Indeed.
The headline is getting loads of flack out there. I've already seen a few 'stories on the story' so far. I wrote this on another board that described the headline as being a bit too sensational. (Java Champion, longtime friend of TSS and prolific TSSJS presenter Kirk Pepperdine actually accused me of that. I may have to dig up some of Kirk's audio and see how far out of contenxt I can take him.)
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Indeed, headlines are intended to get attention, and it's a great headline. :)
The headline is attention grabbing, but the story provides full context, including unedited audio and a full written transcript, so every effort is made to provide the full context surrounding the clip. The context is indeed there, but it can't all be included in a 40 character headline.
I'd disagree on your point that it's taken out of context. I think it's context is pretty accurate. There are many debates about how great or bad the Java programming is. DZone is rife with them. What's James saying? He's saying, paraphrasing here, 'look, it's not just about Java as a programming language. If Java dies tomorrow, who cares? Even if Java is erased from history, what will remain is the Java platform, and that's what we're all about, that's what we embrace, and that's the great accomplishment that we should be really proud of and innovating around.'
So, I think it's accurate. James could care less about Java. What he cares about is the Java Platform, the JVM, and the possibilities that it creates. As an engineer, the top level language that generates the bytecode isn't important. The destination, the JVM, and the possibilities that is provides *is* what is important.
I think that's a great message to get out there, and I think it's worth repeating. And yeah, the headline may be intended to be attention grabbing, but if it gets people thinking about what's really important, and why we should be passionate about the Java platform, I don't think it's such a bad thing.
Cheers.,
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By the way, despite the audio clip, I have a feeling that James does indeed care about the Java programming. I'd bet that he cares about it a lot.