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From: Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid>
Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Subject: Re: OpenVMS system programming language
Date: Mon, 24 Feb 2025 20:23:14 -0000 (UTC)
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On Mon, 24 Feb 2025 14:37:54 -0500, Arne Vajhøj wrote:

> The lack of unsigned integers is a PITA.

Also the lack of typedefs. A basic convenience, but such an important one.

> The decision to implement generics in a backwards compatible way in Java
> 5 had some immediate benefits, but we are also paying the price today.

It seemed to be done to maintain backward binary compatibility with older 
bytecode that could not be recompiled. Was there a lot of such bytecode? I 
never realized ...

I think somewhere in the beginning, the goal of Java was to take all the 
good bits out of C++, leave out the rest and add garbage collection and 
some dynamic capability -- basically to be a simpler, smaller language 
than C++. Somehow along the way, that goal got lost.