Book Review: Beyond Java
June 23, 2006
A small book that takes a critical look at Java and other languages (Ruby, PHP, ) at a moment in time.
I say ‘at a moment in time’ because this book will lose relevance very quickly – even more quickly than the typical nerd book.
In a nutshell:
- You get a brief history lesson on languages and their problems.
- You get a perspective of the problems that Java developers face.
- You get perspective on the subject from interviews with several big-wig names in the field.
- You get an overview of Ruby and Rails.
My complaints:
- The author likes to introduce his chapters with kayaking stories that are suppose to reflect what he is about to talk about … I would just skip those parts because I am not into kayaking.
- Question of accuracy: he mentions (page 174) that PHP does not have enough structure. This is a silly statement given that there are SEVERAL PHP frameworks out there that provide the exact same structure as Rails – some even copy Rails.
Conclusion:
I liked the book and it was a worthwhile read. It has a few problems but it does open your eyes to things.
That said, the title of the book should have been: ‘Beyond Java and why I love Ruby’.
