Re: Obj-C vs Java
Re: Obj-C vs Java
- Subject: Re: Obj-C vs Java
- From: John Hörnkvist <email@hidden>
- Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2001 13:48:14 +0200
On Sunday, July 22, 2001, at 11:35 AM, Bernard van Gastel wrote:
Hi
I was reading in the Java Dev List about Cocoa-Java development. Some
people where very harsh on Java, while others on Obj-C. I don't know
Obj-C (I have 2 years experience in Java) but I like to know the
differences so I can make a balanced decision about the primary
language I am going to use for OS X dev. I like the idea of Cocoa-Java
though (because I have already Java experience).
- is Obj-C a better OO language than Java?
That depends on what you're trying to use it for. Objective-C is more
dynamic than Java, which makes it even more object oriented.
Some think this is better, some beg to differ.
- which language is more powerful?
Objective-C allows you not only to extend, but also to amend. This makes
some things easier to do in Objective-C.
For example, there was once a bug in the NSAffineTransform class; its
invert method didn't invert the matrix. Since NSAffineTransform was an
Objective-C class, it was trivial to make a category on it and override
the faulty method.
Objective-C also includes all of C, allowing easy access to legacy code
and libraries.
- which language is faster to develop? (Java, because of less debugging
with memory leaks???)
Objective-C because of Categories? Or because Objective-C leads to
faster Cocoa applications with a smaller memory footprint (no Java VM),
so you don't have to spend time optimizing?
- what are the special down sides of Java and Obj-C?
Java: too strict.
Objective-C: too lenient.
The type system of Objective-C is "weak" enough that it allows you to do
almost anything. This is great news for experienced and careful
programmers, but can cause problems if you are a beginner.
(For any strongly typed static language, there will be correct programs
that cannot be expressed in the type system. With a weakly typed
language such programs will usually just generate warnings, not refuse
to compile.)
I don't think either language is objectively better than the other.
However, the frameworks were written in Objective-C, and most of the
really experienced folks have far more experience with Objective-C/Cocoa
than with Java/Cocoa. (The exception is some of the WebObjects
developers.) Because of this, you'll most likely have an easier time
getting Cocoa related help when using Objective-C.
Regards,
John Hornkvist
--
ToastedMarshmallow, the perfect Cocoa companion
http://www.toastedmarshmallow.com
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