28 February, 2006

Hype and Trends

There is a lot of hype in the software development market. ASP.NET, Python, Ruby on Rails, Spring, Hibernate, Tapestry - all these and more are having their day in the limelight. The brightest floodlight, funded by Microsoft, shines on ASP.NET. Thus, the most hyped technology is used by all managers worth their suits. But take away the commercial sponsorship, and what remains? Python, Ruby on Rails, Spring, Hibernate and Tapestry. These are all free of commercial interest. This is not hype, it is a trend. A trend to lightweight frameworks and more productive languages, where the programmer can say what they mean without burying the intent is a heap of compiler crutches. The hype, sponsored by corporate marketing departments, is for ball-and-chain languages and their heavyweight frameworks. Incidentally, victims of the hype tend to require armies of consultants and training, creating a lucrative industry where none is needed. The over-engineering of overly-restrictive languages and over-complex frameworks, and the groaning and straining of developers as they work under this crushing weight, is a dead loss. Nothing is gained, except by vendors, who make oodles of dosh from their consultants and trainers. So the developers rebel. Unencumbered by industry greed, they create their own languages and frameworks. This is the trend. Sun can't even keep Java programmers on their own official frameworks - they write their own lightweight diversions around the gridlocks of JEE.

There is another, older trend - programmers used to be excited by their jobs, but now they tend to view it as a necessary chore. Much like the workers in mass-production industries. The industry pundits, who can't breath while they eat because their lone brain cell is incapable of multi-tasking, consider this to be a sign that the software industry is maturing. Speak to someone working with Ruby, Python or even Lisp about their work. The excitement is back.