with other applications -- through Web services, with XML-based messages sent via the Simple Object Access Protocol -- is more important than its ability to run cross-platform. Any thoughts on that?
A: It's one of these things that there's sort of at least enough of a grain of truth to what they say to sort of make you pause a little. It's certainly the case that if you have defined protocols, the two sides can be whatever