Re: Perl Programmer -> J2EE Convert?

There are some things that J2EE has which you would have to build yourself if you wanted them in Perl. However, most of them are of no use to most projects.

I often hear people say that J2EE is an "easier sell" to VCs, yet none of the most successful startups of the past few years have used Java as their primary language. The only I can think of is eBay, and that was a rewrite from C++. Java is definitely the language of choice in huge, slow-moving corporations, but startups often use Python, C, Perl, Lisp, etc.

If people question you about the scalability of Perl, you might mention to them some of the companies that make extensive use of Perl: Amazon, Yahoo, Overture, TicketMaster, CitySearch, IMDB...

Comment on Re: Perl Programmer -> J2EE Convert?

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Re^2: Perl Programmer -> J2EE Convert? by Anonymous Monk on Oct 12, 2005 at 05:11 UTC
This is an intersting perspective, and in fact, how I was thinking from the start. We don't have much cash and so getting things working quickly is of the utmost importance. I could have the service up and running twice as fast in perl/mod_perl as I could in J2EE. This means we'll make money faster, and I won't starve. BUT... my partner (not a programmer) as well as other techs I've asked for advice have insisted J2EE is the only way to go. I keep pushing but so do they...which got me on this whole worrisome path. I will write down and investigate your sample companies and present them to my partner... thank you.	[reply]
Re^3: Perl Programmer -> J2EE Convert? by castaway (Parson) on Oct 12, 2005 at 08:28 UTC
.. Asking non-programmers for this sort of advice sounds like.. Asking your grandmother how to fix the internals of your car (or some other suitably apt comparison that is failing to occur to me) C.	[reply]
Re^4: Perl Programmer -> J2EE Convert? by Tanktalus (Canon) on Oct 12, 2005 at 20:24 UTC
You don't know - the OP's grandmother may be a mechanic. A more apt comparison is to ask me about the internals of a car. That's likely to convert your $30,000 car into an oversized paperweight if you follow any of my directions. Exceptions: filling up with gas, going faster, slowing down, and turning. Don't ask anything more complicated than that.	[reply]
Re^3: Perl Programmer -> J2EE Convert? by perrin (Chancellor) on Oct 12, 2005 at 14:43 UTC
Incidentally, even the ones who use Java tend to not use J2EE these days. eBay's rewrite was in Java, but they had to drop most of J2EE because they couldn't make it scale big enough. Now, there's practically no one else with the scalability challenges of eBay, but still... So, if you feel you need to use Java, consider using a lightweight approach based on open source Java tools.	[reply]