Note: This article was originally a blog post entitled “Java stinks. Really.” I have since come to find Java a very good platform, and the Java language a reasonable and comfortable, if verbose, language to work in, so I no longer have the sentiment that it stinks. That said, the core criticism I make in this article still stands, and makes Java less useful in certain situations, and possibly less desirable for some programmers. The text, however, is unchanged.

I’ve never been a fan of those “Why XYZ is better than ABC language” posts that crop up all over the Internet. Usually, as soon as one is posted, someone else comes along and says that the first poster doesn’t have a clue, and frequently they’re right.

Also, I’ve been apprehensive of peoples’ attempts to compare Java and C++. I’ve said for some time that anyone who says that Java is just like C++ doesn’t know C++ and probably doesn’t know Java, and I’m still sticking by that. They’ve got syntactic similarity (a lot, in fact), but their semantic similarity (which is what I believe is actually relevant in language comparison) is slim. Java is much better compared for similarities with Python or Objective-C, although it is stricter than either of those languages (take my Objective-C statements with a grain of salt; I’ve only dabbled in and read about the language without actually using it for anything).

Lastly, I consider Java to be a decent language from a design perspective. It is extremely clean (to a fault) and has simple semantics (again, to a fault). It takes care of many messy things for the programmer, and has a large and largely-useful library base.

In God we trust—all others must submit an X.509 certificate.

 — Charles Forsythe

If you’ve gotten an e-mail from me recently, you’ve likely noticed a strange attachment accompanying it. Perhaps you’ve even reached this page from my signature, wondering what that file is and what you’re supposed to do with it. This page will serve to explain what these files are, and why they’re a good idea.

I cryptographically sign my e-mails (well, most of them anyway). It is a way of providing proof that I am the author of a message, and a way to verify that you have received an authentic message from me. Further, I encourage everyone to sign their e-mails; I will also willingly accept encrypted e-mail. Information on obtaining my keys is provided at the end of this document.