The Productive Programmer

Chapter 14. Polyglot Programming

Computer languages, like sharks, can’t sit still or they will die. Just like spoken languages, computer languages continuously evolve (although, fortunately, we don’t have teenagers adding slang to our computer languages at the rate at which they are adding it to the English language). Languages evolve to meet the changing environments in which they find themselves. For example, Java recently added generics and annotations in its continuing arms race with .NET. At some point, though, this becomes counterproductive. If you look at a couple of languages from the past (Algol 68 or Ada), you will see that there is a limit to how far you can push a language before it becomes cumbersome and starts to collapse under its own weight. Have we reached that point with Java? And, if we have, what does the future hold?

This chapter introduces the idea of polyglot programming as the future of the Java and .NET platform and all those who love it and hold it dear. But, before we get into that, we need to see how we got to where we are now. What’s wrong with Java, and how is this new idea going to fix it?

How Did We Get Here? And Where Exactly Is Here?

Java is an entrenched mainstay of corporate and other development today. It has been amazing to watch for those of us who lived in a time when Java was either an Indonesian island or a beverage. But popularity doesn’t equate ...