Is Java Bad for You?

How do Heavily Constrained programming environments - such as Java, C#, and friends - effect our thinking and creativity?

I think the goal of heavy constraints and requirements started out as a way to get better code by automatically checking as much stuff as possible mechanically. It all started with compile time type checking and has extended into things I don't want to know about.

Anyway, the result is that it's hard to write code with these tools. From what I hear - and I don't do Java, C#, and friends - the 'programmers' spend most of their time figuring out what API's and Design Patterns to use. I don't find that fun at all.

I usually spend most of my time trying to better understand the problems I'm trying to solve and creating software structures which mimic the nature of the problem. After I've coded and tested one of these structures, I call it a 'solution'.

In other words: I don't use Design Patterns and don't think in terms of API's.

Does that make me a dinosaur?

I don't think so.

I gravitate toward unrestricted programming environments. My first introduction was SCO Xenix around 1986 or 87. I became really excited as I realized how easy it was to do mundane tasks by stringing filters together in pipelines. I could accomplish more useful work in 1/10th the time [or so it seemed] than I could writing special programs to do the same thing.

In addition to being faster, it was more fun. I spent more and more of my energy solving problems rather than conforming to code writing rules.

The same thing happened when I discovered Python - and now to a similar extent Ruby. Scripting languages with good support for dynamic strings, arrays, hashes and objects are wonderful. They handle all the details of what I need - as a coder - to do the job.

How do I keep from hurting myself when the Programming Environment doesn't keep tabs on me?

Well, it's not a problem. I just test as I go and keep rewriting my code so it works, is more succinct, and tighter. [I guess you call that Refactoring now - we used to call it rewriting]

The facts are that Anyone can write bad code - and restrictive frameworks don't stop them. Anyone can also write good code - if they take the time to learn how and pay attention to what they are doing. And restrictive languages don't help with that either.

When I need a solution - I just think one up (or two or three) up and try it out. It's easy to write the code, change it, test it, and refine it. In a verbose, API laden environment like Java, that cycle isn't so easy - or at least is a heck of a lot more verbose.

I suspect that restrictive environment programmers get dulled down by the drudgery of just writing the code and learning all the API's. There is so little room for creativity that they lose it - creativity is something you have to practice and cultivate.

As a result, they get used to solving problems by applying packages and patterns. They don't really design: they apply old designs to new problems and hope that they work. [BTW, that's the reality behind Anti-Patterns]

So, I guess it makes sense: if everything you do is a cut-and-paste of something somebody else thought up, you would apply that to Design as well.

God, that's boring!

If I'm write, then Design Patterns are a result of Boring Programming Tools which create Bored, Dull Programmers and more Bad Code.

I don't think that's a good thing.

What do you think?