File this article: Why Do Java Developers Like to Make Things So Hard? in the “lost on me” category. Yeah, there are some bad API designs out there in the Java world, but I’ve gotten to a point with Java where doing things in PHP or Perl is like pulling teeth. Right now I’m porting some PHP stuff to Java, and looking at the crufty, linear PHP code just makes me blanch. Most of this Web site is written using PHP and Perl, and I like them for one offs. The subscriptions page I created the other day that pulls the list of feeds out of the aggregator and publishes it as part of the site took me no time at all to do. But if I’m creating a system, I want the structured approach that Java demands. It just makes life easier down the road.

Update: Russell Beattie concurs with the article. For what it’s worth, I’m definitely not a computer scientist. (I have a wimpy MIS degree.) I came from the Perl/PHP/ColdFusion world. The only way I’m going back is kicking and screaming.