Probably one of the most true things I have ever read on this site.
But also so blindly obvious that I don’t know why she bothered. It’s not like it’s news
IT Runs on Java 8
41–50 of 556 posts
Re: IT Runs on Java 8
#42Blindness to "old", established tools and technologies is one thing, but let's not pretend Sharepoint, Java 8, Excel, et al don't have their fair amount of suckiness and operational challenges.
Is anyone pretending that?
Re: IT Runs on Java 8
#43I’ve developed in environments where Java 8 was still the latest available version because of upgrade security issues.
I have a friend who, until very recently, was working on a system based on Java 6, which coincidentally was the latest version back when the both of us were in college.
I'm currently in a not-that-old project(2 years old) the front-end of which was built using Angular 1.x.
I have to admit I like this, because my biggest gripe with this framework was that the API changes from version to version were so intense, that you couldn't find a working tutorial for some stuff.
Now that it's not being updated that fast it's much easier.
Re: IT Runs on Java 8
#44The HN front page is similar to any community. For example, a car site's homepage will be listing the latest supercars, expensive turbos, rims, whatever... while most readers are driving a $30,000 Civic.
The best & brightest in tech are working with the best tools on the biggest problems, and that's what gets talked about, regardless of what the mass is doing.
Re: IT Runs on Java 8
#45At work, we have some customers who want to use WebLogic and Websphere, and last time I checked those don't have versions that support anything beyond Java 8. I still use Java 8 even on personal projects. I'm migrating those to Kotlin, so I'm at least not held back with regard to programming language features. I could upgrade those to Java 11 (or 12), just haven't prioritized taking the time to do that over other tas…
I don't use Java at work, but at home I inevitably install it for some kind of tooling. Always Java 8. I've accidentally installed Java 9 or newer a couple times and always ended up with something broken.
Re: IT Runs on Java 8
#46Probably one of the most true things I have ever read on this site.
The direction most comments here are taking kind of proves her point.
Re: IT Runs on Java 8
#47HN might be pointing the way to the future. Or it might be overly focused on things that will never take the world by storm.
HN is a bit of an echo chamber. A very interesting and worthwhile echo chamber, but an echo chamber nevertheless. This is not a criticism, but probably an unavoidable by-product of how it works and the audience it attracts.
Like some sort of colourful bird mating ritual, you have to append so many explanations so as to not offend someone's trigger-happy finger and lose karma.
Re: IT Runs on Java 8
#48It's a bit disturbing how much people in this industry are focused on tooling. It's a biproduct IMO of working on boring problems or supporting morally ambiguous corps. That thing that you need to keep yourself busy and keep going in the rat race.
It seems more likely that an industry that makes and uses software tools would have a stronger than average appreciation for software tools.
Re: IT Runs on Java 8
#49In the majority of companies it's simply not possible to operate on the bleeding edge the way HN articles would have you believe you should. Besides the obvious issues around the value of rewriting stable legacy systems on new platforms, there are also man power issues. You need tier 1 developers to live on the bleeding edge because any problem that comes up (and they will come up) largely requires you to solve it yourself sans the help of the greater internet. On a legacy system an average dev can generally Google any issues that arise because they are known problems.
When dealing with new tech it's a lot more likely to be the first person to run into some obscure use case no one has ever experienced before. And in that case you need devs who are not only capable but willing to invest in solving the problem. Sometimes that means, re-architect something in the stack and sometimes it may even require making a PR to the original project. That's a lot of investment that may make your devs happier but probably provides little concrete value to the business.
That said I'm still building on elixir so what do I know.
Re: IT Runs on Java 8
#50The HN front page is similar to any community. For example, a car site's homepage will be listing the latest supercars, expensive turbos, rims, whatever... while most readers are driving a $30,000 Civic. The best & brightest in tech are working with the best tools on the biggest problems, and that's what gets talked about, regardless of what the mass is doing.
Good point about communities, but I don't think it's good to say "the best and brightest in tech" in this context. HN exists to gratify curiosity, and people are more curious about things they haven't seen before, or that are currently captivating their imagination. This emotion is not a reflection of the world around us—it's aspirational. But there's a risk if we start to feel inferior because we don't get to do that at our job or whatever, which is partly what the article is about.
Incidentally, it's the same curiosity that has the current article near the top of HN right now. It's not a point that has been articulated so often, or so recently, or so well, so it's fresh. Even if we already know it, it's a fresh reminder. (And also, of course, there's the catnip of the meta dimension.)