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Software in 2014

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Re: Software in 2014

#4
I agree the client side situation is a mess, but I think its getting better.

The biggest problem is the conflict of interest between the major browser makers in that they are also handheld device makers.

They have every incentive to keep the browser dumb in order to keep devs using java/objc and staying on their platform.

Firefox is really the only thing that has the influence and power to "save us" (obviously barring anything unpredictable).

But last I checked, they were still bankrolled by Google, and their browser has stale market share.

Re: Software in 2014

#5
"It’s a pity some people still build important apps in PHP..."

Getting real tired of seeing these baseless statements from so called software professionals.

Here is an off-the-top-of-my-head list of features of modern day PHP:

* yield

* event

* pthreads - yeap, real threads.

* closures (including support for $this)

* consistent hashing api

* "finally" added to try-catch

* empty() now supports expressions, rather than only variables.

* array and string literal dereferencing

* foreach support for list() - foreach($array as list($var, $var))

* array_column

* traits

* short array syntax

* namespaces

* json manipulation is second to none.

* runkit - all kinds of danger here

Re: Software in 2014

#6
It’s a pity some people still build important apps in PHP and Spring

PHP/Spring only sucks if you dont know how to use.

Functional Programming is getting a foothold on the mainstream, because if you care about performance you care about concurrency

Since when FP is high performance and better concurrency support?

Pick the right tool please.

Re: Software in 2014

#8
> What’s worse is that you can’t even count on people accepting the mobile-app updates you send them.

There's a good reason for this: companies routinely push updates that either (1) change the user interface, usually for the worse (Google Maps), (2) remove functionality, or (3) introduce bugs/reduce stability (e.g. Viber). No wonder that customer's delay updating as much as possible.

Almost every time I update my apps, I'm sorry that I did it. The only reason I do it, is to remove the annoying Google Play icon in the statusbar.

Re: Software in 2014

#9
The author does not even touch on the ease of use for paying for content; in the case of in-app purchases the walled gardens are far ahead of the open web.

I'm not quite sure of what to make of his claim that he does not know of anyone who is making money from the walled gardens. Epic Games famously stated that Infinity Blade actually makes them more money than Gears of War when figured on a man-years vs revenue basis. http://www.ijailbreak.com/applications/infinity-blade-ios-ep...

Re: Software in 2014

#10

I agree the client side situation is a mess, but I think its getting better. The biggest problem is the conflict of interest between the major browser makers in that they are also handheld device makers. They have every incentive to keep the browser dumb in order to keep devs using java/objc and staying on their platform. Firefox is really the only thing that has the influence and power to "save us" (obviously barrin…

That may be true with Apple (WebGL please?), but I haven't felt that way about Google before. I've always seen Android as a means to an end for them, to get more people using the web. Any further reading?
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