Is Python a possible alternative for Java

One of the language I evaluated as an alternative to Java of course was Python despite my hatred for languages that have significant white spaces. I did not get very far. In general, the syntax of the language is ok (except for whitespace) but the problem is speed. CPython is terribly slow as in unacceptably slow so I looked at PyPy since this uses a JIT compiler. No luck. It is better that CPython but it is not a substitute for it. You simply cannot assume that the program you ran in CPython will run with PyPy. Some libraries do not run with the JIT and there are a few other incompatibilities. So, Python will not be the successor for Java in my book. What would be your choice of multi-platform open source programming language (really open source - no license for embedded systems) ?

Finding an alternative for Java

Some people at work question the use of Java as our main programming language. Since I am not a Java language fanatic I welcome the discussion however, several of the arguments mentioned against Java simply do not resist close scrutiny. Speed when compared to C/C++ ? JIT compiled Java speed is very close to C/C++ and the problems we have encountered in the past where speed was a problem were mostly related to I/O or ... bad design. Verbosity when compared to other languages ? Not such a big problem since the IDE handles most of the scaffolding (the infamous curly brackets, etc ...) and Java 8 removes some of the verbosity. Certainly not worth switching language specially when you consider the advantage of Java. Advantages that include: an incredible ecosystem of tools an libraries, a very good specification, several of the advantages of modern languages such as Garbage Collection and good support for multi-core processors. In fact, since I love programming languages I did try to find a good alternative because of the license issue. Having to pay for a license on embedded systems is a problem when trying to cut cost. Finding a viable lower cost alternative is not obvious. More on this in the next blog.