should i start with java

"sanyal" <sanyal77@rediffmail.com> wrote:
>
>Hi
>I am a asp programmer
>i know asp,javascripting,vbscripting html.
>
>i want to get in deep to develop com objects for that i want to do vb very
>well but people say i should start with java and forget asp
>
>can somebody guide me on this
>
>sanyal

Hi Sanyal.

Since MS has stated that ASP and VBScript and COM are yesterday's technology,
and their future is with Dotnet, I wouldn't recommend large investments in
the former areas.

To me, Dotnet as a platform is just Java with a few differences. However,
Java is here now, it's been deployed for years, and has widespread industry
support and adoption, whereas Dotnet isn't even out yet.

Matthew Cromer

>I would be careful about asking advice of this nature in this forum without
>knowing the backgrounds of those that offer that advice. I am currently
in
>MS beta testing groups; have been for over 15 years. I don't recall ever
>hearing that ASP, COM, or the like were past technologies.

Well then you don't seem to be paying much attention. Of course ASP is a
past technology when the new development platform does away with it for something
completely different that just happens to be called ASP+. Of course COM
is a past technology when everything that made it COM (IUnknown, reference
counting, GUIDS, interface-only programming) is gone away. It doesn't matter
if Microsoft marketing droids call it COM+ version 2--the DotNet stuff is
totally different and is remarkably similar to Java and remarkably different
from COM.

But rather the
>new NET technologies were to build on those using OLAP, XML, and those deriviatives.

The .NET technologies have nothing whatsoever to do with COM except for translation
layers that exist between them and COM for interop. In fact, the .NET technologies
are all based on Microsoft's J++ product work, and owe virtually nothing
to classic COM architecture.

I think that Microsoft made a good choice to base on Java instead of existing
COM, but that is in fact the situation.

>Support has always been the biggest question asked by any programmer when
>trying to get a job done. MS, although not near as nice as we would like,
>offers good support through the MSDN subscriptions.

You can get the same kinds of support from Sun, Oracle, and any other major
software platform vendor.

OTOH, the Java development tools are free, whereas MS charges $2000 per year
or thereabouts.

I recall any other vendor
>doing anything like that with coding examples you may use without royality.

I'm sure you can use the Java examples the same way.

>Food for thought. As far as your path to take, learn as much as you can
about
>all as time and interest permit, then let the job describe the language
and
>tools.

I'd suggest you look at marketability as the primary criteria when selecting
IT work, if you wish to keep doing this until a reasonable retirement age.

We throw away our older IT workers on any pretext, and if you plan to get
older over time, you are much better off knowing current tools and technologies
instead of being the next COBOL castaway.

Matthew Cromer