I don’t know what best to give as title to this so pardon me if it sounds weird.
I saw this question asked on IT Security and another site asking people to disable Java from their system or browser because it’s vulnerable.
As a lover of Java, though currently doing C#, I would love to still do more Java in future, but this news is giving a bad name to the good old Java.
Wouldn’t this drive developers like me away from Java? Wouldn’t it spell a bad name for Java among developers and prospective clients?
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Does this tarnish some of Java’s luster? Absolutely, but this issue is about Java’s use on the client side as an applet. Java’s far more prevalent use is in the enterprise, creating server side applications where this vulnerability is irrelevant.
In short, no, this will not drive good developers away from the use of Java. As a good developer, you should analyze the problem and choose an appropriate technology based on situation.
A non-technical client who has heard of this “incident” of course may be concerned, but it is your job to inform them of what is the right answer to their problem. After all, they came to you for your expertise.
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It is only browser plugins that suffer from the security flaw, since desktop apps generally aren’t required to be perfectly sandboxed. That said, there is no doubt that the name of Java will take a reputation hit.
While developers should be able to differentiate, I don’t think it is humanly possible to be completely objective, at least not for the vast majority of people. So while there is no great aversion to Java, neither is there a lot of hype. Although it used to be the second coming of Jesus Christ, that is certainly not the case any more, and while a lot of that decay may be ascribed to the age of the news, Oracle takeover and general neglect certainly have their share of the blame.
Still, more serious to the future of Java is the mobile phone market — Java doesn’t look like the cross-platform solution that will prevail.
As for the job market, although I think Java will take a dive, it is not like it will die any time soon — if nothing else there is plenty legacy code to keep a Java programmer occupied. If it is what you want you can most likely keep doing Java for the rest of your life, but depending on future developments you could find yourself to be the equivalent of present day COBOL programmers in 40 years.
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