Properties

[Andrew Dinn]

On 24/04/2024 13:44, Ron Pressler wrote:
> While some programmers like having lots of features, each addressing
> a specific problem — and some programming languages choose to
> accommodate them — we believe that most programmers prefer languages
> with fewer features, and so the trick is finding ways to *avoid*
> adding language features. The way to do that is to find a smaller
> number of powerful features that address multiple problems — even if
> not perfectly — rather than add a language feature for every problem.
> For example, records help make serialization safer, they help with
> deconstruction (through pattern matching), and at the same time they
> also *reduce* — even if not eliminate — the need for setters, making
> them a smaller problem. Not every problem merits a language feature
> (which complicates the language and thus creates a new problem).

Just as an a fortiori to Ron's point I'll note that Java, like most 
managed language runtimes, profits enormously from the fact that it 
offers only a limited set of orthogonal, composable features. This 
design choice dramatically reduces the suite of basic operations that a 
program can employ and *combine*. As a result the circumstances in which 
certain operations and outcomes can occur during execution are much more 
sharply defined than in more feature-rich languages.

The result is a host of opportunities for Java to perform highly 
aggressive optimizations that would be incorrect or, at least, 
frequently have indeterminate validity if attempted in those other 
languages. When combined with the speculative optimization opportunities 
that come from dynamic compilation of an evolving code base (and the 
requisite flip-side of that speculative coin, the ability to 
de-optimize) this puts Java in its own league when it comes to optimized 
performance.

That is a major prize that many of your proposals to extend the language 
will run up against. It is also one that Brian Goetz and the other 
project (Amber/Panama/Loom/CoreLibs/etc) devs who consider, design and 
implement language and lib changes are very well aware of.

regards,


Andrew Dinn
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