31–40 of 229 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's hard to pass objects like that because it's a terrible idea. If you can't serialize the object then your state isn't stored and you'll possibly lose that object on a screen rotation and activity restart.
It's a pretty terrible design to couple activity state to the physical orientation of the device.
Other language built around IDE support: Delphi. The compiler was built with callbacks to provide code completion; it runs in process, as a DLL, as part of the IDE. No accident that Hejlsberg also design C#, and innovated further with TypeScript's language server. He wrote the original Turbo Pascal (IDE + Compiler in the same executable) in assembler, so he's been building IDE + language combos all his life.
Oh Delphi.. every time I fight with CSS and think about how easy making GUI apps used to be almost 20(sic!) years ago, I feel like something went wrong. Mandatory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pTEmbeENF4
And even that is an incredibly bloated technology compared to delphi.
Other language built around IDE support: Delphi. The compiler was built with callbacks to provide code completion; it runs in process, as a DLL, as part of the IDE. No accident that Hejlsberg also design C#, and innovated further with TypeScript's language server. He wrote the original Turbo Pascal (IDE + Compiler in the same executable) in assembler, so he's been building IDE + language combos all his life.
Oh Delphi.. every time I fight with CSS and think about how easy making GUI apps used to be almost 20(sic!) years ago, I feel like something went wrong. Mandatory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pTEmbeENF4
The only problem with Steve's rant is that he starts out describing his experience with APIs, but then it turns into an issue of better languages. Presumably Kotlin doesn't wrap the entire Android API with some kind of better API, but most Android API calls would be direct Kotlin->Java calls, so how does Kotlin solve the nasty API issue? Really, this seems to be another Java critique by Steve. He's also written criti…
The only problem with Steve's rant is that he starts out describing his experience with APIs, but then it turns into an issue of better languages. Presumably Kotlin doesn't wrap the entire Android API with some kind of better API, but most Android API calls would be direct Kotlin->Java calls, so how does Kotlin solve the nasty API issue? Really, this seems to be another Java critique by Steve. He's also written criti…
I was asking myself the same question, then he wrote: Kotlin manages to help you route around just about all of Android's Red Lights, and turns the experience into something that on the whole I now find superior to iOS development. I haven't done any android and don't know kotlin either, so maybe someone here who does can expand on this.
> I was first in line to throw the Android book at the wall and give up last summer, but now with Kotlin I'm finding Android programming is, dare I say it -- enjoyable? I think this suggests that Android's "bad" APIs weren't all that bad to begin with, but rather that Java has been masking Android's neat functionality with a bunch of Java-y cruft.
Does anyone remember when he wrote this? http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/06/rhinos-and-tigers.ht... And in the comments section he got lit up because he was unfamiliar with Haskell/Scala/OCaml type languages... and here he is 9 years late to the party touting a baby version of these statically typed FP languages. I actually laughed out loud reading this blog post.
No dog in the fight personally as I don't use any of that stuff. Maybe I am missing some deep technical blunder but on the face of it seems a bit silly to cite the guys decade old work against his current; then be surprised they aren't fluidly consistent..
I've started to come around on a similar thought recently, after a few years avoiding static typing in python. I've been toying with C# specifically. C# with visual studio is, I think, the most productive environment I've come across in programming. It's ergonomically sound, straightforward, and the IDE protects me from all sorts of relevant errors. Steve mentioned Intellij is a bit slower than he'd hope typing somet…
I thought that but PyCharm scores way better than 70%. I even trust it to do automatic refactors. Sometimes...
> The zippiness on reaction to my typing is another huge deal. If it's anything other than instantaneous, then I notice my editor in a negative light.
Maybe I grew up on IDE's but I type stuff in full only if autocomplete fails me. Maybe I have an appalling memory. Or maybe I'm really slow at typing. Or maybe my variable and method names are too short.
Other language built around IDE support: Delphi. The compiler was built with callbacks to provide code completion; it runs in process, as a DLL, as part of the IDE. No accident that Hejlsberg also design C#, and innovated further with TypeScript's language server. He wrote the original Turbo Pascal (IDE + Compiler in the same executable) in assembler, so he's been building IDE + language combos all his life.
Oh Delphi.. every time I fight with CSS and think about how easy making GUI apps used to be almost 20(sic!) years ago, I feel like something went wrong. Mandatory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pTEmbeENF4
Why my programming languages are smarter than whatever dumb writer that knows nothing about my toolset and my needs is at hand with his trivial cliches.
> whatever dumb writer that knows nothing about my toolset I consider Steve Yegge to be one of the smartest writers I've ever read on the subject of programming. You might disagree, but I would recommend looking for his previous writing (which I'm not sure is still available). You may find he has a better understanding of your toolset than you presume. Or possibly not. I personally miss his rants.
This made me hate Java before I knew enough to know why. It's joyful writing. I'd love to run it past a non-coder just to see if it's enjoyable in and of itself. I suspect it would be to someone with an ounce of patience.
I've started to come around on a similar thought recently, after a few years avoiding static typing in python. I've been toying with C# specifically. C# with visual studio is, I think, the most productive environment I've come across in programming. It's ergonomically sound, straightforward, and the IDE protects me from all sorts of relevant errors. Steve mentioned Intellij is a bit slower than he'd hope typing somet…
> Sometimes they do exactly what you need, and 70% of the time they're just totally useless. I thought that but PyCharm scores way better than 70%. I even trust it to do automatic refactors. Sometimes... > The zippiness on reaction to my typing is another huge deal. If it's anything other than instantaneous, then I notice my editor in a negative light. Maybe I grew up on IDE's but I type stuff in full only if autocom…
> I even trust it to do automatic refactors. Sometimes.
Function extract refactors and the like are definitely within the realm of possibility. Once you want to refactor code across many files it becomes a lot harder in dynamically typed code, for sure.
I guess for a long time I sort of had this view of "ooh I have this awesome expressive language that won't get in my way and I can just power through it all". Don't get me wrong, I totally love python as a language. But I think languages like C# have started to make typing feel like it's more out of your way with type inference, etc.
I mean, this is the sort of code you can write in C# these days (to take a super trivial example):
var somestuff = someList.Where(x => x.Id > 7)
.Select(x => x.Name)