Microsoft contributing to Eclipse

It has been announced that Microsoft will collaborate with the Eclipse foundation to make it easier for Java developers to create native Windows applications.

Microsoft will begin collaborating with the Eclipse Foundation to improve native Windows application development on Java.

Sam Ramji, the director of Microsoft's open-source software lab, announced at the EclipseCon conference in Santa Clara, Calif., on Wednesday that the lab will work with Eclipse .

A little history. No other programming language offers so many free high-quality IDEs than Java. There are so many good choices that its not only hard to decide which one to install and use, but which one to keep using in the long run. The two most well known IDEs are Eclipse and Netbeans and with every new release, features only get better as the two try to outdo one another.

Although each tool is available as open source software, Sun Microsystems takes care of Netbeans and Eclipse is an IBM project. As with all IDEs both can do all the basic functionality such as code coloring, auto completion, etc., but Netbeans tends to be known for its great visual editor and Eclipse for its excellent code editor and refactoring capabilities.

Eclipse and Netbeans possess loyal followings of users that often engage in heated discussions across the internet defending their respective camps. Another key player in the java IDE arena is IntelliJ IDEA, which is not free but it is known for its excellent set of productivity features. Many of which have been incorporated in Netbeans and Eclipse.

Personally, I have always preferred Eclipse because it has a much bigger ecosystem. Namely, many other companies support and make it the foundation for their products. For example Borland and IBM. It also enjoys a large amount of plug-ins written for it.

Now with the announcement that Microsoft is planning to support Eclipse there is one more reason to stick with Eclipse for the time being. However, this makes me wonder if the cross-platform strength of Java will be affected by having better Windows support with the Eclipse platform.

Microsoft to work with Eclipse - CNet Blog

Java sucks?

An interesting story from CrossTalk: The Journal of Defense Software Engineering and reported on Joels on Software's blog has a few controversial statements.

First, both the journal and Joel agree that Java is not a good choice for a first programming language at universities. Second, Joel mentions that there should be a separate college degree for programming, for those kids that don't want to deal with the more theoretical aspects of Computer Science. He also calls programming an art and as such the degree these kids get should be a Bachelors of Fine Arts.

While I agree that programming can be considered an art form, I do not share the same feelings toward Java "dumbing down the curriculum" and the comment about the BFA degree. Java does hide many of the low-level details such as pointers and direct memory manipulation when compared to C/C++. However, Java is a modern programming language. It was designed to not use those features and to make it easier on programmers to get their job done. Depending on what you are working on that might be a benefit or a problem. But the same thing can be said about C and C++. And any degree dealing with programming should be a Science degree: Bachelors of Science, etc.

The other comments in Joel's blog basically boil down to never-ending battle between Computer Science vs Software Engineering. Both disciplines are necessary, but I tend to fall in the CS camp. Without the theory behind computers how do we expect to come up with the next "big thing." Google was made because of the theory behind graphs, not because of the low-level details of the implementing language. Lastly, most universities these days offer enough programming electives for students to focus on their interests.

Undergraduate programming - Joel on Software blog.
Where are the the Software Engineers of tomorrow - CrossTalk