What is this dynamic language hype all about?
groovy, jruby, jython? I prefer plain old java...
When I started with programming I was a big fan of PHP because it was very easy to learn and you were able to quickly get results with it. But after some years of using it I got more and more attracted to the world of JAVA. For me, the biggest advantage of Java was always the better IDE support: mainly the syntax completion on members, methods and language constructs. Another advantage was the fact of Java beeing typesafe. Escepcially when it comes to working with older projects that you have not touched for a while it is better if you can rely on a typesafe language that favours compile errors instead of runtime errors and does not requires you to remember all method parameters that are available on your objects.
So why the hype? I just don't see the point. I'm pretty much capable of developing agile projects that can handle fast changing requirements (for example using a BRMS) with good old JAVA, so why should I use dynamic languages? Costs for IT projects only depend to a very small degree (30%) on the actual development costs so I don't see any reason to choose a language that may be fun to program and may allow fast changing user interfaces when the language will cause trouble once a project is in maintenance mode?
I'm really curious to see what will happen to mission critical business projects (for example in banking or trading companies) in a few years if they choose a language like jruby, groovy, jython.
In my opinion many JAVA developers just don't think long enough in the future. They love to play around with new toys (frameworks, languages etc.) and love to create new projects and products but don't think about how one is able to maintain, fix and enhance those artifacts one or two years later...